Per Christum

I was thinking the other day about the reasons I became Catholic. I have been Catholic for almost four years now, and have been interested in liturgical Christianity since about 1999. One thing that attracted me to liturgical Christianity and Catholicism is how Trinitarian our life, worship, and theology really is.

Growing up, I was fascinated with the Trinity and took it upon myself to defend the deity of Christ against its critics (like Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc). When I returned to my faith in college, I once again became interested in the Trinity. However, in both evangelical settings I found that the Trinity was usually only mentioned when we started talking about apologetics or Christian distinctives. Our everyday worship and education was not overly Trinitarian, although the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all mentioned, although not really in an orthodox Trinitarian framework. It wasn’t that the references to the Father, Son, and Spirit were purposefully heretical, it is just that often the three persons were not connected in any meaningful fashion. The Trinity was especially absent at the “contemporary” church I attended in college. There was no Trinitarian Creed, no Trinitarian hymns, no Church Year, no real catechesis about the Trinity beyond what may have come up in Bible Study, and no prayers that ended with …”who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God…” Perhaps a sermon or two throughout the year might mention the Trinity, but you couldn’t even count on that. Had you asked the leaders of that church if the Trinity was important, they would have said, “Oh, of course!” However, you wouldn’t have known it from the worship.

When I began studying Catholicism and Orthodoxy I found two Churches that were immersed in Trinitarian theology, that not only helped formulate the doctrine at Nicaea, but that also looked to the Trinity to shape their ethics and practices. Even the most basic Catholic/Orthodox prayer, the sign of the cross, was deeply Trinitarian. Upon attending liturgical services for the first time, I remember thinking, “wow, this is very Trinitarian!”

You may be familiar with the television and radio ministry of evangelist Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron (aka “Mike Sever” from Growing Pains) called Way of the Master [warning: here there be loud audio , busy flash and dubious theology.] I usually refer to it as “Way of the Ambush” because it’s built around walking up to unsuspecting folks on the street and letting them know how sinful they are and, if they haven’t followed the “Roman’s Road”/Sinner’s Prayer version of conversion, that they are on their way to Hell.

Because there are a lot of Catholics (practicing and non) on this planet, they are often targets for this treatment…all the better if they are poorly catechized or lapsed.

One feature they have on their radio show is “Fish with Trish” where a lady named Trish Ramos goes around with a cellphone finding non-Christians or people who “think they’re good” who will agree to talk on the air with Ray, Kirk and/or radio host Todd Friel to find out how wrong and lost they are.

This time, I think Trish reeled in a fish that wouldn’t fit in their live-well: Fr. Jim McGhee.

Fr. Jim McGhee is a convert to the Catholic faith AND a Catholic priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Forth Worth, Texas. He was raised as a Methodist and was a Methodist minister for about seven years before becaming Episcopalian and serving as a priest in that communion for about 20 years. He entered full-communion with the Catholic Church in 1992. He’s also married (which amazed Trish and caused her to wonder out loud if it was “some sort of liberal thing.”)

Well, Fr. Jim can quote scripture as well as they can and he knows their language. He presents the Catholic faith in way that I think they could understand, even if it wasn’t in a way that they liked. Here’s an excerpt:

Comfort: But, if I’m a Roman Catholic, I’ve been sprinkled as a baby, I’m adult and I’m Catholic by name but I haven’t repented and my faith is not in Jesus am I going to heaven?

McGhee: No.

Comfort: So I’m going to Hell?

McGhee: Because you have to cooperate with the grace of God in knowing the faith, living in hope according to your will and learning how to love the good by presence of the Holy Spirit. There has to be a sanctification, a growing up in the Faith.

Download an mp3 of the Program here
(Fr. Jim’s segment starts at 37 mins and 56 seconds into the mp3*)

Anyway, I think Fr. Jim did a great job of presenting the Catholic faith and traditional, sacramental Christianity in a winsome way to a hostile audience that espouses a more novel version of the Christian faith. He really contrasts the nuances of the Apostolic Faith with the “fits on business card” presentation that seems to be par for the course at Way of the Master.

Trish also posted photos and her account of the encounter on her blog as well this video:

*Note: There are some other Catholic-related jewels earlier in the episode: a recording from a 60 Minutes interview with a Catholic former-hitman talking about confession and an incredibly shallow and ham-fisted review of the statement by Avery Cardinal Dulles about the universal scope of the plan of salvation that gets brought up in Fr. Jim’s segement. That’s why Todd Friel says “it’s not beat up on Catholics hour.” There’s also a clip from a sermon by Reformed Baptist pastor John Piper about making sure Christ is first in your life that I thought was well stated.

