November 12, 2007 6:11 PM
More to come - eventually
I know I have left you hanging with the story of my conversion - but I've been travelling all day and just arrived at my hotel in Columbus, Georgia where I will be picked up for dinner in 10 minutes.
Tomorrow morning I'm speaking to a MOPS group for two hours!!! Isn't that cool? I am so thrilled that I will have so much time to share.
Then driving back to airport (2 hours) and catching a flight home.
It will probably be Wednesday before I can really write much of anything.
I went to Mass Sunday and have a lot of observations to share. Someone asked where my husband is in all this, and I will be sharing about that and my children too.
I have begun letting my publishers and places that have contracted me to speak know that I am converting to Catholicism - in case they feel that I am no longer welcome. So far I have not received any negative responses. In fact, I've uncovered some key players at Evangelical places who also have converted to Catholicism. So there is apparently a more ecumenical spirit in the publishing world.
Gotta go. But I will be back to fill in more blanks.
Comments
Have fun tomorrow! Enjoy all the moms and their little ones!
Posted by: Sara | November 12, 2007 10:19 PM
Hi Barbara,
My impression from your earlier posts was that you were considering converting to RC, but this post makes it sound like it's definite?
Perhaps I presumed this as you mentioned taking an introductory class to find out more information????
Just wondering! Not that it's any of my business - I'm just intrigued by it all.
Cheers, Wilma
Posted by: Wilm | November 12, 2007 10:26 PM
Hi Barbara
I am glad that you do not see ill will in the comments you receive disagreeing in your decision to convert, bc certainly there is none from myself. The Lord just would not let me sleep tonight without writing to you.
In the midst of all the cheerleading going on in your decision to leave the evangelical faith, I do wonder at the lack of caution anyone one of these women would offer. When someone I know converts to Christianity, I am always excited to hear their testimony before raising my hands to scream my delight about the matter. I have heard many “conversions” that attempt to meld Jesus, for example, with “other” prophets, and so am a bit wary until I hear the whole matter. I am glad you are embarking on telling your story, bc I hope it will clear up much confusion.
I may be wrong, but it seems that your decision is mostly based (according to your testimony) on personal experience and feelings. I think what you will find, even in Catholic churches, is that the pews will be full of sinners, some still ill with the stains of their sins, some rejoicing at the mercy of God’s salvation. In fact, if any time at all is spent just looking at the research (Barna, for instance) you will find that in outward actions (such as prayer, reading the Bible, tithing, not being “anti-child”, etc.) there is a shameful negligence in both the Protestant and the Catholic. Your experience in meeting more Catholics than Evangelicals that were passionate in your ministry should not be the deciding factor here. If this should truly be the case, then I might point out that the Islamic faith is the most “pro-child” religion there is, with an average of 8 children per family. It would stand to reason, therefore, that you ought to convert to Islam. "The average Catholic family in the USA is not statistically much larger than the American national average" (from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_children_are_there_in_average_Catholic_family) and "Average Size: 2.64 people" (from http://www.clevelandcatholiccharities.org/mfm/fammin.htm). With these statistics, how can anyone honestly say that Catholics are more pro-child?
The same argument could be applied with the very sad state of the churches you have attended. One only needs to point out the whole mess with Catholic priests molesting boys as an example. The point is that these things are NOT the norm, and your applying the broad paint brush over every Evangelical church should also therefore be applied to every Catholic church in the same manner.
My point is this. It seems you have a history of walking with the Lord, and I believe that even if you were the LAST woman standing in a community or country that was bold enough to speak up on matters that are dear to the Lord’s heart, He would give you the words, strength and power to do it. Jesus Himself is more than enough for anyone and His Word speaks very plainly on its own in our very own hands. I guess what I am hoping to see is more of your leading based on the Scriptures rather than on the "feeling" of peace that even a fake dressed as an angel of light can give you.
With love and much concern,
Keri
Posted by: Keri | November 14, 2007 4:29 AM
Barbara, I am so happy to hear you are converting the Roman Catholic faith!
Now, in addition to being pro-life moms of Down syndrome children, and fellow bloggers, we can truly be of one heart, like the early Church!
I have been praying for you, and will continue. May Our Lord and Our Lady bless your journey home.
