For the naysayers

I keep getting emails from friends who are expressing concern about the recent turn of events in our Faith walk. the latest came from a dear friend which said:
" Can it be you are converting to Catholicism? I knew you had a soft spot in your heart for catholicism, but I didn't think you would convert, considering all of the massive theological shortfalls that I know Wayne has with it... I know we haven't chatted in quite sometime... but when I saw this it made me nervous... I love you guys."

I feel it must be important for me to thoughtfully explain the details in a way that my evangelical brothers and sisters might understand, so that's what I'm going to attempt to do here. But we warned, i'm going to do it in a general sort of a way and not in a deep, scripture by scripture kind of a way. If you are interested in that, I will recommend some readings to you at the end.

I listen to Air One radio, like most evangelicals around here. One of the songs they play is 'the Creed.' -- I think it's by Jars of Clay. It's the entire text of the nicene creed, which all Christians believe. Third wave, charismatic type churches tend not to RECITE it, citing the verse about vain repetition, but originally, this was a major way people were catechized, by the recitation of doctrine. Catholics say it every day at mass.
One thing that has always struck me is that in it, everyone (protestants included) affirm a belief in the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."
Catholic meaning: "Universal." And yet looking at the world today, it is quite obvious that the church is trying very hard NOT to be "one," seems to have, in many ways, forgotten to be "holy," is certainly not entirely "apostolic," though it may believe that it is, and yet--- it is still CATHOLIC.
Nondenominationals believe that the church is the universal gathering together of the people of God. (those who follow the Jesus Christ of the Bible.)
Catholics, also, believe that protestants are a part of the universal body of Christ. The catechism, I believe, calls them "separated bretheren."

But there comes a point when there is a DEEP, schismatic wound that needs to be addressed. I know that on MY end, as an evangelical nondenominational, I walked AWAY from the Catholic Church and cut ALL ties because I genuinely believed what I was told: that the actions, faith, and rituals of the RCC were demonically oriented. I believed what I was told that the Mass was a demonic sacrifice. I believed we needed to evangelize Catholics. I believed these things because I was CERTAIN that scripture said so-- after all-- theologians everywhere in the protestant church's history called many of these Catholic-only structures and beliefs out as evil abominations. But the Catholic members of my family, both clergy and lay, never cast ME out. They welcomed me with joy at the Lord's supper, over and over again.

Let's look, first, at the reformation. Martin Luther wrote these things on a piece of paper and nailed it to the church door. Wayne likes to remind people that that sounds a lot more dramatic than it really was--- he nailed it there because that's where people would see it, and he didn't make big thing out of it, he quietly pinned it to the door, you know? The things he addressed were spot on. And the church, subsequently, was reformed, both within the authority structure OF the church, and outside as well as people began to break off. Martin Luther's own journals express regret that the schism was so deep. He wanted REFORM, not to break away. But the inertia of his actions ran away with him and thus the Lutheran faith was born.

Internally, the changes were made as well, but the damage was done. People had walked out from under the authority structure of the church, and thus was born protestantism-- protesting the Catholic Church's authority. We believe this was a necessary step in purging, and cleaning up, God's church. We also believe that Satan had an active role in what followed.
So how did we get from that to where we are today, with preachers preaching that to be a member of the Catholic Church is to be united with satan's work, with Babylon the great, the pope is the antichrist, etc. etc.?

Over the years, Wayne and I have realized that people often want to re-invent the wheel, especially in the name of Jesus. There's always this sense of "What God is doing..." that is NEW! and REVOLUTIONARY! We see it in the emergent church, in the relational church, in the "Third Wave" movement, we saw it at Maranatha, in Latter Rain, in the new apostolic....we see it in the mega churches.

Underneath all these movements is actually a further and further break from authority, and as it continues, people-- sincere, genuine believers-- try to REcreate what is already present in the Catholic faith in all sorts of ways. This became incredibly evident to me when I was sitting in the confessional yesterday. Here was a perfect, God-ordained SACRAMENT (special moment of Grace-- a reception of God's covenant with us almost reminiscent of an LDS covenant minus the flawed theology as I meditated on it's purpose) by which I could continue to battle sin in my life. And all I could think about was how nondenominationals are always hounding the creation of accountability groups, etc. It's the same thing, only the structure of the catholic sacrament of reconciliation is literally flawless and incredibly profound and sacred, whereas accountability groups are sort of casual gatherings of sincere believers searching for ways to make a difference in their sin lives. That is but one example among many of attempts to REcreate the sacraments in new ways by these modern movements. What I've come to realize is that in the authority structure of the Catholic Church, all the things we are SEEKING as protestants are already present. We have workers for the harvest, we have church growth in crazy numbers, we have baptism in the Holy Spirit for everyone, we have evangelical outreaches that boggle the mind, we have work for peace and justice, and amazing charity, we have the perfect authority structure, we have excellent accountability, we have small groups, we have prayer groups, we have relational christianity, we have simple church, we have charisms of the spirit, we have family integration.... and on and on it goes. It fulfills all the things the LDS church claims "it's own" in a way that actually agrees with scripture instead of directly contradicting it: the priesthood, the priesthood of all believers, the keys to the kingdom, the temple/ house of God, the sacraments, the "One true Church" concept, the works of charity.