One of my favorite blogs as of late is Retractiones, the journey of an evangelical who is considering Catholicism and Orthodoxy. I haven’t commented there much, simply for lack of time, but I read it regularly with great joy and interest. I am probably so interested in the thoughts and journey of “Irenaeus,” because I was once where he was. His thoughts have got me thinking a little bit about how I went from evangelical to Catholic.

Every evangelical who becomes Catholic (or Orthodox even) has something that starts the process, i.e. sparks the interest in ancient and catholic things. For me, it was the Church Fathers and Church history, both which I first discovered in 1999. At the time, I was an evangelical, active in the Navigators and Campus Crusade for Christ, but having issues with the theology and practices I encountered in both groups. One extreme example of the problems was when a Campus Crusade leader spoke on John 1:1, and was glad to read that the Bible was called “God!!” An Early Christianity class I took with a devoted and scholarly Orthodox professor opened my eyes to the treasure that is ancient Christianity. I was shocked that I had never heard of the Church Fathers before, let alone their thoughts and ideas. I became increasingly more concerned that the evangelical Christianity I knew so well seemed so different from the Christianity of those who lived immediately after Christ. Soon after the class ended, I went out and bought the entire 38 volume set of Fathers put out by Hendrickson Publishing. But nonetheless, like our friend “Irenaeus,” I moved slowly and incrementally, not able to make the leap immediately into Catholicism or Orthodoxy, for theological, social, and other reasons. I did find evangelicals and other Protestants that seemed to appreciate the Fathers. When I saw that the Episcopal church embraced (at least in theory) a lot of what the Fathers seemed to teach, like baptismal regeneration, Eucharistic Real Presence, liturgical worship, hierarchy within the Church, etc. I became Anglican, which having grown up as an evangelical, was itself a major step, but since I could point to popular Anglican evangelical authors, friends and family weren’t as shocked as had I become Catholic or Orthodox. I just could not make the leap to Catholicism or Orthodoxy.

As I mentioned above, even though I read many Catholic and Orthodox authors (including many Patristic and Medieval writers both privately and later in grad school), I was also influenced by catholic-leaning evangelicals like Robert Webber and Thomas Oden. In fact, I owe the late Robert Webber a debt of gratitude. Even though I have come to disagree with many of his conclusions, Webber helped me become Catholic. In fact, some anti-Catholic websites cited Webber’s influence on me as proof that the newest generation of evangelicals (which includes Webber) is corrupting people into Catholicism!

When I eventually realized that the Anglican Communion did not possess Catholic authority, and had no real “core” beliefs, I knew I finally had to make the jump to either Orthodoxy or Catholicism. Mind you, this is 5 years after I initially discovered the Fathers…5 years! Like Irenaeus, at this point, I seriously explored Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Even though most people who knew me probably would have guessed that I would become Orthodox at some point, I became convinced of the claims of the Catholic Church for a variety of reasons, which I have outlined in my conversion story, which saves me from typing them out here (whew!).

When I think back to the twists and turns my journey into the Catholic Church took, and how much time and energy it would have saved me to just jump in and become Catholic back in 2000, I also remind myself that it is never that easy to simply “jump in” without being emotionally and socially ready, although once we become convinced of the Truth of the Catholic Church, it is imperative that we join as soon as possible. Becoming Catholic organically and naturally, rather than jumping in without proper study and prayer, has likely made me a stronger and more faithful Catholic today than had I just jumped in. I look back and fear that had I become Catholic while at grad school, I would have gotten a warped sense of Catholicism from some of the Catholics there (one Catholic student there wrote in my graduate school’s newsletter that a nun patting a woman’s head was a lesbian “sexual experience”).

For Irenaeus: know that many of us here have been where you all, and are praying for you on your journey, and wherever you end up, and however long it takes you to get there, we will continue to enjoy your reflections and insights.

