![\"CampbellAvenueChurch\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2017\/09\/CampbellAvenueChurch-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This is the ten-part\u00a0story of my complete religious history, from nominal Methodism (1958-1967), to the occult and practical atheism (1968-1976), through evangelical Protestantism, counter-cult, pro-life, and campus evangelist work (1977-1990), and finally on to the fullness of the Catholic faith \u00a0in 1991. It is found complete (75 pages) in my 2013 book, Catholic Converts and Conversion<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n See All Ten Parts:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Part One:<\/strong>\u00a0Nominal Methodism, Occult, and the Seeds of a Serious Christian Commitment (1958 \u2013 early 1970s)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Two:<\/strong>\u00a0Nature Mysticism, Romanticism, Bible Movies, and the \u201cGreat Depression\u201d (1968-1977)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Three:<\/strong>\u00a0Evangelical \u201cBorn-Again\u201d (?) Experience, More Lukewarmness, and Personal Revival (1977-1982)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Four:<\/strong>\u00a0Apologetics, Abundant Evangelical Blessings, and Protestant Evangelistic Campus Ministry (1983-1989)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Five:<\/strong>\u00a0Collapse of My Protestant Ministry: Disillusionment and the End of One Chapter of My Life, But with Faith Intact (1985-1989)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Six:<\/strong>\u00a0Pro-Life Rescue Movement, Letter to Karl Keating, My Ecumenical Gatherings, & the First \u201cDomino\u201d: Contraception (1988-1990)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Seven:<\/strong>\u00a0Ecclesiology (the<\/em>\u00a0Church), the \u201cProtestant Myth\u201d of Church History, and My Vehement Opposition to Catholic Infallibility (1990)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Eight:<\/strong>\u00a0Bombshell and Paradigm Shift: Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman\u2019s\u00a0Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine<\/em>\u00a0(1990)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Nine:<\/strong>\u00a0The Slow But Inevitable Paradigm Shift, Fr. John A. Hardon, and Another View of the \u201cReformation\u201d (1990)<\/a><\/p>\n Part Ten:<\/strong>\u00a0Thomas Howard & Liturgy, My New Catholic Apologetics Career, and the Long-Awaited Fulfillment of My Calling (1990-1991)<\/a><\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n Nominal, Ignorant, Lax Methodist Period (1958-1967) <\/strong><\/p>\n My first exposure to Christianity came from the United Methodist Church, the denomination of my parents and all four grandparents. We attended Campbell Avenue Methodist Church, in a working-class neighborhood of Detroit (Mexicantown<\/a> \/ West Vernor-Junction<\/a> Historic District). It was a red brick building<\/a>, constructed c. 1909.<\/p>\n The congregation appeared to me, even as a child in the early 1960s, to be in decline, sociologically speaking, as the average age of the members was certainly above fifty years. In my studies as an evangelical later on, I learned that shrinking and aging congregations were one of the marks of the deterioration of mainline Protestantism.<\/p>\n To me, church meant \u201ca bunch of old people\u201d: the very opposite<\/em> of a vibrant, thriving, exciting endeavor. It seemed to me to be a dead or dying thing. Christianity (and this was my only \u201cexperience\u201d of it) appeared to me boring, inconsequential, and removed from the \u201creal world.\u201d This was not good \u201cPR\u201d for Christianity, for a young, inquiring mind like my own.<\/p>\n This is a great pity because the original Methodism was an astonishingly vibrant, spiritually wonderful reform movement within Anglicanism. John Wesley (who initiated it) has long been probably the one historical Protestant I respect and admire more than any other. Recently, I compiled a book of his quotations<\/a>.<\/p>\n But despite all this (from my own fault and those of others: whatever they might be), God was still able to inculcate within me a certain sense of the sacred. Our church was unusual in that you had to walk upstairs to the sanctuary: giving it a greater sense of separateness. It had large stained-glass windows: thus initiating my lifelong love of that art form. I loved the woodwork; even the way the whole place smelled. When I visited there again about twenty years ago it was a very moving experience for me.<\/p>\n These are faint traces of the \u201csacred space\u201d of Catholicism. In an indirect way, this was the receiving of some semblance of religious devotion from the surroundings, or aesthetics. There really is<\/em> something to<\/em> that: the intersection of art and architecture with Christian devotion and observance. It entered into me almost wholly apart from any theological content.