Repeat Post on Catholicism

While I'm blog fasting for Lent, I thought I would leave some of my favorite posts to replay.

This post was first published on 1/8/2008. One of my earliest attempts to explain my interest in the Catholic Church, it remains one of the best summaries of the journey:

Some background on my interest in mass and the Catholic Church might be helpful. I'll talk first about my recent study and save my earliest memories of Catholicism for a later post.

My recent interest in the Catholic Church began about five years ago when I met Saundra, the wife of Terry's co-worker Mike. Mike and Saundra moved to our town in the summer of 2002 when Mike came to work here. One of the first things I was told about Saundra was that she was a faithful Catholic and that was one reason she supported Mike in his move here. They were living in an area that was historically Reform Protestant. Our town has three beautiful old Catholic churches and thriving Catholic schools through high school. Saundra and Mike had one young daughter and another on the way when they moved here.

In 2002, Terry and I were very involved in our Evangelical church that I've written about a lot on this blog, including here. We left that church in the summer of 2004 after learning of things going on behind the scenes that we could not support. When I first met Saundra, I thought I could witness to her about the "true faith" (Evangelical Protestantism). I was very surprised to quickly find Saundra witnessing to me! She was the first Catholic I'd ever known who was willing to engage in discussions about her faith and to defend it logically and theologically. She and Terry and I talked often about the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. Our discussions were always friendly and never in any way offensive or defensive. We just all enjoyed talking about our faith and our beliefs. Saundra attended a couple of holiday musicals at our church and we attended the baptism of their baby at theirs. Saundra occasionally led the singing in mass at her church and I regret we never accepted her invitation to attend when she sang.

Saundra gave us a copy of "Rome, Sweet Home" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. The Hahns were both graduates of Grove City College and Scott was a Presbyterian minister when he began studying Catholic theology. Much to Kimberly's chagrin, Scott joined the Catholic Church. It took almost five years for Kimberly to join him and their book was fascinating. I began reading it expecting to be able to spot the flaws in their reasoning rather easily. After all, I'd spent my whole life as a Christian hearing all the reasons why Protestantism was the correct response to mistakes made by the Catholic Church, right? I read through the book without ever finding one error in the Hahn's thinking. In fact, I found that Scott's understanding of theology was far beyond mine, which wasn't a surprise given his master's in theology. As I finished the book, I though, "hmm, this guy has done some serious study and at great personal cost to himself and his family he made the decision to join the Catholic Church. Could I ever reach the same conclusion and if I did, could I act on it?"

In 2004, in the midst of our struggles at our Evangelical church, Luke began reading a lot about contemplative religious orders. He read Thomas Merton's autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain. We visited two Benedictine monasteries in our area which I wrote about here. Luke bought books on the Office of the Hours and studied emergent churches. When we found our new church, we were thrilled to hear the pastor teaching many of Rob Bell's messages. We settled in to the new church and Luke began leading worship. Any serious thoughts about Catholicism faded to the background.

We attended a company Christmas party in a town three hours away with Mike and Saundra in December 2005. On the trip, Saundra and I were talking about Luke's college decision and other things he was studying.

Seemingly out of the blue, Saundra said, "I think Luke will wind up being Catholic some day."

Surprised, I turned to her and said, "why do you say that?"

"Well, I just think he is searching for truth and I think the most truth is found in the Catholic Church."

Her bluntness stunned me. I thought I should feel offended. after all, she just told me "my" church wasn't as true as hers. Instead of being offended, though, I admired Saundra's boldness and her strong faith in her church. Did I have that strong faith in mine? My faith in God and Jesus are quite strong, but I must say my faith in the church was not at all strong. Which church? I've attended four different Protestant denominations. One of these was a mainline denomination and the other three were Evangelical "non-denominational" churches. Did I have faith that any of these denominations were the "one, true church?" No, of course not. I have pondered Saundra's comments for over two years.

There were a few of other sources for my increasing interest in Catholicism, including Dr. Peter Kreeft (I wrote about him here), Martin Cothran and Memoria Press's Logic Course, Thomas Howard (Elisabeth Elliot's brother),Richard John Neuhaus (publisher of First Things), and recently several Catholic convert blogs including Happy Catholic.

As you can see, this is all still very much in process. I have no idea where it will lead, but I am commited to listening for God's leading. As you'll see more in my next post, following His lead has already taken me on quite a journey. I've often asked God why I can't be one of those people who are lifelong members of one church. I honestly don't think I've been church hopping or church shopping. My quest has always been seeking more of Him. Throughout my journey, my Walk to Emmaus experience has played a big role. My experience of God on my Walk weekend and my continuing service on Walk teams has been a constant when my church address was not. I'll talk a bit more about that later. It's time to take a break, don't you agree?