Why I no longer identify as "a convert"

pro-preserving "cultural religiosity"

I used to tell people that I “converted” to Catholicism. Though I was baptized (in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches) and was raised “culturally” religious, I deemed this religious upbringing to be “false,” empty, in comparison to my newfound zeal, my fervent gusto for Christian doctrine, worship, and spirituality, which my family found strange and couldn’t relate to. 

But I have ceased to tell people I converted. The reality is that I had been a Christian all along by virtue of my baptism and through the religious education I received “osmotically” through my cultural upbringing. My “deepening of faith”–though in part driven by my free will, a determined choice on my part–was really the initiative of God, who chose to give me the tools to foster the growth of the seeds of faith that had been planted in the soil of my soul long ago.