A query for my fellow converts ... What freedoms did you gain as a Catholic?

A few months back I posted something outlining what I gaiend in Catholicism (The freedom of Catholicism). This was specifically to deny the charge that I traded in a great freedom for a religion of bondage when I became Catholic. The fact is, there is nothing I had as a Protestant that I do not have today. Rather, today I have it in completeness. What that post focuses on what what I GAINED in Truth rather than things that improved upon what I had. Today I wanted to point out something practical that results in greater freedom than I ever had before I became Catholic. It is often considered a burden by our Protestant brethren but I have only come more and more to see how wrong that is.

Confession is a gift, as are all sacraments.

First off, I want to point out that what Protestants do in "going directly to God" with their confession is not in and of itself a bad thing. Catholics, in fact, believe that this is a valid way to obtain sanctifying grace even apart from confession PROVIDED that "perfect contrition" is present.

Perfect contrition bestows the grace of justification on the mortal sinner even before the actual reception of the Sacrament of Penance (Sent. fidei proxima) -- Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Dogma -- p. 428 TAN publishers

Now, perfect contrition is that motivated by perfect love of God (charity). A motivation to love God for ones own benefits, for example, is really self-love and not a sufficient motive to be considered perfect contrition.

Practically speaking it is difficult for us to attain perfect contrition. Almost every Catholic convert knows this when comparing his first examination of conscience to his prior confessions in life. When you have to tell it to someone, it all of the sudden becomes startlingly more real that you did something wrong. What the Church gives us in Confession is the ability to confess those sins from our fallen nature and be ASSURED that even in a state of imperfect contrition those sins are loosed in heaven. It is a function of the authority of the Church as handed to Peter and then to his successors. There is never doubt with my reconciliation with the Church. How can I not feel a great freedom from that?

---

Now, without getting into it, I would also consider the doctrine of purgatory a great mercy. I'll deal with this later.

What about you converts? Are you more free today or do you feel a burden of your Catholic faith just as you were told you would?

If someone can figure out how that is done let me know. I am not paying for advertising on Google. I am not a business. Anyway, an exercise in tedium if someone wants to take up the challenge. I couldn't figure it out in a few minutes of poking.

I once saw commentary indicating that Bobby Jindal had converted to Christianity to gain votes. This is a common charge towards people converting to Christianity from other religions, or even from Protestantism to Catholicism. People find it mind boggling that someone would leave the faith they are fond of for something else. That being said, the reason I know Bobby is sincere in his conversion because people GIVE UP friendships, family relationships and good church situations to convert to Catholicism. These converts often find themselves in the desert of trying to figure all out for years after their first communion in the Church. Bobby converted against the will of his parents. This is well known. He risked alienation from his family for ... votes???? Besides those outside of the Christian faith might not realize that his move could actually cost him votes in the long run. If Bobby had converted to get votes in a predominantly Protestant nation he would not have converted to Catholicism because he KNOWS how charged that tag can be. There has only been ONE Catholic President of the United States and some would argue he only got elected because he stated that he would not let his faith interfere with his job running the country. We Catholics certainly get our converts who come over for every bad reason under the sun but in recent years an increasing number of people are entering the Church because they realize they have no place left to go. We don't typically convert despite our objections. In the end we have found no objections where we desired with all our hearts to find many. Converts often go through tremendous fear. We want to stay in that comfortable spot in our lives that contains all of our friends and family happy with where we go to church. It is a sacrifice we make -- our cross to bear. I don't doubt his sincerity because I have read about his faith and I have been in his shoes. Becoming Catholic is unlike any other "denomination" change in Christianity. That is a reality those who criticize Jindal for his conversion must come to terms with.

The talk went really well. I was excited to hear the stories of other converts. Quite frankly I could do this every week. It is such a blessing to hear of people having gone through the same struggles that my wife and I went through and feeling the same highs and same lows. It was good to hear that everyone struggles through similar logical processes and fights against their conversion at the end. I think few people realize what converts give up. They often convert to Catholicism DESPITE their emotional call to remain Protestant. Trust me, if I had stayed where I wanted to it would have been miles easier but I would have been denying where Christ was leading me.

My notes were 1700 words which alone would have extended beyond my 12.5 minute time limit. I had to leave out large portions of it to hit my alloted time. Beyond the 1700 words I had typed up answers to questions I thought I might be asked. I was asked one question I expected. The question was:

How do you explain the priest scandal and did if affect you during your conversion? The answer to the second part was yes and to the first ... well ... read my conversion story over on the right. :) Something about the people in the pew next to me.

The four articles I wrote for CatholicDaily are my most recent submissions. The one just prior to this never made the web site. If you havent read them, take the time. In the future I recommend listening to the CatholicUnderground podcast. They are copied in as raw HTML so the formatting is not always so nice. I MAY clean them up at some point but not tonight.

Discernment on the internet

John 14:6 “I am the truth the way and the life”

The Internet is a truly distributed medium of information interchange riddled with great treasures and great dangers. In seeking for opportunities to use this great resource one must lean heavily on their faith to determine what sites are and are not acceptable to visit. The catechism warns of the dangers of media:

CCC 2496

The means of social communication (especially the mass media) can give rise to a certain passivity among users, making them less than vigilant consumers of what is said or shown. Users should practice moderation and discipline in their approach to the mass media. They will want to form enlightened and correct consciences the more easily to resist unwholesome influences.

Still for those seeking the truth its radiance shines above the fray.

CCC 2500

... Truth is beautiful in itself ...

Seeking however is an active process as opposed to the passivity condemned in the Catechism. One must be ever active in forming their consciences according to the truths of the faith. It is especially important to inform oneself in dealing with the problems facing us today as you are most prone to find yourself defending the faith regarding those issues or directly dealing with them yourself. Regular spiritual reading, adult education, Bible studies and other learning of the faith should be a regular part of your Catholic life.

Naturally, learning more about our faith helps us long term but what about now? Well, prayer is always a good first step. As a matter of course I ask for Gods protection on a regular basis. We all do when we say the Lords Prayer -- "lead us not into temptation". Second, it never hurts to simply ask for guidance. Third asking that you FIND the answers you are looking for is simply affirming a promise given to us in Sacred Scripture.

Luke 11:10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Furthermore it is important to set your own boundaries based on what you know of your faith and of yourself. If you remove a potted plant from its pot, the soil will fall away exposing the roots and eventually killing the plant. Keeping the plant in the pot maintains a key parameter (boundaries) making growth possible. The key is to arm yourself and assure your growth as a Catholic before entering into the fray. Where we are in our journey determines whether we need to be replanted in a larger pot with greater freedom -- a freedom which comes only from increased knowledge of Christ.

Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God

As youth, our parents manage our input of information (a smaller pot) defining strong boundaries. The same holds true for ourselves as we grow in Christ.

A few simple boundaries can be defined to assist you in properly discerning information you encounter on the web. Always compare what you read to what the Church teaches. Every Catholic home should have a Bible and a Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you don't know what the Church teaches on a subject use the moment as a learning opportunity -- seek divinely guided answers where applicable. As time goes on you will find your decisions informed by knowledge of your faith even in seemingly innocuous matters. Equally important is to know your weaknesses. Regular confession of devotion will help you to better know yourself so that you can make an effort to avoid occasion of sin.

Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna.

There are a few practical considerations I would like to briefly mention. Even with the precautions of prayer, knowledge of your faith and practical action, Satan will do his best to ensnare you. A simple example I will give involved a fascination my son had with automated car washes. I innocently decided to do a Google search on car wash. The results I saw were staggering. I had to sift through pages of pornography links before I finally found what I was looking for, a video of an automated car wash in action. My world was intruded by evil. Rather than succumb to temptation it is better that we focus on the beauty and truth of our faith.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Additionally, parental controls are great especially in homes with children. There are many choices here and even a sub par one is a step in the right direction. The Vista operating system from Microsoft comes with parental controls built-in. Another filter I recommend is called the “eyes from heaven” control. Put a crucifix near your computer. This serves the purpose of helping remind you of whose commands you obey –

John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Finally there is a great resource available for Catholics at CatholiCulture that rates web sites based on fidelity to the Magisterium.

1 Peter 1:22 "Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a (pure) heart."

Balancing technology with the spiritual life

In subsequent Digital Catholic articles I have indulged in the glory of reading numerous blogs and surfing through the near endless Catholic content on YouTube. In a perfect world each of us would schedule a sliver of time per day aimed at satisfying a positive spiritual need of learning something new about our faith. In reality though, we all know that a fine line can be crossed that sends us on a downward spiral. Tools that we once used to strengthen our faith we can find a constant distraction standing between us and our families, employers and worst of all, God.

There are multiple pitfalls with frequent input of information from the web. First is one of reduced attention span. Researchers have speculated about this in recent years enough to where studies have been done. Some have come back positive. Others negative. Still, we all suspect there is something to it. Web designers focus on attracting people to a site and more importantly in keeping people at the site. They know what the shortest attention spans are the ones they are aiming to grab. If they can keep them at their site, they can keep all of us. Thus our every move on the web is filled with encounters of fast content designed to have maximum impact. Over time we get used to these power packed pellets of information slamming our senses. Then, when we find something that we need to read, like the book of Romans, we find ourselves agitated that the good writer couldn't squeeze it into a pithy tagline or jazz it up with some JavaScript. The contrast heightens our very real loss of attention span.

The second pitfall is one of simple addiction. Employers became wise to this years ago and began blocking the common areas of addiction on the web. Pornography and gaming sites are the top problem areas. Further down the list however includes news. News is harmless right? Not when it consumes six hours a day at work or consumes the rare moments you have to talk with your children. Psychiatrists have even gone so far as to consider naming web surfing addition a disorder. Relationships and careers have been destroyed by online time. Another area that can suffer is our involvement in our local parish and community. It is a very real phenomenon and worth your time to consider whether you are at risk to have a problem with it.

I spend upwards of eight hours a day on a computer and I have felt the frustration of a decrease in my attention span and the strong urge to keep surfing even when deadlines are calling at work. Fortunately our faith is ripe with avenues to help us combat this whether it is becoming a problem or already is causing strife in our lives.

First off prayer is always the first step. In the case of reduced attention span I recommend increasing the amount of contemplative prayer in your life. Contemplative prayer requires patience which is the antithesis of the indulgent nature of online content. Second, since reading about your faith is often the reason a Catholic is online in the first place, I recommend a good old fashioned book: you know, those bindings filled with leaves of paper with text on them. Even better, we have the Bible which is well suited to that purpose. There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading Sacred Scripture in large blocks. Thirty minutes of reading the Bible is not only indulgenced, it is a way to develop a longer attention span and less directly a patient attitude in reading.

Addiction is a more difficult thing to deal with. For most of us, it simply requires better planning of our time and resources. Many effective amateur bloggers have blog time usually once or even a few times a day but the time they allocate to it is limited and they put a good bit of effort into controlling that time. After all, they have prayers to say, work to do, mouths to feed and stories to read at bedtime. The biggest key is developing a good sense of moderation. In addition, I have seen many people give up some segment of their online lives for Lent. This is an ideal way to discipline yourself at a very high level regarding your use of the Internet. If the level of difficulty in pulling oneself away is high then fasting is a good course of action as it in itself aims to tame the desires of the flesh and bring one in accordance with the will of God. Failing all of these seeking help from a priest or licensed professional may be in order.

The Internet is a truly dizzying place filled with caverns of knowledge about our faith. As with so many good things there is the possibility of taking it too far and causing problems in your life and with your relationship with God. With His help you can have a healthy balance of technology and life.

YouTube Evangelists

It sure seems that YouTube is in the news a lot recently. Google buys it for .65 billion. Telivision personalities like Steven Colbert develop larger followings by their regular clips on YouTube. Interestingly a not so new trend has also developed in the world of online video clips -- Evangelism. The first prominent example that I recall seeing was a stunning video titled Why am I Catholic. This video, of course, prompted responses from non-Catholics about all that was wrong with it but the message remains there for all to see. The Catholic Church presented in its full glory.

The movement seems to have begun as a grass roots movement. Excited lay Catholics are eager to get out the message about their fantastic faith. Several months back an atheist poster on YouTube posted a video titled "Blasphemy Challenge" which ventured to get folks to deny God and more specifically the Holy Spirit because, as the Bible says in Mark 3:29 (NAB) "But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." This prompted a host of denial responses. Lo and behold Protestants and Catholics alike responded to the challenge but rather than deny their faith, they affirmed it.

The even more wonderful news is that this movement is not limited to the laity. Deacon Chris Decker from catholicunderground.com offered a Confessional Challenge which simply affirms our faith and challenges others to do the same. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia made a splash in the media when he started posting Lenten reflections to YouTube and The Bishop's Conference in the Philippines has launched a video log "in answer to the call of the Holy Father 'to make the internet as a new forum for proclaiming the Gospel'". The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal helped begin an independent film company to respond to John Paul II's proclamation:

The film industry has become a universal medium exercising a profound influence on the development of people’s attitudes and choices, and possessing a remarkable ability to influence public opinion and culture across all social and political frontiers.

