For fifteen years I was an evangelical Protestant. This Easter I became a Roman Catholic. I began thinking about the Catholic Church nearly a decade ago. I began reading. First, from other Protestants who converted to Catholicism. I had questions similar to theirs. Then, from the Early Church Fathers, those closest to Jesus and His apostles, writing just after the time of the New Testament. And then, I read what Catholics themselves had to say about the Church, and her teachings.... Read more
Before getting married, my wife and I had a number of marriage preparation sessions with our pastor. We talked about what to expect in marriage. How our family backgrounds, our upbringings, might affect how we relate and, later in our marriage, how we would parent our kids. We discussed a number of our expectations, fears, and hopes as we began a new stage of life together. And there was one question, in particular, that I’ll never forget. The question from... Read more
I’ve laboured over this article for quite a while now. I’ve drafted it, re-drafted it, and made numerous revisions. Three times, I scrapped the entire thing. I know that you can’t see all that. You don’t know any of that. But it’s because of you, my dear readers, that I’m trying to hard to get this right. Because this is incredible, and I want to get it across in the most clear way possible. Because, what I’m about to try to explain is simply... Read more
My wonderfully witty sister once remarked that I became a Catholic because I love to sit, stand, and kneel. Over and over again. In a way, she’s right. In a way, I love going through the motions in a Catholic Mass. But I love going through these motions because each and every motion, no matter how small or slight, is deeply infused with meaning. Like physical poetry. As an evangelical Protestant, coming into the Catholic Church, I was excited and enthusiastic to... Read more
The Catholic Church needs to explain itself better to non-Catholic Christians. It also needs to explain itself better to itself. Read more
I never thought I’d be the sort of person—the sort of Christian—that prays the Rosary. That said, I never thought I’d be the sort of Christian that was a Catholic either. But, in the end, it turns out that praying the Rosary, in more ways than not, made me a Catholic. And changed my life. What I’d thought, as a younger evangelical Protestant, was merely a kind of cultural superstition turns out to be one of the most gratifying, uplifting,... Read more
As a Catholic, I believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharistic elements. That is to say, I believe that through a miracle the bread and the wine become Jesus’s real flesh and blood—while still appearing to be bread and wine (and that’s part of the miracle). Does this sound crazy? As a Protestant, I believed that the Lord’s Supper—Communion—was a memorial feast. It was a commemorative ceremony we celebrated as a church or small group of believers to remember Jesus’s once-and-for-all sacrifice. I... Read more
After a radical conversion to Christ at the age of about fifteen years old, I lived as a genuinely devout Protestant, earnestly seeking after Christ in my life as best I could. Sometimes, of course, doing a miserable job. This Easter, after a long journey, I became a Catholic. My journey began when a Protestant pastor—himself on a journey towards a more ancient faith—asked me the question, “What’s more important the Bible or tradition?” When I answered, like the good... Read more
So, this is strange. To say the least. This journey which has been a long time coming culminates tonight, in a way, at the Easter Vigil. We had our rehearsal this morning, with the R.C.I.A. team, and it seemed just slightly unreal. To be confirmed. Then to receive the Holy Eucharist. Then to be a Roman Catholic. It feels kind of like my wedding day. But if this is the culmination of one journey it’s the beginning of another, because there’s so much more... Read more
When I began this blog I still felt like I was a ways from becoming a Catholic. It felt like a far-off dream, a fantasy, and even as I began RCIA classes at the sleepy parish a few blocks from our house it still felt rather unreal. When the soft spoken sister who runs the program first stood up to talk to us about what prayer is I—as a devout, prayerful Protestant for more than half my life—felt a lump... Read more
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