Dear John and all:

Here's an excerpt of the salient points of the article linked below:

The basic problem is, as Carl Trueman observed in a brief forward, that “the idiom of the rock concert with added TED talk is scarcely adequate to convey the holiness of God, the beauty of worship and the seriousness of the Christian faith.” Generations of evangelical leaders have embraced the idea that casual, entertaining, “seeker-sensitive” church services are the key to a growing congregation. Some succeed, but they leave a lot behind in the attempt. This is why it often seems that nearly every intellectually or aesthetically sensitive American evangelical will at some point feel the allure of Catholicism — the road to Rome often begins with a sense that one’s Protestant church is missing something important, if not several things.

For the sake of analysis, Littlejohn and Castaldo try to separate the motives for conversion, even while recognizing that they will inevitably be intermingled in the psyche and conversion process. They group these factors into triads and begin with the “psychology of conversion,” observing that Catholicism offers paternal authority “in an age that has all but blacklisted the very word” and that “precious few of our Protestant churches give their worshippers a sense of being in the presence of the holy.”

Instead, evangelicals in particular are encouraged to “waltz casually” before God “with gym shorts and a latte.” It is no wonder that some are “captivated” when they witness the Catholic Mass, along with the rest of the aesthetic heritage of the Church of Rome — even when wealthy evangelical congregations build large churches, they look like convention centers, not cathedrals.

I think the authors nail it.  This topic has been covered before, notably by Skye Jethani who likes the current Protestant church experience to a cruise ship. 

I pass this on because we're all interested in holiness before God - in becoming the mature men and women God wants us to become, and that WE want to become.  But nearly every book on discipleship I pick up talks about disciples needing community.  It's not supposed to be a "lone ranger" experience.  We're supposed to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and ESPECIALLY as we see The Day approaching.

We see that day, but because we see and proclaim it, and because we live our lives as if the remaining days are few, we find ourselves marginalized and "in the wilderness."

I have no answer.  I'm marginalized too, even by my own "Christian" family.  I guess all we have is each other, and it's truly a shame that it's a cyber-"church" instead of a real assembly.  We do the best we can.

Catholicism, for its appeal, has serious deficiencies.  For one thing, this whole "corporate worship" thing cannot and should not supplant Biblical worship, which is spelled out in Romans 12:1 -

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

"Reasonable service" suffers badly in translation here; the Greek word is logikos latreia and is properly rendered "service of worship" or "worship of God" as it is in other versions.  That is to say, worship is NOT a church exercise for an hour or two in a public venue.  Your entire LIFE is worship.  I'd add that if the first century Christians were brought to a modern "worship service" - either Catholic or Protestant - they would think it bizarre and almost completely disconnected from their Christian experience.  The Catholic prayers to Mary would most likely horrify them, along with prayers to angels and dead saints.

In short, I think unconverted folks may leave the Christian-flavored Protestant sub-culture and gravitate - still unconverted - toward the Babylon-flavored Catholic sub-culture simply because they prefer the experience, NOT because of any Holy Spirit activity.  People are social creatures and the "feeling" of reverence and awe explains the draw of Catholicism.  Of course, when these lost people stand before the True God they will discover that His Presence is terrifying.
  
Complete article here:  Why Protestants Convert To Catholicism