Posted by: Leticia Velasquez | November 14, 2007 2:50 PM
Barbara,
I didn't comment on your last post (just finished reading it through bloglines, actually, after saving it for a few days.). But I did want to post a message to you. My journey wasn't nearly as long as yours, but I felt exactly the same way when I came into the Catholic Church (nearly 10 years ago) - that I was coming HOME. It was an inexplicable feeling, this odd sense of completely fitting.
And now, all these years later, I can't help but be fascinated how God was pulling me to Him for years, trying to pull me into His flock, specifically through the truth of catholicism.
I will pray for you on this journey. I have no doubts you will find yourself strengthened, even when you are being persecuted by friends.
God Bless you. And indeed, Welcome Home.
Posted by: Holly | November 14, 2007 4:40 PM
Hi Barbara,
How can you accept the Catholic church's teaching on the Holy Eucharist? If there were no other issues (Mary, etc.), this alone causes me to blanche.
From the Vatican itself:
THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST (Cann. 897 - 958)
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P36.HTM
Can. 897 The most August sacrament is the Most Holy Eucharist in which Christ the Lord himself is contained, offered, and received and by which the Church continually lives and grows. The eucharistic sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated through the ages...
Compare that to God's Word, which is our only authority:
Hebrews 10:10
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL.
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12but He, having offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SIN FOR ALL TIME, sat down at the right hand of God,
13waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
14For by one offering He has PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME those who are sanctified.
What MAN or council has the authority to perpetualize Christ's COMPLETED work! What an affront to the very One who died to save us!
I am not an ENTJ or whatever so speaking this bluntly is not my customary m.o. But you have so much influence on so many...I hope you will re-consider. Though it does seem you have already converted, comments about an Inquirer Class aside.
And, lastly and ironically, you have written so eloquently on identifying and escaping Religious Legalism. What do you see in Catholicism that sets a person FREE?
My husband is a former Catholic and I grew up next to a Catholic farming community. I have never known a devout Catholic who was at PEACE with God. The serious ones, in fact, were quite nervous people. They just never had the assurance God had been pleased ENOUGH.
Christ. Alone.
deb meyers
Posted by: floorplan | November 14, 2007 6:42 PM
Deb:
I really am not into tossing Scripture, but if you want to understand Catholic teaching on the Eucharist, just read John 6. All of it - particularly v. 66, in which those who could not accept what Jesus was saying walked away at that point.
It's very blunt.
Posted by: Elaine | November 14, 2007 11:34 PM
Dearest deb meyers: As a Catholic who is deeply in love with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I just would like to say that you are mistaken about the Mass being a perpetualization of Christ's completed work. My heart deeply sorrows over what you think happens at Mass. What happens at Mass is a re-presentation of Calvary. Let me explain as simply as possible and then you will have to learn more for yourself as I do not intend to give an indepth explanation.
God created time. He is outside of time. We, on earth are stuck in time. When we go to Mass, God, the God of all miracles, allows us to be at the foot of the cross where Jesus, once and for all shed every drop of his blood out of love for us. We go to Mass and we bring our sins and our omissions of good, before our Lord so we too can have our sins washed away. Since we were not alive the day Jesus died on the cross, but we are still sinners, living in this time and place and in need of redemption, the Mass allows us to participate in Jesus' salvific action of his passion and death on Calvary. The Eucharist would not be possible if He did not die on the cross. At the last supper He said, This is my Body, which will be given to you, do this in remembrance of me" and then He went out to Calvary and literally gave up His body by His passion and death on the cross.
If other Catholic readers can explain the Mass better, please do so. I tried to be brief.
This is all very well documented in the Gospels, exactly what Jesus said about the bread becoming His Body and the wine becoming His Blood. Please read John's Gospel. Jesus said these things, so how you do you NOT believe Him?
If you only knew the power of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself, you would die of shame of what you just typed.
I hope I am not being uncharitable, but truly Deb, you do not know what you are saying.
Julie C.M.
Posted by: Julie C.M. | November 15, 2007 1:57 AM
Welcome to the Catholic Church!! I'm also a convert. I converted a few years ago. Most of my family is Catholic but my parents never had me baptized or went to church. I started going with my Grandmother and when I started dating my husband I found out that he was Catholic too. Thanks to him, I was baptized and received my first communion. Now I'm working on my confirmation! From one Catholic, pro-life mama who has a child with DS to another, Welcome!!!
Posted by: Jessica | November 15, 2007 1:21 PM
Welcome to the most beautiful treasure on earth! From a convert of 35 years.
Posted by: Margaret Mary Myers | November 19, 2007 12:50 AM
