"Trinity Presbyterian was an independent church with an average attendance of 30 when two of its elders laid hands on him in a private ceremony in 1982. He served as their Associate Pastor for about two years. The church remained independent until its closing in 1986. Mr. Hahn told me the reason for his private ceremony was because he did not feel he was very qualified to serve as an elder at age 26, but needed the ordination to take the pastor's exemption from Social Security. . ."
Thanks for the excellent link and this account of Scott Hahn's peculiar road to Rome. There's no such thing as an "independent" Presbyterian church. And if it is true that Hahn once called himself a Reconstructionist, it was only to destroy the movement.
There are few people I've come across as dupicitous as Scott Hahn. He is right where he belongs (and some might say he's always been there.)
Although Hahn does not mention it in the book, his tuition at Gordon-Conwell was paid by a Calvinist Christian businessman who wanted to support a student who understood both free market economics and Christian theology, for the purpose of being able to teach economics to clergymen and Christian theology to economists. Hahn was highly recommended to the businessman by the Chairman of the Economics Department at Grove City. What Hahn learned at Grove City was Thomism, and his interest in economics – which he says he studied only to mollify his "practical" father, not because he was genuinely interested in the subject – has disappeared. Hahn's obsession is to convert Christians to Catholicism, not to educate clergymen about principles of economics or economists about Christian theology. He owes one Christian businessman many thousand dollars and his former economics professor an apology......Here are two graduates of a Presbyterian College, two students nearing completion of their studies at reputedly one of the best evangelical Protestant seminaries in the country, two professing Christians – and the meaning of justification is not all that important to them. As we shall soon see, despite – or rather because of – their education, the Hahns – especially Scott – could not defend the Reformation principles of the Bible alone, faith alone, and Christ alone.
Love him or hate him, at least we know who Scott Hahn is. He doesn't try to hide his identity. I think we can agree on the fact that he is indeed a real person. He's frequently on TV, gives lectures and retreats and is freely available for questioning.
"Sister" Mary Ann Collins, on the other hand, is a complete blank. Nobody knows who she/they is/are, what she/they looks/look like or where she/they has/have been.
Naturally, the latter is completely on the level and the former is a phony.
Figures.