Ok, I grant that a number of non-Catholics go out of the way to call the holiday “Resurrection Sunday“  a few seem to have gravitated towards calling it “Pascha” like Eastern Christians do…  Some of them dislike the term “Easter” wrongly thinking it connotes paganism. (Taylor Marshall has the 411 on that with today’s entry Why is the festival of Christ’s Resurrection called Easter? - it is about as “pagan” to use the term “Easter” as it is “Thursday” or “January” or “Sunday“[!] for that matter!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Servant of God Dorothy Day

I just ran across a wonderful reflection from an Evangelical woman, Michelle, whom I am getting to know here on WordPress. At Consider Jesus, she writes:

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This post should provide plenty of interesting data for those wishing to psychoanalyze my conversion to Catholicism, as I could’ve written this at probably any point as an Evangelical from age 16 on, if I had had the courage.

Most times, I don’t love the Bible.

When I try to read it, which isn’t often, I can’t seem to relax. It’s like my brain has to go into doctrine mode or something, systematizing what I read and matching it to beliefs of mine or others. Then I start analyzing my analyzing…

I read a passage or two and can easily come up with a couple hundred questions. Who’s supposed to answer these? Ever since I was introduced to the “Study Bible”, I’ve found its notes and outlines and essays much more interesting. At least it explains concepts, “compares scripture with scripture”, establishes historical context, etc.

If I think I understand something, I remember the myriad of times I’ve heard sermons or read explanations that helpfully contradict (often using other scripture) what seemed so obvious before.

Very little of it appeals to me stylistically. If I want some Jesus, I’m more likely to pick up Benedict, Guardini, Sheed, or even Rice. If I want some OT action, I’d much rather read something like Buechner’s Son of Laughter about Jacob.

I can say I do love to hear the Scriptures read in the context of the liturgy. My brain doesn’t have time to get bogged down in all that chaotic interpretation. I can relax. Simply listening can be an act of worship.

Some online articles concerning the Bible that I’ve enjoyed:

Pontficator.
Enloe On the O vs. the A.
Papist.
Our Own David Bennett the Eisegete.

cross-posted at cine

Most Evangelicals and other Protestants I know of are a bit mystified that Catholics can “have church every day” - if they are even aware that we do…

When I worked downtown sometimes I attended the “lunchtime low” at the Cathedral during the weekdays - well attended by business folk on their lunch hour.

A somewhat curious co-worker of Southern extraction was surprised:

“Y’all have church at lunch?”

“Yup. We have church at lunch.”

“Every day?”

“Yup. Every day.”

In turn most Catholics in America are likely largely unaware of the daily prayers of the Roman Church in praying the Divine Office… We will save that for another post.

More mystifying still to some who think about it, is that when I speak of “my Church” I mean the Catholic Church - throughout the world, in all parishes (though I admit, some I would be more hesitant to claim!) - not just my particular parish. For many non-Catholics this sense of “availability” of multiple locations seems odd on the face of it. “Their church” is often meant to mean “my congregation” - levels of comfort in finding another congregation they could worship with when traveling (for example) seems to vary widely.

But I am curious to ask our readership who are converts: How have opportunities to participate in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church outside of Sunday (& maybe Wednesday night) services affected your prayer life?

Non-Catholics, have you been involved with congregations that had daily opportunities to gather for prayer? If you don’t belong to a mainline denomination, how do you assess places of worship when away from your congregation?

Tiber Jumper over at his blog, Crossed the Tiber, has a hilarious tribute to the eternal verities of Catholicism in the form of a modified evangelical tent revival hymn, Old Time Religion sung in Baptist, Foursquare and many other independent churches that dot the southern regions of the land. Enjoy!

Tiber Jumper is a physician and a talented musician. He has been featured on EWTN’s “Journey Home.” His blog is definitely worth some visits.

As I have traveled around the country, one line in my speeches always draws cheers: “The monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new dialogue has now begun.” We have now entered the post-Religious Right era. Though religion has had a negative image in the last few decades, the years ahead may be shaped by a dynamic and more progressive faith that will make needed social change more possible.

In the churches, a combination of deeper compassion and better theology has moved many pastors and congregations away from the partisan politics of the Religious Right. In politics, we are beginning to see a leveling of the playing field between the two parties on religion and “moral values,” and the media are finally beginning to cover the many and diverse voices of faith. These are all big changes in American life, and the rest of the world is taking notice.

Wow, does Time Magazine’s Jim Wallis ever get it wrong.

Yes, the religious right is in disarray. It is discouraged by a presidency dismally mired in an unpopular war and over interested in the politics of big business. The religious right is dismayed over an array of candidates it finds difficult to support. All true. For now.

