![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-fhNndfR8qrw\/Ue0VN0CihcI\/AAAAAAAAFZc\/Bpjt7UkglRY\/s1600\/rome-sweet-homerome-sweet-home363lg+(2).jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nNo, it isn\u2019t. \u00a0And there might be reasons. \u00a0Scott Hahn is the Elvis of Protestant clergy converts to Catholicism. \u00a0At least in the modern era. \u00a0There are others, and clergy converting to Catholicism is not some new thing. \u00a0It\u2019s ebbed and flowed over the generations. \u00a0But for this particular generation, Scott Hahn reigns supreme as the example. \u00a0He is brilliant, he is passionate, he\u2019s an academic genius, he overcomes all the Protestant objections to Catholicism with biblical insight. \u00a0He has that touch of Protestant zeal for evangelism. And he lives in a mansion in Steubenville, OH, professor par excellent at the Franciscan University. \u00a0World wide lecturer, super star celebrity within the vocation. \u00a0He\u2019s everything you could hope to be if you were a Protestant minister staring into the hallowed halls of the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n
Not a few Protestant converts followed in his footsteps. \u00a0Not all ended up in sprawling Tudors on the riverfront with the ears of bishops and cardinals within reach. \u00a0But they taught in Catholic schools and universities, they were hired by Catholic publishers and ministries, they were placed in positions of service and pastoral care within the diocesan or parish level, or they were able to start their own apostolates (that\u2019s ministry to our Protestant brethren). <\/p>\n
And yet, today, that seems to be less and less the case. \u00a0I just was put in touch with a fellow who, like me, entered the Catholic church recently. \u00a0His plight? \u00a0Unemployment, financial ruin, struggling to get by. \u00a0He\u2019s the first convert I\u2019ve met in some time who has come into the Church within the last decade. \u00a0I had worked with a Catholic apostolate that supposedly specialized in helping Protestant Clergy converts. \u00a0Even then, I could get a whiff of change in the air, and I noticed it seemed as though some \u2018fluffy math\u2019 was being employed to keep the image of a herd of converts assailing the doors of the Vatican fresh in everyone\u2019s mind. \u00a0Fact is, I noticed that the numbers weren\u2019t going up. \u00a0If anything, they appeared to be going down. \u00a0And that was before the economy tanked in 2008.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s happening? \u00a0Are fewer converts coming into the Church at this time? \u00a0I don\u2019t know. \u00a0I don\u2019t have the resources, money, or time to investigate. \u00a0I do know that it\u2019s harder finding cases and testimonies of those who have recently converted than, say, eight or nine years ago when I first came to the Internet to see about this Catholic stuff. \u00a0Oh I\u2019m sure out of hundreds of millions, there are some who come in even now, somewhere in the country or the world. \u00a0And maybe it\u2019s because there are just more websites, blogs and resources out there that it\u2019s tough zeroing in on them. \u00a0But when I came through RCIA, without being part of any apostolate or ministry, I already met or knew or heard of several who had just come in or were, in fact, on the path toward converting.<\/p>\n
Now, visiting blogs, having my own, knowing many Catholics who have their ears on, and this is the first fellow I\u2019ve met in years who has recently converted? \u00a0And his life in in shambles. \u00a0So why the difference? \u00a0Here are a few ideas I\u2019ve kicked about.<\/p>\n
First, Scott Hahn and company converted in the 1980s and 1990s, when many converts I know who have ministry positions, academic positions, and national recognition came into the Church. \u00a0What was going on then? \u00a0Well first, Pope John Paul II, that\u2019s what. \u00a0The Billy Graham of the papacy. \u00a0Mr. Catholic Evangelist to the separated brethren. \u00a0The man who took the term \u2018the New Evangelization\u2019 and made it his. \u00a0Reaching out to all non-Catholics, former Catholics, and non-Catholic Christians was on top of his list, and hence it was on the mind of the Church universal.<\/p>\n
Second, it was still that moment when people like the aforementioned Pope John Paul II were trying to peddle back against some of the excesses of Vatican II, even though many of those ideals were still popular. \u00a0Changing the Church, embracing modernity, women priests and married priests were seen as almost foregone conclusions by not a few Catholics. \u00a0Even when I came into the Church in 2006, many I met immediately asked if I was going to be a priest. \u00a0After all, they\u2019ve got married priests already, and it will be allowed soon. \u00a0Or so I was told. <\/p>\n