The company is responsible for the video Fishers of Men which is considered by some to be the best vocational video of our time.

YouTube quite simply has become a scratchpad for our culture. It isn't limited to just videos that people make in their homes and post on the web. Often times, incidents that occur in the news end up on YouTube for easy reference and reflection by others. A prime example of this in recent weeks was the appearance of Fr. Euteneur on the Sean Hannity show. His appearance on the show made a splash on the Internet and gave voice to the Church on the topic of contraception. To most of society the topic has been closed for years but here we had an avenue on a major news network and a topic that frayed nerves in our culture. Those who took the time to look into the incident further found commentary from Catholic blogs and others on the web eloquently expounding the teaching of the Church on openness to life.

Sometimes though, YouTube moments are not so public. They are not about famous people or to be directly confronting legions in organized movements. A touching example of this was seen by a YouTube poster who was curious about the Catholic faith. He posted a request on YouTube expressing interest in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Catholics responded by suggesting books that attended to his interests in the faith. The story is ongoing and as is true with many people seeking to convert to Catholicism, his family is offering much in the way of friction. Currently he is seeking to attend a good Catholic university.

YouTube is an open dialog and an opportunity in our diolog free society to engage in proclaiming the Truth. Whether it is priests and bishops shepherding their flock, lay Catholics responding to challenges against the faith or personal dialog with a curious youth, YouTube is changing the face of Evangelism by bringing the mission field even closer to your home. But where the tools change the mission is still the same. Evangelize.

Getting more out of St. Blogs

Many of us visit a handful of Catholic web sites and blogs on a regular basis in order to keep a finger on the pulse of modern day Catholic life. For me it started off with one or two blogs. My daily routine went something like this:

• Read the new posts.

• Realize halfway through the last one that I read it yesterday.

• Read the comments.

• Comment on a few things.

• Look at the clock.

• Be amazed at the passing time.

• Click on a random new blog in the blogroll in hopes that I would find something a little more my speed.

• Repeat.

It became cumbersome. I had read all about how great blogs were but here I was struggling to get it and spending way too much time trying to get it. According to CatholicBlogs.com there are at least 1000 blogs that are focused on Catholicism. A casual reader of Catholic blogs might find that a daunting set of sites to sift through. It’s easy to give up and write off the Catholic blogosphere as a colossal waste of time. With a little effort however, reading St. Blogs can become an integrated part of your day that takes mere minutes instead of hours to pursue.

First though, let’s discuss why St. Blogs is worth the effort to get to know. St. Blogs is a distributed community of Catholic believers. Chances are there is a sub-community of bloggers that is going through or has gone through some of the same trials in life you are going through. There are priests and religious, those in discernment, moms, dads, singles, students, professionals, scholars, apologists, musicians and even sports fanatics. It is almost a certainty that you fit in somewhere. Still surfing them one at a time is a hassle. Fortunately there are ways to deal with the volume. You can cover scores, even hundreds of blogs in just a few minutes a day.

Sailing the sea of Catholic bits

Back in the early 90's I worked for a radio station that had a big printer that I was supposed to cull stories from in order to have a news segment on my show. The printer was an AP feed that the station paid for. When a story went public the printer came alive. I could hear it regularly during my show. Normally I would grab about 15 feet of printed paper, circle the most interesting stories and summarize them during my segment. I had fresh news with a minimum of effort. This was syndication old school style. Today information on the Internet is syndicated by a technology called RSS which stands for Really Simple Syndication. There is no need for most of us to understand the details of RSS. We just need to know how to use it. Most blogs and news sites contain an RSS feed usually identified by a text link or standard image . The URL of the feed is a must have if you plan to use it. For example Mark Shea's blog "Catholic and Enjoying It!" has an RSS feed accessible by the following URL - http://markshea.blogspot.com/atom.xml. This link is indicated on Mark's blog by "Atom RSS Feed".

Now that I have the feed URL, what good does this do me?

Aggregators

In order to make RSS useful you need an aggregator. An aggregator is software analogous to the printed sheets in the radio station I used to work at. The software stores and organizes RSS feeds. In the case of the printer I had one feed -- AP. In an aggregator you are likely to have scores if not hundreds of feeds. On a regular basis the aggregator accesses various sites checking for new and updated information and letting you know about it. Desktop aggregators are usually more flexible and you can set them up to give you near real time access to information. When your favorite blogger posts his next diatribe you will know within minutes. Online versions are also available and are great if you access the Internet from a variety of computers.

Still, let’s say you only know of five blogs that you care to read. Why on earth would you want to go through the hassle of tracking them regularly with software? The answer is that you can now skim the headlines of all of these blogs at one time similar to my circling the headlines for my radio show. It is also useful in finding news stories and blogs that are more relevant to your interests. You can do this by adding more blog feeds or using RSS features attached to search engines and other tools. For example, to see what the world is saying about Catholicism, I use Google News search with the terms "Catholic Church", "Vatican" and "Benedict XVI" and then link in the RSS feeds to my aggregator. For local fare I search for "Diocese of Baton Rouge". If I want to find out what bloggers are saying about Catholics, I use Google Blog search with similar search terms. Finally, if I want to find out the latest on the “Motu Proprio” only from the voices in St. Blogs, I can use the CatholicBlogs.com search feature with that search term.

Go forth and learn

St. Blogs need not be a cumbersome and time consuming experience during your day. I have found the Catholic blogging community to be a great resource and a tremendous asset in my short few years as a newly minted Catholic. Be an informed Catholic. Familiarize yourselves with the new technology, find your niche and become part of the community. More importantly, go forth and learn more about your faith.

Resources

Google News – RSS enabled news search

Google Blog Search – RSS enabled blog search

CatholicBlogs.com – RSS enabled search for St. Blogs

Bloglines.com – Popular online aggregator

RSS Bandit - A simple desktop editor (requires Windows and .Net framework)

Dozens and dozens of emails, letters and phone calls have poured into our office supporting Bobby, and he genuinely appreciates the encouragement. It has been amazing to see the response of pastors, supporters, and even Democrat elected officials who are outraged at the audacity of the old-guard political bosses who continue their attacks on Bobby's Christian faith. A number of Democrat elected officials have gone so far as to call on their own state party to pull down the ads. Below, are some of the emails we have received from Democrat leaders all across the state, who are just as shocked and disappointed at the attacks on Bobby's Christian faith as you and I.

If you would like to join with us in denouncing these ads, please let me know.

