![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S0Mcn5Z9dmI\/AAAAAAAAAzM\/Z3LZFxj7n5s\/s200\/JourneyHome\")
<\/a>Last night was no exception. Marcus Grodi\u2019s two-part show (the second part to be shown next week) featured interviews with three American Catholic priests who had converted as married Anglican clergymen: Frs. Eric Bergman, Dwight Longenecker, and Ray Ryland. The occasion for this show was the Vatican\u2019s recent opening to the Anglican communion.<\/p>\nIt is one thing to have converted, as I did, through the intercession of movies<\/a>, angels<\/a>, Popes<\/a>, musicals<\/a>, rosaries<\/a>, pastors<\/a>, a loving wife<\/a>, a grandmother named Mary<\/a>, mentors<\/a>, amazing women<\/a>, books<\/a>, saints<\/a>, other miscellaneous fragments of Christian culture<\/a>, and the enduring love of God<\/a>. (Can you spell personal-history linkathon?)<\/p>\n But these guys\u2014Fathers Eric, Dwight, and Ray\u2014they have deeply considered reasons<\/i> for having converted, complex ideas they had to struggle to come to terms with as highly educated and passionately committed Anglicans. What an impressive trio! I am proud to be considered one of their company as a fellow convert, though I am not worthy to wash their theological feet.<\/p>\n The idea that came like a revelation to me last night\u2014you\u2019ll laugh at my ignorance\u2014is that these three priests converted, bottom line, because each came to realize that in the Anglican or Episcopal Church, there is no ultimate authority. <\/i>No Pope, no Catechism. So we are left with the sad spectacle of the entire Anglican experiment in America (called Episcopalian after the Revolution to distinguish it from the British experiment) splintering likc kindling under the axe of Paul Bunyan.<\/p>\n If I were still an Episcopalian today, as I was over 40 years ago, I don\u2019t know what I would do.<\/p>\n Posted by Webster\u00a0 Every time I watch \u201cThe Journey Home\u201d on EWTN, I learn more reasons why I did not become Catholic. Which is to say, I realize more deeply how quirky and individual my own journey has been. And I gain renewed respect for the intellectual and spiritual depth of other Catholic converts, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/6738513599344023043-3573266412926359409?l=yimcatholic.blogspot.com\")