Third, it was the 1980s and 1990s. \u00a0Yes the Christian roots of society had long been shed. \u00a0But Christianity was, even then, not as flagrantly maligned in the popular culture. \u00a0Being a priest or minister still had some notion of \u2018that must mean he\u2019s a good guy, or a least a righteous prude.\u2019 \u00a0Plus it was a period of abundance. The economy was booming. \u00a0Money was flowing. \u00a0Credit was flowing more. \u00a0Everyone seemed ready to purchase that McMansion they had wanted since the previous year when they graduated high school.<\/p>\n
Fourth, EWTN. \u00a0That broadcasting network was in many ways the love child of Mother Angelica, a feisty nun who hosted her own show, embraced evangelism with a zeal that would shame a fundamentalist Baptist, and wasn\u2019t afraid to call a spade a spade when it came to discipleship. \u00a0EWTN soared, its ratings soared, and Mother Angelica loved this whole idea of Protestant clergy converting to Catholicism.<\/p>\n
So what happened? \u00a0Well first, the Spirit of Vatican II began to be restructured. \u00a0Though many assumed married priests were a forgone conclusion, by the early 00s, it was clear that it wouldn\u2019t happen any time soon. \u00a0When Benedict became Pope, he made it clear early that there would be no women priests, and no married priests. \u00a0Though he reached out to the Anglican Communion, on the whole he seemed to have little to no real interest in reaching out to the \u2018Separated Brethren\u2019, at least as a top priority. \u00a0His interests were in other areas. \u00a0The idea that it was time to put the kibosh on married clergy sent a not-too-subtle \u00a0message across the Church. \u00a0Those seeing Protestant clergy as support for the married cause had to realize that their efforts would not be realized any time soon.<\/p>\n
Plus, because Pope Benedict was less evangelistic, if not less charismatic, the outreach just wasn\u2019t there. \u00a0As goes the Pope, so goes the Church. \u00a0Like it or not, Popes make an impression on the Catholic mindset. \u00a0As evangelism became more of a parlor discussion than an urgent wave of immediate priorities, it turned to individual ministries and individuals to keep the flames burning. \u00a0And that has far less of an impact on the Catholic Church than the passion of a serving Pope. <\/p>\n
Not to mention that, at that very same time, Mother Angelica began to fade. \u00a0Simply because of age, she was no longer the default leader of EWTN she had been, but became more or less the default leader emeritus. \u00a0It was her love of stories like Scot Hahn\u2019s or Marcus Grodi\u2019s that caused her to step in and do her own version of William Randolf Hearst\u2019s \u2018Puff Graham\u2019 to the clergy convert cause. If there was still residue of her zeal in the form of shows or stories when I came into the Church, it lacked her personal touch, a touch that made an impression on her millions of adoring followers back in the day. <\/p>\n
Plus it was the 00s. \u00a0Two big things had happened
\nculturally. \u00a0First, 9\/11 had allowed radical and zealous atheists to emerge and drive anti-religious bigotry into the mainstream. \u00a0Within a few years, being too religious was seen as suspicious at best. \u00a0A person ready to leave it all for a religious cause may have been something in 1990, but by 2002 not a few folks had to raise a cautious eyebrow. \u00a0Not to mention that many young people, weaned in a society fomenting endless days of anti-religious doctrine, grew up at best with no religious knowledge, at worst having a built in suspicion of those religious types. \u00a0Try getting a job from a young HR rep who doesn\u2019t know what the term Congregation <\/i>means when you\u2019re a former clergy.<\/p>\n
Plus, the priest abuse scandal. \u00a0Not only did it encourage people to trounce the Church, but it appears to have caused a certain latching of the doors within the ordained ranks of clergy itself. \u00a0Really. \u00a0I was told by a priest not to go door to door. \u00a0I suggested if I went about and introduced myself it might open some opportunities. \u00a0Not now!, he said. \u00a0If you just show up or send letters, they\u2019ll think someone sent you. \u00a0Heaven forbid go to the bishop. \u00a0How many testimonies from converts of old told me that they were advised to speak to the bishop, or go to meet this or that priest. \u00a0I was told don\u2019t do it! \u00a0Times change.<\/p>\n
And of course, our bishop and the diocese in general is not the diocese or bishop of the 1980s. \u00a0Neither seems to care much about the Protestant Clergy conversion phenomenon. \u00a0In fact \u2013 and I hesitate to say this because it was told me in meetings with priests, but since it impacts me, I\u2019ll say it \u2013 I was told by no less than three priest to more or less forget serving in a ministry or even diocesan capacity in our area. One even said that a blank resume with no writing on it would get me farther now than a resume with any experience at all that included the term \u2018former Protestant clergy.\u2019 \u00a0Clearly, for reasons more complex than new Popes and changing times, there is a different atmosphere.<\/p>\n
