““It was never about going to heaven or knowing the Lord. Those things were accomplished while I was in the Pentecostal church. It was simply coming into the fullness of the Christian faith.””
So, Alex, is this what the Latin Church teaches these days? Off hand, do you know who the heresiarch was who ordained this very badly catechized fellow who now gets to peddle heresy to the faithful? He is, as one of our priests once said to a convert from evangelical Protestantism, merely a Protestant in a rasos swinging the thurible.
The more of these conversion stories I read, the more concerned I get about the future of the Latin Church in America.
Well, as a convert from Evangelical Protestantism myself, I welcome him with open arms. And frankly I think that we converts are bringing a lot into the church. Perhaps I will leave it there.
I think, the distinction between making a decision for Christ, of which an Evangelical Protestant is perfectly capable of, and coming to the fullness of the Catholic Church and her sacraments is indeed a valid distinction. To say otherwise is to deny the Evangelicals their Christian character, something I am not prepared to do en masse. I also think that the strength of his hope of salvation is a good thing, so long as it does not cross into presumption. Since he is, we can safely assume, partaking of the regular sacraments and accomplished a valid sacramental conversion, I see no ground to accuse him of presumption based on one turn of a phrase.
Your larger point is indeed valid, that the influx of Evangelical converts and the evangelical mindset they bring is a problem as well as a blessing, given the mindset that they surely retain.
Regarding the union, I agree that it should not be rushed into, given the massive upheaval of the Reformation, which the Catholic Church has a special burden of healing. I think, the signs are good, but there is a large future ahead of us in that regard.
ping to #6