Timmy Teepell
Campaign Manager
Bobby Jindal 2007

I met Bobby Jindal two years ago, and what impressed me the most above everything else was how sincere and openly he talked about his Christian faith. Louisiana needs more public servants that are willing to stand up and be unashamed of their faith in Jesus Christ. I am a Democrat, and I don't know about other parts of this state, but in Caldwell parish, we put a lot more stock in a man's character and values, than in an R or D by their name. Bobby Jindal has been unashamed to share his personal testimony with me, and in my opinion anyone who attacks Bobby's Christian testimony should sleep with a heavy conscience.

Steve May (D)
Caldwell Parish Sheriff

I am proud to be a Democrat, but I am disgusted by the Louisiana Democratic Party operatives' recent attacks on Bobby Jindal's Christian faith. Bobby has been one of the strongest defenders of family values and he has personally shared with me his commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ. That's more important to me than any party label, and I am proud to stand with him.

Ben Nevers (D)
State Senator

I am supporting Bobby Jindal because he is a man of honesty and integrity; a Christian man who is sincerely concerned about all people from all walks of life. Bobby will bring a new vision to Louisiana, removing the negative image of the past and present regarding corrupt elected officials. With Bobby Jindal as our Governor, a positive light will shine on Louisiana as other states look on.

Wayne Jones (D)
St. John the Baptist Sheriff

I've visited and talked with Bobby Jindal on multiple occasions, and the petty party politics that the Democratic party is trying to use to criticize Bobby Jindal's personal decision to share his Christian faith is one of the lowest form of dirty political tricks I have ever seen. I'm not a Republican OR a Democrat. I am an Independent, but I'm a Christian and Louisianian first, and countless others in Northwest Louisiana share those same priorities. Its time our state expect more from its leaders, and we finally have a chance to change how the rest of the world looks at Louisiana if we elect Bobby as our next Governor. I hope the Democratic Party operatives who are attacking Bobby on his Christian beliefs pay a heavy price with the voters of this great state.

Chip Dickie (I)
Mayor of Oil City

This is not the Democratic Party that I agreed to join years ago. Anyone that believes it's a good idea to attack a man who is willing to share his Christian beliefs, is dead wrong. At a time when our state needs to come together, dirty campaign operatives are trying to divide us among religious lines. This attempt is despicable and I urge the Party's elected leaders to join me in denouncing this ad immediately."

Randy "Country" Seal (D)
Washington Parish Assessor
President of the Louisiana Assessors Association

As a Democratic Mayor in South Louisiana, I am calling on my colleagues and friends across this great state to demand that the Democratic Party in Baton Rouge cease and desist the attack ads on Bobby Jindal's Christian faith. I have heard Bobby Jindal give his personal testimony, and the idea of any person or organization stooping to this level has insulted the religions of all Louisianians. This is not an attack just on Bobby's Christian beliefs, but on ALL religious beliefs. I have seen dirty politics in the past, but this is a new low."

Raymond Harris (D)
Mayor of Franklin

I have had the privilege of hearing Bobby's Christian testimony first hand in my own parish, which makes these attacks by the Democratic Party's paid operatives inexcusable. As a Christian, I am personally offended by these tactics and the people of Louisiana should not accept this behavior. For the Democratic Party to alter Bobby's Christian writings is a desperate attempt for political gain, and is a new low in Louisiana politics."

Mike Grimmer (D)
Livingston Parish President

As a registered Democrat, I have not always followed party lines in voting. This gubernatorial election will also see me crossing the line and voting for Bobby Jindal for Governor. To be honest, I am ashamed of the Democratic party after the ads, attempting to smear Bobby's Christian faith, strong moral values, and character hit the air this week. I urge everyone to stop this king of low-down and shameful politicking by casting your vote for the most qualified and honest candidate in this campaign - Bobby Jindal.

Jack Hammons (D)
Mayor of Winnsboro

I have really not being paying too much attention to the whole Jindal outrage in state politics. My children have been taking up a tremendous amount of my free time in recent days.

I know a few things about Bobby.

1. He is Catholic
2. The Democrats have GROSSLY misrepresented his position (I have read the New Oxford Review articles in question as I used to be a subscriber)
3. I will vote for him.

That is the best response any Catholic can give to the matter. I URGE every Christian (Catholic or not) that reads this post to vote for Bobby Jindal. Fact is that Jindal has made rounds in north Louisiana to the larger Evangelical churches to demonstrate his being in lock-step with their moral positions. They are not fooled by this. The only thing this ad campaign does is make the Democrats look as desperate as they are. He lost the last governors election to Blanco almost assuredly because heavily Protestant north Louisiana sat the election out. The Democrats know this and are doing everything they can to ensure the same thing happens again this time. That is why religion is a big deal in this election. Let us look at a recent poll:

Bobby Jindal........... 63.0%
Walter Boasso......... 14.3%
Foster Campbell........ 4.4%
John Georges............ 1.3%
Undecided/WS........ 17.0%

Opinionated Catholic says he is shocked to see this. I cannot say I am shocked. The quest for political power brings out the worst in some folks. I am honestly shocked it didn't happen sooner.

For more ...
Opinionated Catholic: This Political Ad is a new low in Louisiana politics
Astonished, Yet at Home!: Attacking Bobby's Christian Faith: An E-Mail from Timmy Teepell, Campaign Manager for Bobby Jindal

I'll keep this short. The storm was deepening at landfall. The following is from the 4am discussion; a measurement taken near or during landfall

GPS DROPSONDE IN THE
NORTHERN EYEWALL MEASURED A WIND SPEED OF 178 KT AVERAGED OVER THE
LOWEST 150 METERS OF THE SOUNDING

That is about 205 mph.

Journey Home panel

I will be sitting on a "Journey Home" panel at my church this week. I will give a 10 minute summary of my conversion story along with 5 others. Then we will open the floor for an hour for questions.

Thursday 7-9 pm

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
865 Hatchell Lane
Denham Springs, Louisiana 70726

If you are interested stop by and check it out and don't ask me anything too hard. Its been a rough past week. :) Also if you come you may want to ask about our adult education classes. They really are fantastic.

Odds and ends

I have less excuses about posting this week.

We started homeschooling for the first time last week. It had ups and downs ... mostly ups.

My fantasy football draft was a disappointment despite the fact that I actually put effort into my cheatsheets this year. This is the first year I did not buy any magazines. I think I have figured those out by now. Anyway ... Here are my starters

QB - Drew Brees
RB - Frank Gore
RB - Willis McGahee
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
WR - Plaxico Burress
WR - Laveranues Coles
TE - Vernon Davis
K - Josh Scobee
DEF - Jacksonville

Keep in mind this was a 10 team draft. I realized late that my strategy works best in 12 team leagues. There are too many good players left on waivers for me to have worried about my late draft picks like I typically do. I figure the first rounds are almost expected these days. Most people come to drafts prepared and even if they let the computer draft they are not making rotten picks. I have won so many leagues with my late picks.