<\/p>\n Somehow I felt different there, even if bored, and clueless as to any actual theological content. Childhood, I suppose, is often about vague impressions and feelings difficult to verbalize: both at that young age and even later on when reflecting upon one\u2019s early life.<\/p>\n Yet I can distinctly remember the dreadful feeling of Sunday morning, with my church clothes laid out for me at the foot of the bed. Going to church for me was about as exciting as a cross between the dentist and learning grammar. I had less than no desire at all to go, and it didn\u2019t help that my dad often didn\u2019t attend. I tried to use that excuse, as many children do, but it was a non-starter.<\/p>\n The above impressions are pretty much the sum of what I got out of this entire period of my life, in terms of religious observance. My favorite times were the church bazaars, which were fun and had interesting toys; also junior church, when we could get out of the sanctuary, with its boring goings-on, and go play games; as well as summer Bible school.<\/p>\n I loved Easter because I got candy in my basket, and the eggs were pretty, and \u201coh, Jesus rose from the dead, too<\/em>, right?\u201d It was an entirely superficial understanding of, and participation in Christianity. But it wasn\u2019t all my fault, because it wasn\u2019t made<\/em> interesting or appealing to me. We are what we eat.<\/p>\n At least in the Catholic tradition, a lot of kids go to parochial school and receive some kind of catechetical instruction. I didn\u2019t have any of that benefit: no good Sunday school, or much at all. I think that if I had learned earlier, some of the things I discovered later, I would have had more zeal for being a Christian a lot earlier in my life. But it\u2019s all in God\u2019s good time and His providence.<\/p>\n Our congregation actually folded in 1968, and after that, I barely attended church at all for the next nine years. My family never sought another regular church to attend. My early religious upbringing was not totally without good effect, though, since I gained a respect for God that I never relinquished, some dim comprehension of His love for mankind, and an appreciation for the sense of the sacred and basic moral precepts.<\/p>\n The Fundamentalist Altar Call and \u201cGetting Saved\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n For whatever reason, I didn\u2019t sustain (to put it mildly) any ongoing interest in Christianity at this time. Despite that, in 1969, at the age of eleven, I first came into contact with the quintessential altar call of fundamentalist Christianity at a Baptist church that we visited two or three times (I think it was through a friend of my older sister, Judy). I remember my brother Gerry fainting in this church on one occasion (guess it was really hot).<\/p>\n I went up front to get \u201csaved,\u201d perfectly sincere (I even talked about it later with my friends), but with nowhere near the knowledge or force of will required (by more thoughtful evangelical standards) to carry out this temporary resolve. The person up front asked me to recite John 3:16, and I knew a little of it, but not the whole thing, so he had to finish it off with me.<\/p>\n Curiosity About the Occult and the Supernatural<\/strong><\/p>\n During this period, I became fascinated with the supernatural, but unfortunately, it got channeled into a vague, catch-all occultism. I dabbled, with great seriousness into ESP, telepathy, the Ouija board, astral projection, and other practices. I read about Houdini and Uri Geller, and the \u201cChariots of the Gods\u201d (Erich von D\u00e4niken\u2019s quack pseudo-scientific, ersatz archaeological speculations).<\/p>\n I was intensely fascinated with ghost stories and \u201cunexplained happenings\u201d like UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle. Some of this spiritual curiosity was spurred on by paranormal TV shows like One Step Beyond<\/em>, Night Gallery<\/em>, The Outer Limits<\/em>, and The Twilight Zone<\/em>.<\/p>\n These activities and curiosities weren\u2019t just frivolous \u201cgames\u201d in my mind. I was genuinely pursuing the occult and believed that it was quite real. Now I know much of it is indeed genuine, but that it lies in the Satanic or demonic realm. I think it was a classic case study of any number of beliefs taking the place of Christianity, when the latter is absent for the most part. G. K. Chesterton noted that when people reject Christianity, the problem is not that they believe in nothing<\/em>, but that they will believe in anything<\/em>. That was me!<\/p>\n While these were mostly the wrong avenues to reach the true God, yet God in His mercy used them (or, the curiosity and \u201cseeking\u201d that led<\/em> me to them) to bring me to Himself. He eventually revealed to me that He was the fulfillment of all my vague and confused spiritual aspirations.