Purpose of this Blog

Well, based on the time elapsed since I started this blog until now, I see that I won't be able to keep up with current events. Oh well. Much has happened, but I've spent all my computer time reading and posting on other blogs. I may link to one in particular here that I spent a lot of time posting on.

But it did make me think more about my goal with this blog. For a while, I've wanted to record my reasons for coverting back to the Catholic Church. I may as well publish it here. Since I started this blog, I've come across dozens of Catholic blogs that are way better than mine will ever be, so I'll get around to linking to them, or putting them on my blogroll, as they say. First, I've got to learn more about working these templates. Anyway, I don't need to try to reinvent the wheel, but I'd like to record my own thoughts and reasons and observations about the similarities and differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Many of our perceived differences are based on our different vocabularies. Sometimes, we agree, but we don't know that we agree because we're using the same words to mean different things. Othertimes, a Catholic teaching is not fully understood, even by Catholics, which causes difficulty in the discussion with a non-Catholic Christian. My greatest prayer is for the spread of the Gospel and for Christian unity. I believe unity which does not compromise on Truth can do much for what ails the Church and ails the world.

Having experienced both worlds, I know there is so much that Protestants can offer that Catholics can learn from, and likewise so much that Catholics can offer to Protestants. I believe that someday God will do more than we can imagine to heal the divisions in the Church. I don't know how it will look, but Jesus is making us ready, to present us to Himself as His pure and spotless Bride. (see Eph 5:25-27)

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God." (Phil 1:9-11)

"I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:23)

Jesus' last prayer before his crucifixion was for unity among us. Unity is clearly important. So that is logically Satan's main thrust of attack against the Church. I know more about the Protestant split than the older schism between east and west, so for now, and for most of this blog, I'll limit myself to the split of the 1500's. Regardless of what human players were at fault on both sides, division was a temporary partial victory for Satan. A Catholic would say that the split shouldn't have happened at all. A Protestant Christian would say that the better outcome would have been a complete reform within the Catholic Church without the need for a split, but that the RCC was not willing and the issues at hand were more important than unity. Either way, disunity arose which is NOT what Christ prayed for. Would we agree that it's what Satan wanted?

However, Satan will never outdo God. It has taken us 400 years or so to get to this point of disunity. But I believe we have turned a corner. Both sides are getting better at stepping back from the finger pointing, taking a deep breath, and searching Scripture, seeking God, and seeing where it brings us. We're no longer defining ourselves by what we are NOT. "Well, we don't do this or that because that's what the other side does." Instead, we're just seeking truth, and if it happens to look like the people on the other side of the Cath/Prot divide, so be it. As a result, we're starting to look more like each other. And if it took Satan 400 years to get us as divided as we were, I believe God will bring us back together in a much shorter period.

I was in high school in the 1980's during the clash between Reagan and the "Evil Empire". I have vivid memories of working in the barn and hearing my Dad's favorite radio station on the radio. It was 1150 AM, the "Polka Station of the Nation" from Albany, MN. They only had a daytime license, and every night before they signed off they would broadcast the Rosary. I remember that they would pray for the fall of Communism and the conversion of Russia. Who would have thought at that time that the Iron Curtain would fall without a shot being fired (figuratively) within a few years? Maybe you would have said it would be more likely for the Protestants and Catholics to get back together.

What that will look like, I can't say. I don't think it will be as simple as every individual going through RCIA and becoming Catholic. That'll be part of it, but, in the short run, I think it even means individual Catholics becoming Protestant. Maybe there will be some concessions made by the institutional RCC that haven't even been thought of yet. Just as the Bible says that we couldn't even have saving faith in Christ's resurrection without the Holy Spirit enabling us, I don't believe one can believe the doctrines of the Catholic Church without a special gift of grace from God. It's not because I was so wise and insightful in Scripture study that I became Catholic, but it was due to an enormous outpouring of God's grace. Yet I see God pouring His grace out on non-Catholic Christians and their ministries in a different way than I am currently experiencing. So, while I will present on this blog some of my understanding of why Catholic doctrines are Biblical, I don't expect that many will decide to become formally Catholic unless it is God's will at this time. Yet I don't doubt in any way that God is active in their life, and even if they aren't given the grace to become Catholic in their lifetime, we will meet again in heaven. I believe if God shows you that the RCC is the physical church Jesus established, you better enter it. But that doesn't preclude God from guiding His children home in different ways until that time that He fully unites us again...maybe in 50 years, maybe in 200.

I will try to highlight conciliatory stories or little known but important points of agreement. I will try to be honest in presenting both sides, so hopefully this will help me understand Prostantism even better than I did after seven years of being Protestant and also help me grow in my faith and understanding today as a Christian and a Catholic.

When we speak of unity, we Catholics have our own issues to deal with in the RCC. In America anyway, I think we've too easily let ourselves be divided into two camps: Liberal and Conservative. I heard someone say that these are very poor labels, since being Catholic isn't a political position. It means being part of a family. Would you ever describe yourself as a liberal father or a conservative mother or daughter or son? The adjective doesn't fit the noun. How about Traditionalist or Orthodox or Progressive? In a way, these are better terms since they disassociate with the dominant American political movements, but looking back on that sentence, why did I capitalize them? Our identity is in Christ as a Christian Catholic. We are baptized into the Name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, not into Tradition or Scripture or the Magesterium or social justice. We are baptized into Christ, that is what we must keep primary.

With that disclaimer, I do identify and associate with more traditional Catholics that DON'T think the heirarchy of the Church is hopelessly out of date or out of touch. Many so-called liberal or progressive Catholics contend that the teachings of the Church need to change. I don't agree with that, yet I know many of them have a more generous heart toward the poor and oppressed than I do and I need to learn from them on many issues. Sometimes I wish the bishops would just excommunicate the biggest "troublemakers", but maybe sometimes I'm more deserving of the boot myself. We need to preserve unity even within the RCC and edify each other, help each other in our weaknesses, and lean on each other's strengths. With this blog, if I have time, I will try to understand these issues better.