The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Converts

Catholic Exchange ^ | July 2, 2007 | David Hartline

[NYer]

It started with Scott Hahn and it is still going strong.  The number of prominent Protestant clergy and theologians coming to the Catholic Church has been nothing short of remarkable.  Priests like Father Dwight Longenecker and Father Alvin Kimel are new to the Church and they bring a lot of enthusiasm, scholarship and wit and humor with them.  Father Longenecker might be the only priest who is a graduate of the admittedly anti-Catholic institute of higher learning, Bob Jones University.  Deacon Alex Jones, a former pastor in a prominent African-American Pentacostalist Church in Detroit left behind a vibrant, growing congregation.  However, the pull of Catholicism's 2,000 year-old history and her ability to weather many storms was too much for Deacon Jones.  He now travels around the country telling his conversion story.  In addition, there have been prominent theologians and university scholars like Dr Francis Beckwith, who very recently was the head of the Evangelical Theological Society.  He came home to the Church in April.  The aftershocks from his reversion to Catholicism (he was born into the faith but later left the Church for Evangelicalism during his teenage years in the heyday of the "Jesus Movement,") still are being felt.  He followed Joshua Hochschild who surprised many in the theological world when he recently converted to Catholicism.

In my book The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism, I note that while many in the media, even some Catholics, are focused on those who have left the Church, few have noticed the significance of so many prominent members of other faiths who have come home to Rome.  It should be noted that many who left the Catholic Faith, usually for a non-denominational mega church, often can't give a theological reason.  They can only say that they enjoy the liveliness and entertainment that a mega church often provides.  It is most encouraging that Catholicism is getting the crème of the crop from other churches.  Entry into the Church for these converts is usually made after a long, difficult journey to come to terms with something that they never thought possible.  For some, like Scott Hahn and Father Dwight Longenecker, the Faith they once mocked is the Faith they have changed their lives and alienated family and friends to join, a decision not taken lightly. 

Often, it is an attempt to better understand Catholicism in order to disprove it that leads to conversion, when they simply could not come up with anything to dispute the key tenets of Catholicism: Scripture and Tradition, the Sacraments, Apostolic Tradition and the role of Mary.  They found themselves falling into the trap that the eminent Pharisee Gamaliel warned about in Acts 5:33-39. They might be fighting against God.

Many of the former converts, some of whom were admitted anti-Catholics, have now become prominent defenders of the faith.  Dr. Scott Hahn is a mainstay at Franciscan University and is often seen on EWTN.  As a matter of fact there are so many converts and reverts coming home to the Church that one of the most popular shows on EWTN is The Journey Home, hosted by Marcus Grodi.  Besides clergy and scholars there are hundreds of thousands who have entered the Church in recent years. This past Easter, it was announced that over 100,000 people came into the Church, just in the United States.  While bloggers and Catholic apologists Mark Shea and Jimmy Akin came into the Church some time ago, Aimee Milburn and Gerald Augustinus along with twin brothers David Bennett and Jonathan Bennett have chronicled their recent journeys into the Church via their blogs.  It is a truly remarkable story that often gets little media attention.  If the converts keep coming, the Tiber is going to get mighty crowded.  Indeed, the tide is turning!

[Coleus]

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[SuziQ]

Love that t-shirt!!

[SuziQ]

Isn’t it amazing how different the scripture looks after you have been saved...

I saw no difference in the Scriptures, after my Baptism in the Spirit, except for maybe in ME, having a greater hunger for it. It simply put greater emphasis on the importance of Jesus, and his Real Presence in the Eucharist. After all, even though Jesus died for our sins, we are still affected by the world around, and we need that strength provided by Jesus's Gift of His Body and Blood to live as He taught us.

[Iscool]

I saw no difference in the Scriptures

Well that's unfortunate...

and we need that strength provided by Jesus's Gift of His Body and Blood to live as He taught us.

because you will find nowhere in the scripture that Jesus' body and blood in the Eucharist provides strength to live a Godly life...

For the Christian, that is provided by the Holy Spirit, as in spirit...No flesh and no blood...

And it's 24/7, 365 days a year...

You didn't see that in the scripture after you were sprinkled with holy water???

[OLD REGGIE]

I don't believe the Church keeps track of these numbers. You've read enough of my conversion posts to grasp the fact that these numbers are large. It is not uncommon for entire congregations to convert with their Protestant pastor as happened with Alex Jones.

Please stop asking me this question.

Oh I quite understand why you'd not want to be questioned on your claims which have no basis in fact. Not once have I seen you post an article concerning the possibility of a Catholic converting to Protestantism. Does it happen?

Have you read enough of the conversions from Catholicism to Protestantism in South America numbering in the millions? Does this mean anything to you?

You post selected articles which seem to prove to you that Protestants are flocking to the Catholic Church while there is no traffic in the other direction. I believe we both know this is not factual and I am questioning your motives. Care to explain?

Actually, I am somewhat bemused as to why you'd use such a controversial character as Ignatius in your tag line. After all, there is no consensus which, if any, of the letters attributed to him are genuine. You have chosen the letter 'to the Smyrnaeans'. Which one? The short recension? The middle recension? The long recension? You don't claim he wrote all three do you?

Let's look at an authentic Catholic source:

We find these seven mentioned not only by Eusebius ("Hist. eccl.", III, xxxvi) but also by St. Jerome (De viris illust., c. xvi). Of later collections of Ignatian letters which have been preserved, the oldest is known as the "long recension". This collection, the author of which is unknown, dates from the latter part of the fourth century. It contains the seven genuine and six spurious letters, but even the genuine epistles were greatly interpolated to lend weight to the personal views of its author. For this reason they are incapable of bearing witness to the original form.

Catholic Encyclopedia - St. Ignatius of Antioch

Not very supportive is it?

For a more thougough exmination:

The epistles of Ignatius: are they all forgeries?

I don't think I'd be comfortable quoting Ignatius.

[Salvation]

The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism

The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Youth

The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Converts

The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Clergy

[bboop]

No, I don’t think that is true. People are coming into Catholicism for theological reasons, not because of inadequacies in their local churches. We searched through MANY good Protestant churches/ denominations/ non-denominations before realizing that what we were looking for was the fullness of Catholicism.

[Alkhin]

I want to add to your comments about the Eucharist - one question that a Protestant has yet to answer satisfactorily for me is if they are so BOUND and DETERMINED that a REAL Christian can ONLY be that who interprets the First Book of the Bible, Genesis, as absolutely, and totally, a LITERAL documentation of the creation of the earth (even though there were no witnesses that took the time to write down this documentation and it was all passed orally through several cultural groups before it made it into the Torah) - why shouldnt CATHOLICS insist that when it comes to the Eucharist we take Christ Himself, and the 12 Apostles who were with him and set about proclaiming Christ's message in detail, - why shouldnt WE take him LITERALLY?

When Christ says "TAKE EAT THIS IS MY BODY..." and "TAKE DRINK THIS IS MY BLOOD" - I tend to think He MEANT it.

[Salvation]

The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Laity