This article is part of the Tough Questions series. A series highlighting some of the difficult questions I was asking during my conversion from a non-denominational Christian to full communion with the Catholic Church. For more about my own conversion story, read What I Wish I Knew About Catholics (And Why I’m Becoming One). As an non-denominational Christian growing up in the faith I encountered my share of tough questions. When I gave my life to Christ at the age of... Read more
I remember hearing an interview with Jennifer Fulwiler years ago where she talked about her transition—conversion—from Atheism to belief. From a scientific, willfully godless lifestyle to living a full and pious Catholic life. The crux of her conversion, if I remember rightly, was the birth of her first child. Starting down at the bonafide miracle of life in her arms she felt a deep sense of gratitude and joy. That’s to be expected. But, she said, as an atheist she... Read more
I was an Evangelical Protestant, and I loved it. Then I became a Catholic. As a convert, I didn’t join the Church with any sort of starry-eyed vision of paradise. I knew what to expect. I knew all about bad Catholics. Bad music. Badly done liturgy. But the timeless, ancient pull of the Catholic Church prevailed and I joined, in spite of some obvious shortcomings. After all, like St. Peter said, “Lord, where else can I go?” If the Catholic... Read more
I’ve heard it described, by more than one convert, that becoming a Catholic after being an Evangelical is as big of a paradigm shift as going from being an Atheist to believing in God. That’s a pretty big jump and if I hadn’t experienced it I wouldn’t have believed it was true. But, truth be told, my conversion bridged a pretty similar chasm in the end. I was an Evangelical. I’m now a Catholic. From a radical conversion to... Read more
Way back at Christmastime, just after our second child was born, I perfected the art of bouncing a baby on an exercise ball while reading a book. Admittedly, it’s a skill I’m pretty proud of. With our older offspring happily spending the day at preschool I had a lot of time to help out at home during those first two weeks and between the baby eating, sleeping, and pooping there was the bouncing—and a lot of bouncing. And, in turn,... Read more
It’s Friday night after work and of all the places I could be, I’m here. In the basement of an elderly gentleman I’ve never met before surrounded by strangers. Celebrating the Mass. A week earlier I’d received an e-mail from a Catholic Men’s Group I hadn’t attended in years. The group had been instrumental in helping me become Catholic but kind of petered out and when our son was born that July and my free time for things like fellowship when human beings... Read more
It’s Sunday morning and we’re getting dressed for Mass. Our son, three years old, is practising the Sign of the Cross in the other room and I can hear him muttering various configurations of, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” to himself as he vigorously waves his arms around his body. He’s been practising all week and occasionally exclaims loudly—“Daddy!”—when he gets it right. He’s pretty proud of himself, and we’re proud too. He picks up on these things, see. The... Read more
The news of the sexual abuse scandal out of Pennsylvania has rocked the global Catholic Church to its core. The findings of the Grand Jury report, along with the sheer number of victims and perpetrators, is nothing short of shocking. The immense cover up is almost unfathomable. Words do not do justice. And although Canadian Catholics like myself haven’t been caught up in the abuse itself there’s not a single Catholic I can think of in my network of friends... Read more
So I have this weird affinity for rough towels. Hear me out. Ever since I was a kid, my ever thrifty mother loved her clothesline. She loved hanging clothes to dry. Some days if we’d hadn’t seen mom around the house for a while my sister or I would ask, out loud, “Where’s mom?” The answer, inevitably, was the same, “Out back with the clothesline again.” So I grew up, understandably, with rough towels. If you’ve ever had a mother like... Read more
Somewhere in the middle of my journey out of Evangelicalism into the Catholic Church a good friend gently took me by the arm and said, “But what about all the scandals?” It was Oscar season and while it had been a number of years since any major scandal involving pedophile priests Spotlight, the dramatization of the Boston Archdiocese child abuse coverups, was rekindling long-buried conversation. I had, at the time, no good answer for my friend. And I still don’t.... Read more
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