Seven people did not show up and the computer started drafting defenses and kickers in the 4th round so while I am not uber happy with my team I realize I have a shot because most people did not pick their players. Chicago defense and Robbie Gould went early in our draft. We will see. Some of my later picks show a bias towards Jacksonville and Baltimore because I expect improvement in their offenses. Those will be my favorite two non-Saints teams this season.

My nephew (as a pedestrian) was hit by a truck on Thursday this past week.

He broke his right collar bone, left forearm (both bones) and right leg (both bones). They performed surgeries on his arm and leg to set the bones. They still have to do another surgery on his leg to put a plate and a screw.

He is back at home right now in recovery. We offer a high "thanks be to God" that he is alive and well and I ask all within visibility of this blog to pray with our family for a speedy recovery.

I am in a Fantasy Football league again (we are looking for one more Catholic BTW -- I think) and I have a meticulous series of things I do to prepare for a draft and I only have a week to do it. Anyway, I should post more after this week ...

Shortly after the infant baptism discussion my mother started to get the idea that we were really looking into the doctrines of the Catholic Church. She had never been one to press too hard but when we started asking questions she would give us the answers we needed. Finally she decided to head all of our questions off at the pass by handing us a 2 VHS tape series that she had seen on EWTN called "Household of Faith". This series was hosted by Kristine Franklin and Rosalind Moss. Moss is a convert from Judaism to Evangelical Protestantism and then finally into the Catholic Church. Kristine Franklin is a convert from Evangelical Protestantism. Each episode used personal stories regarding their conversions to Catholicism focused around a particular topic. The series was broken down into 16 parts.

After the first video my wife and I both, for the first time on our journey towards the Catholic faith expressed a great deal of excitement. We thought "maybe this IS the Church founded by Jesus Christ". What impressed me most about the series is that these two women were the people we were used to going to church with, just Catholic. They could talk the Evangelical talk. They loved the Bible. They were missionaries and active members of their former churches. Over the 16 episodes they skewered many common misconceptions about the Catholic faith which fell right in line with the atrocious treatment we had noticed of others towards the Catholic faith. Every episode was similar to one that had played out in my life at the very churches I had gone to. The women were emotional and they loved the Catholic Church. You could see real JOY. This wasn't the works based, sour faced scrooge religion I had been told about. This was everything I had but more complete. The excitement built and built over every episode. We liked it even more because they explained doctrines in a way that glorified the One who gave them to us. A perfect example was Rosalind Moss in explaining how our sufferings add to those of Christ.

"If Christ's sacrifice was sufficient, then how was it that we added to it? Because to offer ourselves with Christ is to say that His sacrifice is not sufficient. And everyone I had asked said we didn't add to it because they wanted me to understand that the Catholic Church believed that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient. But Msgr. O'Connor said to me, 'Yes, we add to the sacrifice of Christ; and yes, His sacrifice was sufficient. No, He doesn't need us; but He receives us. We legitimately add.'

"I thought, 'Aha! The truth is out at last. This is heresy. You believe that we add to the sacrifice of Christ and now it's out in the open. I <knew> I couldn't trust the Catholic Church.'

"And in the next moment what he had said penetrated my mind, or my heart, and became the most beautiful thought I'd ever heard. I thought immediately of a mother baking a cake, and her little child in the kitchen with her. The mother has everything there sufficient for the cake; but here comes the daughter and says, 'Mommy, I want to help.' So the mother receives the daughter because that love receives. She lets the daughter put the eggs in. Is the mother sufficient? Yes. Does she need the daughter? No. Does she allow the daughter to add? Yes. The daughter's addition is not needed, but it's received and it's a true addition. And I thought, 'That's love.'

"The human mind, and certainly the Protestant mind, could never conceive of it. Two weeks later, driving home from Mass, I realized for the first time, 'I don't think I want to be outside of this too much longer.'"

Long after the fact I realized that watching this series marked an important point in my conversion. I was moving into another phase of my conversion in a manner that is common to many converts. The first phase is, as G. K. Chesterton identifies in "The Catholic Church and Conversion"

... when he imagines himself to be entirely detached, or even to be entirely indifferent, but in the old sense of the term, as when the Prayer Book talks of judges who will truly and indifferently administer justice. Some flippant modern person would probably agree that our judges administer justice very indifferently. But the older meaning was legitimate and even logical and it is that which is applicable here. The first phase is that of the young philosopher who feels that he ought to be fair to the Church of Rome. He wishes to do it justice; but chiefly because he sees that it suffers injustice. From The Catholic Church and Conversion by G. K. Chesterton - Chapter III: The Real Obstacles

Check. I had been there. The next phase was upon me. To further quote Chesterton

The second stage is that in which the convert begins to be conscious not only of the falsehood but the truth and is enormously excited to find that there is far more of it than he would ever have expected. This is not so much a stage as a progress; and it goes on pretty rapidly but often for a long time. It consists in discovering what a very large number of lively and interesting ideas there are in the Catholic philosophy, that a great many of them commend themselves at once to his sympathies, and that even those which he would not accept have something to be said for them justifying their acceptance. This process, which may be called discovering the Catholic Church, is perhaps the most pleasant and straightforward part of the business, easier than joining the Catholic Church and much easier than trying to live the Catholic life. It is like discovering a new continent full of strange flowers and fantastic animals, which is at once wild and hospitable.

The next several months were ones of excitement where I learned much about the Catholic faith and began to really take ownership of the concept that I was in the presence of the truth. Thats the real gist of it. Any and everyone who has been through this process can tell you when asked "Why did you convert?" --- "Why simply, because its true."

NOTE: Fiath is spelled incorrectly in the title because in the introduction to every "Household of Faith" series episode they spell the word FAITH one letter at a time. Only, they spell it FIATH. It took us six or so episodes to notice this. From that point, my wife and I began to refer to the series as the Household of FEE-ATH series.

When I first became a Protestant the young lady that I was attending Church with knew I was raised Catholic. She also rejected outright my baptism as an infant. She asked me to review baptism in the Book of Acts in order to be baptized at her church. I never did that while in school but the general idea of reviewing Acts stayed with me. After graduating from college and beginning to attend a non-denominational church, I started to think more about it. Upon looking at the concordance in the back of my brand spanking new NIV, I noticed that the Book of Acts contained scores of refrences to baptism. At that point I read the references in the Book of Acts.

A sampling of references stack up like this:

Acts 2:38 ... Repent and be baptized ...

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized ...

Acts 8:12 But when they believed ... they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 8:13 Simon himself believed and was baptized.