In my time with the apostolate, I noticed that conversation was taking place more and more. \u00a0There were still dioceses that opened their arms to clergy converts, but I remember not a few conversations at lunch in which the president of the apostolate lamented yet one more bishop here or diocese there that seemed to be closing doors to any more clergy. \u00a0Ours, unfortunately, being one of them. \u00a0Again, as go the leaders, so goes the Church.<\/p>\n
If all that wasn\u2019t enough, and by golly it ought to be, we had the economy tank. \u00a0Many converts I met and talked to who came into the Church in the 80s or even 90s, spoke of getting positions in parishes or the local diocese, in this apostolate or that mission. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Well, they were easy to get. \u00a0The pay wasn\u2019t good (back then). \u00a0People didn\u2019t stay in those positions long. \u00a0There were usually plenty of job openings and turnaround a bishop could utilize for a convert looking for employment and a ministry. \u00a0Just like getting jobs in the secular world as a bi-vocational pastor was easier then, so it was easy to find jobs in church settings, since availability was not an issue.<\/p>\n
Today, with unemployment at least 7.6% (some argue much higher), even a low paying job or position is worth its weight in gold. \u00a0Those jobs just aren\u2019t moving. \u00a0In our diocese, except for a few custodial or part time positions, there haven\u2019t been that many openings over years (and yes, I applied, see changing attitudes above). \u00a0People aren\u2019t leaving. \u00a0There just isn\u2019t the open door policy or availability there once was. <\/p>\n
So what\u2019s all this about? \u00a0Well, nothing really. \u00a0Just when I was told about this fellow convert whose life is unraveling in a way similar to ours, it got me to thinking. \u00a0Truth be told, when I came into the Church, I discovered that the proverbial \u2018pastor loses everything to become Catholic\u2019 didn\u2019t happen all that often. \u00a0Most weren\u2019t pastors in the true sense of the word. \u00a0Most didn\u2019t get their income only from being in ministry. \u00a0Most didn\u2019t lose much outside of family troubles and personal losses of friends and colleagues. \u00a0Scott Hahn was an exception, not the rule. \u00a0Yet even then, most when they came in found a much more open, willing, and excited environment in which to settle and start life anew. <\/p>\n
In fact, in the early years of my conversion, I only met one fellow whose life unraveled after becoming Catholic, and based on his story, it had more to do with problems in his family and a failed marriage than becoming Catholic. \u00a0I have a feeling his life was going to unravel either way. \u00a0Most converts from the early decades seemed to have discovered a quick path into the faith, and often found parishes or dioceses that took the initiative, stepped in and got them back on track. \u00a0Or many more simply weren\u2019t full time vocational ministers in the first place, and therefore didn\u2019t really need to change as much as make a few alterations.<\/p>\n
So the full time vocational minister has been a rare thing. \u00a0Statistically, about fifteen years ago, more Evangelical ministers were entering the Orthodox traditions than Catholicism, at least proportionately. \u00a0The reasons should be obvious. \u00a0But even when they became Catholic, it appears times were different. \u00a0Now, changes have taken place. \u00a0Those changes I mention may or may not be local, or because of reasons I tossed out. \u00a0I might not be altogether right, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m entirely wrong. \u00a0In any event, whatever the reasons, things have changed. \u00a0Personally, because of that, I think there needs to be some front desk for Protestant clergy that will explain this and be honest. \u00a0Not to dissuade clergy converts, but to make them aware of what to expect. \u00a0After all, this is not Scott Hahn\u2019s conversion generation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No, it isn\u2019t. \u00a0And there might be reasons. \u00a0Scott Hahn is the Elvis of Protestant clergy converts to Catholicism. \u00a0At least in the modern era. \u00a0There are others, and clergy converting to Catholicism is not some new thing. \u00a0It\u2019s ebbed and flowed over the generations. \u00a0But for this particular generation, Scott Hahn reigns supreme as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n