In order to substantiate the demise of the religious right, I would look for statistics showing a decline in the pro-life position among evangelicals or similar trends on human cloning, or euthanasia. Jim Wallis and Time Magazine will not find such evidence because this is not happening. If anything, the evangelical commitment to pro-life issues is growing. Yes, many evangelicals are overcoming some of their works-righteousness fears to perform the works of mercy. But, they show no more signs of taking up liberation theology or Marxism or democratic party politics than did Mother Theresa. Feeding the hungry does not make one a democrat, Mr. Wallis.

Political disarray and dismay do not equal demise. Given the opportunity to vote their conscience in a consistent fashion, the Old Religious Right will show itself to be the same religious right as before. The religious and political ideas of evangelicals are not changing as much as they are seeking a decent course for expression. Huckabee’s Iowa performance may be the first sign that the Evangelical vote has not lost its power.

I did notice that Jim lumps Catholics with Evangelicals in the religious right. This is a fundamental error. Yes, conservative Catholics tend to vote conservative. No news there. But, to understand American politics of the past 25 years, one must know that Catholics ARE the swing vote in America. States like Ohio, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan which are notorious swing states are heavily Catholic. Your heavily evangelical/Baptist states are all firmly Red. Since Reagan took the Republican party pro-life, the Catholic vote has been divided. Catholics often have to choose which issues are most important in a given cycle and vote on those issues. In ‘04, Catholics voted Republican largely to avoid gay marriage and get pro-life justices on the high court. Both were a success and neither will be governing issues this cycle as they were in ‘04. Many swing vote Catholics will likely vote on other issues this year. True. But swing vote Catholics were never part of the religious right. Catholics were never part of the Moral Majority of Jerry Falwell or the Christian Coalition.

Traditional Catholics, who are on the ascendancy in the Church, will always vote conservative. Evangelicals will always vote conservative. Swing vote Catholics and other swing voters will always … well, swing. So, what’s the news here, Mr. Wallis?

With the new year just around the corner, I would like to encourage all Catholics to consider becoming better catechists –according to their specific responsibilities as pastors, parents, teachers, etc.– as one of the resolutions for the new year.

For Pope John Paul II’s aspotolic exhortation, click here: http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2CATEC.HTM

With all the pundits predicting the decline or even demise of the political influence of the religious right, there are some important statistics about young Evangelicals that have been overlooked. Clearly, there is a diffusion of enthusiasm when there’s not a Republican candidate the Evangelicals can identify with (the jury still being out on Huckabee). Still there are important trends to keep in mind from the Pew Research Center’s September report.

Support for capital punishment remains high:
- 72% among white evangelicals ages 18-29
- 75% among white evangelicals over 30

The Pro-Life message is actually getting stronger among young Evangelicals:
- 70% of white evangelicals ages 18-29
- 55% of white evangelicals over 30
favor “making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion,”

As a faithful Catholic, I disagree with Evangelicals on capital punishment which is an offense against the dignity of the human person and defeats the penitential aspect of the justice system. Still, these figures demonstrate that the reservoir of conservative values is not declining among the core of the religious right. Furthermore, the opposition to abortion is actually gaining significantly among young evangelicals.

In other words, disillusionment with President Bush and the Republican lineup for 2008, is NOT the same as a retreat on the essential values of religious conservatives.

This is something that traditional Catholics can celebrate.

So stop by. When there, be sure to check out:

Je Me Souviens: Remembering Quebec by Juli Loesch Wiley a beautifully written piece that helped me to understand when I read it how it came to be the case that my Quebecois grandmother was one of 11!

Aging Hippies or Old Western Men? and The Beauty of the Truth by Thomas Storck are also must-reads.

Actually the whole site is. Read them all and then order some of the back-issues that are still left.

I would like to introduce a fellow Christian who is contemplating crossing the Tiber, Barbara Curtis of mommylife.net. Her work includes the Mommy, Teach Me! series and Reaching the Left from the Right: Talking About Social Issues with People Who Don’t Think Like You.

I have enjoy reading her stories and wanted to pass them on. They can be found here:
What does it mean to be pro-life?
Where I’ve been and where I’m bound - Part 1
Where I’ve been and where I’m bound - WIBAWIB - Part 2
Barbara Goes to Mass - WIBAWIB - Part 3
More thoughts on Mass - WIBAWIB - Part 4
WIBAWIB - Part 5
This is still the beginning of her voyage across the Tiber. If anyone out there has a toe in the Tiber, has crossed (or who was born this side of it!) send her a note.

Massabki Brothers, Martyrs at Damascus

These are interesting times.