Acts 18:8 ... and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized

Acts 19:5 On hearing this, they were baptized ...

This caused me to doubt the baptism of my youth. I came to a simple conclusion. You had to believe in order to be baptized. Thus, in my mid-twenties, I was "baptized" again by full immersion.

A few years passed. In that time, I left the non-denominational church and joined the Episcopal church. I got married and my wife and I had two children. We had our first son baptized even though in my mind it was more of a baby dedication like we had at my old non-denominational church. I wasn't torn over the idea. I figured Espicopalians had to have good reasons to baptize infants but I didn't believe at the time that was what was going on. I figured it couldn't hurt. When our second child was due up for baptism we had a long discussion in our family about infant baptism.

The same verses in Acts were presented in support of belief coming before baptism. The contrary case was also made. "All of these people were converted adults. Even today, the Church baptizes those who convert to the faith after belief." I had never thought about it that way before. The Book of Acts occurred in a unique time in history. There were lots of non-Christians around thus there were lots of conversions going on. Of course they were not born into the faith. This normitive case today was unusual then. The discussion veered in the direction of baptism by immersion only. After all, we (Episcopalians) didn't typically immerse infants as that was practically problematic. Certainly a requirement to immerse would lend sufficient cause to reject infant baptism. This case, however, was not very convincing to me. The immersion only case insists the Greek meaning of "baptizo" means immersion in every case. I find this assertion weak, especially due to the fact that there two instances in the New Testament of "baptizo" explicitly being translated as wash (Luke 11:38, Mark 7:3–4).

A few more verses rose to the surface. While there are no instances of infant baptism in the Bible, there are multiple instances of entire households being baptized (Acts 16:13-15, 1 Corinthians 1:16). Also nowhere in Scripture do we read of children reaching the age of reason before being baptized. The whole households were. It certainly stands to reason that there were young children in those families. Furthermore Catholics refer to baptism as the new cicrcumcision (Colossians 2:11–12). If circumcision was done to infants in the Old Covenant then certainly the New Testament fulfilment of circumcision would also be performed on infants.

Finally, during the discussion I thought the zinger that laid to rest all doubt about infant baptism came to light.

1 Peter 3:21 (NIV): and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge(1) of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1. Or response

Here it seemed to me that a pledge on the part of the believer was requried for baptism. I left the discussion less assured that infant baptism was wrong but not entirely convinced that it was right. Upon reading that verse over and over that night I realized that it did not refer to the promise of the Christian. It refered to the response by God of a "clean conscience". This fit in nicely with a regenerative understanding of baptism. This verse is often used by apologists to show as much. This is a doctrine that I had no qualms with. The verse in no way undermined infant baptism as I had originally thought.

We followed through with the baptism of our son retaining the justification that it couldn't hurt.

What started to change my mind on the matter was Martin Luther who stated

But if God did not accept the baptism of infants, He would not give the Holy Ghost nor any of His gifts to any of them; in short, during this long time unto this day no man upon earth could have been a Christian.-- XIII A.
Part Fourth: Of Infant Baptism. in Martin Luthers Large Catechsim

Here Luther appealed to history. It certainly made sense to me as few had questioned the doctrine of infant baptism prior to this point. So what of history on baptism?

In the first century we see in the Didache the early use of pouring thus supporting the case of the Catholic Church and more mainline Protestant denominations against "immersion only" opponents:

And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

We further see support in the second century for a regenerative understanding of baptism, of which Luthers assertion assumes a belief in:

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." -- St. Justin Martyr First Apology, 61

Finally we see in the second century a direct support for infant baptism:

For He came to save all through means of Himself -- all, I say, who through Him are born again to God -- infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children, thus sanctifying those who are of this age, being at the same time made to them an example of piety, righteousness, and submission; a youth for youths, becoming an example to youths, and thus sanctifying them for the Lord. -- St. Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:22:4

My post discussion research also introduced me to the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas. During the discussion the Summa was directly appealed to on behalf of Catholics. The pertinent passage is whether children should be baptized?. Here Aquinas defends against common objections on requiring intent and faith. He places the burden of each of these on the Church for

like carnal birth, in this respect, that as the child while in the mother's womb receives nourishment not independently, but through the nourishment of its mother, so also children before the use of reason, being as it were in the womb of their mother the Church, receive salvation not by their own act, but by the act of the Church.

Once again, I found the biblical case sound and the historical case nearly irrefutable.

I saw the first of these yesterday ... it was great. American Papist has three of them.

The actors are seminarians who recently participated in the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska.

NFP vs. Contraception

The doctrine of sola scriptura is not one that I thought much about in my Protestant days. It was a given. It was never expounded or explained. Usually it was just expected to be held. I simply adopted the mindset that what was in the Bible was good enough for generations of people to surround themselves with. They could have good fellowship and learn from our love letter from God. I never questioned this doctrine nor did I understand the implications of it. That changed upon reading an essay by Jimmy Akin that challenged not the biblical basis of it but the practical problems associated with it. Without reprinting the whole of the text (available online here), I will summarize the points that most resonated with me:

1. Private interpretation is a necessary corollary of sola scriptura.
2. Most people do not have the time required to become Scripture scholars.
3. History shows that most people were illiterate thus if Bible reading were THAT important, Christians historically would have placed a high priority on literacy.
4. But that wasn't necessary because the printing press was not invented until the 15th century, thus access to books was very limited not because the Church kept the scriptures from the people but because it costs several years wages to get your hands on a Bible.

Thus, historically speaking, heading to church with a Bible in tow to hear a preacher expound upon the Word is a recent historical innovation. It simply was not possible until mass production processes made books affordable and available to the masses. Beyond that the typical arguments against the Church regarding the Bible were almost easily explainable as I soon learned by reading Catholic/Protestant debates on the matter.

Charge: The Church prohibited translations and kept the Scriptures from the people.
Response:: In some cases, this is true but the reason was to safeguard the accurate meaning of the Scriptures. This phenomenon was largely limited to England.

Charge: The Church chained down Bibles because they didn't want people to have them.
Response:: Bibles were valuable. They were typically available for people to read but the reality is that most people could not read.

Charge: The Church added books to the Bible. You can see this by their affirming the Canon containing these books after the time of Luther.
Response:: The Gutenberg Bible, a Catholic Bible, contained the Deuterocanon (see Reminder that the Deuterocanon is in the Gutenberg Bible). Numerous references the deuterocanonical books can be found throughout the historical documents of the Church (Early Church Fathers: Old Testament Canon). Earlier local councils (Council of Rome in 382 and the Council of Hippo in 393) affirmed the Deuterocanon which was not in dispute until the time of the reformation.