The Catholic Church has history on it's side--- all early theologians... those who saw Jesus themselves, those who continued to teach the faith after Jesus' resurrection, those who WROTE the creeds.....the earliest Christians all held and believed the doctrines and theology of the Catholic Church.

The Church has scripture on it's side. When I took away the "Study Bible" goggles and just looked at the WORD, plain and simple, minus the commentary, I saw so many things that I had missed. Just yesterday, having dinner with Father Tony, we had a moment like that. He was reading to Wayne about the Real Presence from 1 Corinthians.... and he came to the part where it said we must "discern the body" in the bread, lest we reap condemnation on our heads. Discern the BODY! Does it get any clearer than that??

The church has Unity on it's side. Within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church (and the Eastern Orthodox Church) there are PLENTY of different ways of living out your faith, all under one similar theological umbrella, all capable of being united with each other and being complementary to each other. My dad could, on Sept 11 when he was angry, move from Fransiscans who preached on forgiving the terrorists to Jesuits who preached on the fire from heaven for sinners, and back again when he was ready. He could look to the saints who had gone before him to pray for his peace and intercede before the throne alongside those who were walking along the way beside him. And yet all know who they can turn to for their authority, as their leader, who they can stand behind.

This perpetual and growing dissatisfaction with "the church" we see, or vice versa, this maniacal obsession with creating spheres of "like minded DNA" churches all around us is all about the problem at large. Theology, doctrine, etc, is the least of our worries. Evangelicals have for years tried to take Catholics out of the club, but what I've come to realize is that they CREATED the club! And that all the "fathers of the faith" who I can admire as having given their all for God-- those people KNEW without a doubt, that the basic doctrines of the faith needed to be adhered to. Including the things which -- to a protestant-- are NOT basic: devotion to Mary is a blessing so profound that God has graced us with. Early protestants believed it. It wasn't until they got more and more comfortable with their own identity and authority structure outside the church that they began to remove it and reconsider it. The communion of saints is also a huge blessing we miss out on as protestants- an avenue of Grace we refuse. And on and on it goes.

This morning during the homily, our priest shouted out: "it's GOOD to be a Catholic!" people laughed, but you know, I think he has been set on fire anew through us a little bit too... our enthusiasm at discovering (and in my case, re-discovering) the fullness of the deposit of faith available to us believers has just been instrumental. Truly. I only wish I hadn't wasted so much time missing out on this goodness. Fortunately, God was working on me that entire time. I needed to go so deep into the faith movements of modern Christianity that I became a theological whirlwind---tasting of every "move of God" in evangelical America and literally YEARNING for Him in all of them so that I would realize that underneath it all was a beacon of stable light calling me home, and that all it would take was a crumbling of my own vanity and pride and a submitting to the only real spiritual authority on this earth, that of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and of His body, represented by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

So don't cry for me, sisters and brothers--- rejoice with me that I have FINALLY gotten to the point where Romans 8 is a daily reality for me.... where I can finally rest these tired feet and look around me and recognize my Home.

Lastly, I want to address the fact that Wayne has also gone through the same thing. I KNEW it was God when it was him who started openly and actively participating in things I had been praying for in secret. Mary literally showed us how far we were from REAL conversion because of our pride, and how far we were from peace because of our pride. In those tentative moments, I was afraid that I was being seduced by my "feelings," but the amazing thing is that my husband doesn't share those feelings and longings, and yet he came to the same conclusion. His decision to become a Catholic isn't about CONVERSION to a church. It's converting to a way of life. Its' coming under spiritual authority, it's renewing his conversion to Christ, it is confirming his calling in Christ, it's receiving Christ at the Lord's Table, and it is a powerful testimony to the world.
Catholicism isn't another religion to a protestant. We're discovering it's the "pure and undefiled religion" of the book of James that protestants are so often yearning for. And what kills us is that there are thousands upon thousands of people out there who take their catholicism for granted. I literally wept when I received the Eucharist again-- I think people may have thought I was a bit deranged.

I challenge ALL of you who have written to us out of great concern, or who have held your tongues and simply prayed that we would be moved quickly out of the realm of the Catholic church to re-evaluate with the eyes of Christ.
We aren't saying that you should all go out and be Catholics, although if you did, we would TOTALLY understand why. We are saying that to alienate your Catholic brothers and sisters because of YOUR misunderstandings of what they believe is not only wrong, but cruel. And that we look forward, as time goes on, to being an instrument of peace within the community of Christ-followers here. Our priest was once disfellowshipped from Campus Crusade for Christ, where he had spent every waking moment ministering to souls about the Lord, because he had decided to become a Catholic. Don't make that mistake. Educate yourselves about the history of your own church, and take it back before the days when Martin Luther hung that nail. Jesus said: "My peace I give you."

We are praying for peace and a healing of the wounds of religious war.