<\/p>\n The \u201cJesus Freaks\u201d and My Brother\u2019s Evangelical Conversion <\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, my late brother Gerry, who was ten years older, converted, in 1971, to \u201cJesus Freak\u201d evangelical Protestantism, a trend that was at its peak at that time. He underwent quite a remarkable transformation out of a drug-filled rock band culture and personal struggles, and started preaching zealously to our family. The spectacle of his long-haired friends coming around, carrying Bibles and talking about Jesus, was very much a novelty. It got me wondering, \u201cwhat\u2019s going on<\/em> here?\u201d I thought you had to be a \u201csquare\u201d to be a good Christian.<\/p>\n I had already been influenced by the hippie counterculture, and was, more and more a conscious nonconformist, so the Jesus Movement held a strange fascination for me, although I had no intention whatsoever of joining<\/em> it. Since my brother was sort of a \u201chero\u201d to me, he had influence on me in this way, but it took a while, because my stubbornness was far greater than any desire to emulate him in this regard.<\/p>\n I prided myself (typically of the nominal or liberal theological outlook) on my \u201cmoderation\u201d and \u201csense\u201d with regard to religious matters. Like many lax Christians and outright unbelievers, I reacted to any display of earnest and devout Christianity with a mixture of fear, amusement, and condescension, thinking that such behavior was \u201cimproper,\u201d fanatical, and outside of mainstream American culture.<\/p>\n Messiah Lutheran Church, Rev. Dick Bieber, and Bible Movies<\/strong><\/p>\n During the early 1970s, I occasionally visited Messiah Lutheran Church in Detroit, just a few miles from my earlier church, on West Grand Boulevard: the same street where the famous Motown Studio is located, to the north; and also where I was born: in the other direction, near the Detroit River. My brother attended Messiah, along with his recently \u201csaved\u201d long-haired friends. I\u2019d squirm in my seat under the conviction of the powerful and rather remarkable sermons of Pastor Dick Bieber<\/a>, the likes of which I had never heard.<\/p>\n I remember thinking that what he was preaching was undeniably true, and that if I were to \u201cget saved\u201d myself, there would be no room for middle ground or fence-sitting. I knew down deep in my heart that it was true, but had no intention of following it. It was pure rebellion. I was reluctant mostly because I thought it would be the end of fun and fitting-in with my friends. Because of my foolish, self-centered pride, God had to use more drastic methods a few years later to wake me up.<\/p>\n God gave me a consciousness and innate sense that Christian teaching on moral issues was correct. I just didn\u2019t want to follow<\/i> those teachings. I was a typical teenager of today (and probably of all times).<\/p>\n I was significantly influenced, however, by movies about Jesus; for example, The Greatest Story Ever Told<\/em>. One time we were watching that (in the mid-70s), and my brother Gerry said \u201cJesus is God.\u201d I was so ignorant at this time that I didn\u2019t even know<\/em> that. I had no understanding of the Holy Trinity whatsoever. I replied, incredulously, \u201che\u2019s the son<\/em> of God!\u201d And he said \u201cno, He\u2019s God the Son<\/em>.\u201d So I started thinking about that and it gave me a different perspective, watching the movie: that this person Jesus was God in the flesh.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Addendum<\/strong> (not in the book): I ran across the obituary for the minister at Campbell Avenue Church from 1962-1967: Rev. Donald Hall. <\/a>He had been in the Coast Guard and Air Force for 13 years (1945-1958) and\u00a0received a Doctorate of Ministry from Drew University School of Theology in 1985, at age 58. The most interesting thing in the obituary is the note that he \u201cattended Billy Graham\u2019s first crusade at Madison Square Garden [which was in 1957<\/a>] and it was then that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.\u201d I don\u2019t remember that<\/em> kind of evangelical \u201ccome and get saved\u201d preaching, but then again, I was very young and apathetic. Maybe it was good preaching and I simply wasn\u2019t yet ready to hear it. Who knows the sort of seeds I may have received even then, despite myself? I remember being bored out of my gourd during the sermons. All I remember is that he seemed to be an impressive, stern sort of man. He was young: just 35-40 during his tenure at Campbell, and he formed my first impression of a Christian clergyman. He died in 2012 at age 85. May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n