Charge: Catholics were ignorant of the Scriptures until the reformation
Response: It is historically verifiable that Catholics were taught about the Bible before the reformation. The documents of the early church fathers are strewn with Bible verses and commentary which rivals that of the best preachers today. Books written by the saints further underscore this point. You can find excellent Bible commentary from just about every century of the Church. Furthermore, one only needs to look at the stained glass windows of Sainte Chapelle in France to realize that pre-reformation Christians were not ignorant of Scripture. The entire collection of images in the building is a history of the Church (with some French embellishment towards the end) ... Most of your Bible stories are contained. A cursory review of art history, especially western art in the time frame just prior to the reformation includes numerous examples of Bible events, especially those in the New Testament.

Another key point that really hit home with me is that none of the defenses that Catholics use against Protestant attacks on their understanding of the Bible are new. From St. Thomas Aquinas back to the time of St. Clement of Rome, writings can be found that defend certain Catholic doctrines in the same manner they are defended today by Jimmy Akin, Dave Armstrong, Mark Shea and others. St. Francis de Sales was not treading much new ground when he wrote his defenses of the Church against the reformers.

Finally, the doctrine of sola scriptura is foreign to Scripture. That would make it, as is often charged of Catholics, a tradition of men.

The passage most commonly brought up by Evangelicals and Fundamentalists is 2 Timothy 3:16–17. In the King James Version, the verse reads this way: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- ness; That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Many claim that 2 Timothy 3:16–17 claims Scripture is sufficient as a rule of faith. But an examination of the verse in context shows that it doesn’t claim that at all; it only claims Scripture is "profitable" (Greek: ophelimos) that is, helpful. Many things can be profitable for moving one toward a goal, without being sufficient in getting one to the goal. Notice that the passage nowhere even hints that Scripture is "sufficient"—which is, of course, exactly what Protestants think the passage means.

Point out that the context of 2 Timothy 3:16–17 is Paul laying down a guideline for Timothy to make use of Scripture and tradition in his ministry as a bishop. Paul says, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (Greek: theopneustos = "God-breathed"), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:14–17). In verse 14, Timothy is initially exhorted to hold to the oral teachings—the traditions—that he received from the apostle Paul. This echoes Paul’s reminder of the value of oral tradition in 1:13–14, "Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us" (RSV), and ". . . what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2:2). Here Paul refers exclusively to oral teaching and reminds Timothy to follow that as the "pattern" for his own teaching (1:13). Only after this is Scripture mentioned as "profitable" for Timothy’s ministry.

The few other verses that might be brought up to "prove" the sufficiency of Scripture can be handled the same way. Not one uses the word "sufficient"—each one implies profitability or usefulness, and many are given at the same time as an exhortation to hold fast to the oral teaching of our Lord and the apostles. The thing to keep in mind is that nowhere does the Bible say, "Scripture alone is sufficient," and nowhere does the Bible imply it. Catholic Answers: What's Your Authority?

A crisis of faith

This caused a radical shattering of some presumptions I had. Without an authority, the Scriptures alone were not sufficient to logically support themselves. After all, why would I trust them over any other book that someone hands me and says "THIS is the inspired Word of God". One of two solutions seemed possible and they were both uncomfortable. The first was to find myself outside the Christian faith. I could not understand how God would have allowed his faith to wander aimlessly for 3-4 centuries without something so critical as the Bible itself. The Canon of the New Testament is first documented by St. Athanasius (who further believed in the Primacy of the Roman Church, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Apostolic Tradition). I thought long and hard about this. Over time I came to the conclusion that I had seen too much of what God had done in my life to ignore it. The other solution was to review the path of the apostolic churches, the ones that had continuity with history and championed some role of having guarded the deposit of the faith since the time of Christ.

So what of the role of of the Church, in other words, tradition? St. Basil the Great (c. 330-c. 379) puts it best

The Church preserves many beliefs and practices that generally are accepted or publicly commanded. Some are taken from written teaching; others have been passed on to us “in a mystery” by the tradition of the apostles. In relation to true religion, both of these have the same force.

I had to find out more.

OK I have enabled comments but they will be moderated until I can get the ban IP thing down for spammers.

Turning off moderation ...

OK, this is a big work in progress but I am posting the gist of it now anyway

On June 17, 2000 my wife and I were married in a small Episcopal Church. We did a lot of things pretty traditionally. Other standard American marriage traditions we didn't mind so much. One was the way we dealt with taking pictures. We did so before the ceremony. My wife showed up a few minutes after we did but a few hours before our early bird 9:30 am wedding. I still to this day can see her joyous smile peering from the back seat of her mothers car. Her smile was aimed only at me, as if I was the only thing in the world that existed. Another thing we decided to do was make it very clear that our marriage was focused on our relationship with Christ. He was going to be the center of our relationship. We took the opportunity to create a long program for our wedding knowing that many people would be coming from different backgrounds. The Catholics in our family would be familiar with the liturgical order of the service. The Protestants in our family would be familiar with some of the more contemporary Christian musical choices that we made. We also decided to print all of the scripture readings we selected and the responses that were expected from the attendees.

Our song choices were:
Classical tunes: "Clair de Lune" - Claude Debussy, "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" - J.S. Bach, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" Ludwig von Beethoven, "Brother James Air" - Bain
Contemporary tunes: "Lord I Life Your Name on High", "You Are My All In All", and "Shout to the Lord"

Our Scripture readings were:
Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
Psalm 127
1 John 4:7-16
John 15:9-12

From that point on, time flew. Before I knew it I was standing face to face with her and all I could see was gold illuminating her face. This woman was soon to be my wife and God was making it very apparent to me that this was a special moment in my life. The grace abound was astounding -- so thick nearly that I felt I could physically see what was happening in a way I knew no other person in the room could see. My wife told me afterwards that she saw the same thing. We both knew that something extraordinary had happened that morning. It was more than a social contract appeasing our parents. It was blessed by God to be something special.

A few years later, our lives brought us to consideration of Catholicism. What was different between it and the Anglican communion of which the Episcopal church was a part? I found in the back of the Book of Common prayer some "historical documents" of which a declaration called the 39 Articles was included.

XXV. Of the Sacraments.
Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.

Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not like nature of Sacraments with Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.

This bothered me, partly from my experience at our wedding and further from my experience as a married man. I had already encountered more Catholic understandings of marriage through reading on birth control. I found it wholly repugnant to ignore that Christ's first miracle occurred at the wedding at Cana and further to ignore St. Paul's having compared it, in a very real way to the Church itself. The actual grace that comes from trying to be a faithful Christian husband to your wife is readily apparent to any and all who partake in marriage. How could the obvious fruits of marriage, including children be anything less than a sign of God's love and grace to all of us? The actual grace was undeniable. I have heard it said by some that the ordinary means of salvation for the majority is through the faithful service of ones spouse and the right upbringing of children in the faith. Of all the arrangements in my life, the most clear arrangement resulting in closeness with God is my marriage. To say it is not a sacrament was tantamount to insulting all that I held dear about marriage and to further relegate it to a mere social contract as if God had no intent in the right ordering of spouses towards sacrifice and sheer dependence on grace to even make it work. I decided to share my dismay with other Episcopalians. Upon this inquiry I found that whether or not we believed the contents of the "39 Articles" was really up to us. I could hold a sacramental belief about marriage. I further found this difference in belief also included our beliefs on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist which we found differed in the church from actual belief in the Catholic doctrine all the way to those who believed it no more than bread and wine.

To me this was even more bothersome. The Eucharist either IS or it IS NOT Christ. Marriage either IS or it IS NOT a sacrament. Those are pretty fundamental things to disagree on and here I was going to church with every manner of person believing as they wish. The relativistic aspect I was encountering on matters of doctrine was giving me strong cause to reconsider my affiliation with the church I was going to. The lack of real support for young married couples was even more pressing at that time in our lives. Our church was simply lacking in young families. We desired Christian friends with young children even if only for fellowship reasons. This collection of reasons gave us what we needed to justify church shopping.

It was a difficult path though. We loved the people we went to church with. What about those relationships?

I am going to fill in the gaps of my conversion story ... It is the main reason I started this blog in the first place. Anyway, I just added When family members convert.

Check out the rest from the Conversion Story index.

Also, I am going to make a post in the next few days demonstrating use of the "Call no man father" verse from patristic sources. To me it is interesting, particularly St. Augustine's use of it.

A few years before we converted my to be brother-in-law was spending time with my mother. You see, my mom is the neighborhood matronly figure that many of my friends adopted as their second mom. It was not unusual to me to hear of my friends talking to my mom and breaking down in tears over some personal struggle in their lives. Its different talking to someone else's mom. There are times when you are not really quite sure you want your own mother to know about something in your life -- not yet -- but you still want sage advice from those who have been through the fire already. Other friends parents often fit the bill quite nicely. Over the course of normal discussions my mom simply handed him a copy of popular Catholic apologetics book. The thought of converting to Catholicism was quite far from his mind at the time.

The time following this is somewhat of a mystery to us. Eventually he announced to his family that he intended to convert to Catholicism. We had no idea what was going on. He was pretty much dismissed by my wife and I as being an angst ridden and defiant -- so typical of men his age. At the time the concept of returning to the Church was so foreign to me that I fell prey to one of the most common anti-Catholic assumptions about conversion. I thought "He just didn't KNOW what he was giving up." Today I read people, especially Presbyterians, say this about Scott Hahn quite a lot. The thought of someone converting for a REASON is just poppycock to them. So it was with me and my brother-in-law. When you are in that mindset there HAS to be another, more irrational reason. What sane person would so such a thing as to give up the freedom of grace based Protestantism for works based, archaic, and heavily rule-laden faith such as Catholicism? Time passed, and it became something of a novelty when we would mention it to our Protestant friends. The response was almost always "Why I've never heard of such!" "Me either", I would retort. We all fell blind to that assumption. Everyone knows that faithful Christians only leave the Catholic Church. My poor deceived brother-in-law, turned over into a religion of bondage. Still, I had sympathy for him. I had never thought too poorly of the Catholic Church. I at least gave them the title Christian, just an odd sort of faith with lots of useless rubrics added to it.

Eventually my wife had a discussion with him about it. "Why on earth?" -- His response was quite simple. "If the Catholic Church is who it claims to be, then I had to be part of it." I was thinking when I heard of this -- 'Oh, do tell, what is it that the Church claims to be?" He told my wife that the Catholic Church claimed to be THE Church founded by Jesus Christ. Over time he had come to the conclusion that it was and furthermore that it was disobedience to Christ to remain apart from it. The thought was interesting but as far as I was concerned it was preposterous to think that any Christian Church had all of the truth. The reason people changed churches is because, just like the Catholic Church did during reformation times, they tend to become corrupt under the influence of the traditions of men running them. Eventually we all have to judge them against Scripture and when they err we simply find some other group more in line with what the good book says. (Little did I know this would play out in our lives in the near future) ... Further discussion with him also led him to pointing out that the real kicker for him was a chapter in the book "Catholicism vs. Fundamentalism" on the canon of the New Testament and history of the Bible.

All in all it was intriguing to understand why someone would do so. It seemed sensible but we had our own experience to show us otherwise. In reality, it was another seed. The occasions to discuss it became occasions to demonstrate the irrational understanding of others about what the Catholic faith was really about.

Gotta be careful ... upgraded my blog software to a beta version and lost my last post because it logged me out ... hmmmmm

Anyway, here is the short version.

I spend WAY too much time trying to make this blog look better. Yesterday I fiddled with CSS for about 4 hours. The result is what you see now. Welcome "Gill Sans" as the typeface. Also, I added a little quote mark for things I quote. See below for an example ...

Was clearing out my Google Reader shared items ...

For you Latin lovers out there ... Summorum Pontificum Contact Database via phatcatholic

The motu proprio has been released! The next step is to start putting the Catholic faithful who want to assist at the extraordinary form of the Holy Mass in touch with Catholic priests who want to say the extraordinary form of the Holy Mass. Please fill out the form below with your contact information so we can help you make a connection. Your personal information will not be shared with ANYONE without your consent.

Also, now you can tour the Vatican City State online. From the CWNews article:

The new web site ... provides general information about the history, structure, and government of Vatican City, and links to some of the departments of greatest interest to visitors, including the Vatican library, publishing house, and stamp office. The site also provides links to the Vatican Museums and the media sites operated by the Holy See.

I just wanted to throw this out for discussion ...

Why do the majority of Catholic blogs tend towards orthodoxy? In general the Catholic blogosphere is not a mirror of your average parish. In your average parish for example apparently 90+% of married couples contracept. In the 1000+ blogs that make up what is typically considered St. Blogs almost every railing I see regarding contraception is perfectly in line with Humanae Vitae. Why is this?

I have seen a listing indicating official membership in St. Blogs requires fidelity to the Magisterium but as a practical reality I don't see how that is a requirement to be a Catholic blog. I have not seen a similar "Spirit of Vatican II" version of St. Blogs out there. I have some theories but I wanted to open the question up to anyone who sees this. Don't be shy ... please comment.