Skip to comments.
Magazine: Growing Trend--Evangelicals ‘Crossing the Tiber’ to Catholicism
TheSacredPage.com ^
| August 6, 2010
| Michael Barber
Posted on 08/07/2010 3:38:50 PM PDT by Salvation
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NLydHsxn-mw/TFw-AnYOMVI/AAAAAAAABQ0/LfHW7UTRsYs/s400/st.+peter+basilica.jpg)
The magazine Religion Dispatches has a new piece up by Jonathan Fitzgerald, entitled, "Evangelicals Crossing the Tiber to Catholicism: Under the radar of most observers a trend is emerging of evangelicals converting to Catholicism."
As he points out, there are an increasing number Evangelicals coming into the Catholic Church. In fact, while my wife and I were at Fuller we witnessed this phenomenon firsthand. Indeed, students would come up and ask us if they could follow us to daily Mass (which was celebrated at a Catholic Church down the street). I went to Mass with many fellow students who had never experienced a Eucharistic liturgy. . . and, for many of them, once they started attending they couldn't stop.
Here's the story as Fitzgerald
reports it:
In the fall of 1999, I was a freshman at Gordon College, an evangelical liberal arts school in Massachusetts. There, fifteen years earlier, a professor named Thomas Howard resigned from the English department when he felt his beliefs were no longer in line with the colleges statement of faith. Despite all those intervening years, during my time at Gordon the specter of Thomas Howard loomed large on campus. The story of his resignation captured my imagination; it came about, ultimately, because he converted to Roman Catholicism. Though his reasons for converting were unclear and perhaps unimaginable to me at the time (they are actually well-documented in his book Evangelical is Not Enough which, back then, I had not yet read), his reasons seemed less important than the knowledge that it could happen. I had never heard of such a thing. . .
. . . [M]y parents never spoke ill of the Catholic Church; though the pastors and congregants of our non-denominational, charismatic church-that-met-in-a-warehouse, often did. Despite my firsthand experience with the Church, between the legend of my parents conversion (anything that happens in a childs life before he is born is the stuff of legends) and the portrait of the Catholic Church as an oppressive institution that took all the fun out of being saved, I understood Catholicism as a religion that a person leaves when she becomes serious about her faith.
And yet, Thomas Howard is only the tip of the iceberg of a hastening trend of evangelicals converting to Catholicism. North Park University professor of religious studies Scot McKnight documented some of the reasons behind this trend in his important 2002 essay entitled From Wheaton to Rome: Why Evangelicals become Roman Catholic. The essay was originally published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and was later included in a collection of conversion stories he co-edited with Hauna Ondrey entitled Finding Faith, Losing Faith: Stories of Conversion and Apostasy.
Thomas Howard comes in at number five on McKnights list of significant conversions, behind former Presbyterian pastor and author of Rome Sweet Home, Scott Hahn, and Marcus Grodi founder of The Coming Home Network International, an organization that provides fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or have already been received into the Catholic Church, according to their Web site. Other featured converts include singer-songwriter John Michael Talbot and Patrick Madrid, editor of the Surprised by Truth books, which showcase conversion stories.
Would Saint Augustine Go to a Southern Baptist Church in Houston?
McKnight first identified these converts eight years ago, and the trend has continued to grow in the intervening years. It shows up in a variety of places, in the musings of the late Michael Spencer (the Internet Monk) about his wifes conversion and his decision not to follow, as well as at the Evangelical Theological Society where the former President and Baylor University professor Francis J. Beckwith made a well-documented return to Rome. Additionally, the conversion trend is once again picking up steam as the Millennial generation, the first to be born and raised in the contemporary brand of evangelicalism, comes of age. Though perhaps an unlikely setting, The Kings College, an evangelical Christian college in New York City, provides an excellent case study for the way this phenomenon is manifesting itself among young evangelicals.
The Kings College campus is comprised of two floors in the Empire State Building and some office space in a neighboring building on Fifth Avenue. The approximately 300 students who attend Kings are thoughtful, considerate and serious. They are also intellectually curious. This combination of traits, it turns out, makes the college a ripe breeding ground for interest in Roman Catholicism. Among the traits of the Catholic Church that attract TKC studentsand indeed many young evangelicals at largeare its history, emphasis on liturgy, and tradition of intellectualism.
Lucas Croslow was one such student to whom these and other attributes of Catholicism appealed. This past spring, graduating from The Kings College was not the only major change in Croslows life, he was also confirmed into the Catholic Church.
Croslows interest in Catholicism began over six years ago when he was a sophomore in high school. At the time, Croslows Midwestern evangelical church experienced a crisis that is all too common among evangelical churches: what he describes as a crisis of spiritual authority. As a result of experiencing disappointment in his pastor, Croslow began to question everything he had learned from him. This questioning led him to study the historical origins of scripture and then of the Christian church itself. Eventually he concluded that Catholicism in its current form is the closest iteration of the early church fathers intentions. He asks, If Saint Augustine showed up today, could we seriously think that hed attend a Southern Baptist church in Houston? The answer, to Croslow, is a resounding No.
. . .
You can read the rest
here.
TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist; converts; evangelical; freformed
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140, 141-160, 161-180 ... 2,881-2,887 next last
To: RedMDer
You Still have not answered this. Is your statement above a fact or opinion? It is fact, the Democrats never win the Protestant vote, and they usually win the Catholic vote (Obama for example), as far as polling on the subject, look at the chart in post 106.
141
posted on
08/07/2010 7:58:58 PM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: verga
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
To: Quix
Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
To: Campion
When the Catholic church quits allowing its members to be pro-abortion, then you can start worrying about another denomination. I knew a guy from church who moved to another city. He told his new church that he was gay, he was kicked out that day. We did not have a clue when he was at my church. Abortions work about 99% of the time. Most of the young couples at my church do not use birth control. Or that is what a survey said. I believe the Duggars are Southern Baptists. Do you think they use bc after losing their first baby due to that? You can try to blame other churches for their beliefs when the CC have just as many problems, if not more. How many children do you have? I did not use any bc but only had 2 daughters and one of them is our angel.
144
posted on
08/07/2010 8:04:53 PM PDT
by
MamaB
To: ansel12
Alright, I’ve had enough!
I am 33 years old, lifelong Catholic and have NEVER voted for a Democrat/Liberal/Progressive. Furthermore, I have plenty of non-Catholic friends who have. Some of them are real holy-rolling, bible-thumping, anti-Catholics who are quite smug about their being “saved” while I’m allegedly not. Yet, these people use birth control & emergency contraception and vote Democrat. I lost alot of these “friends” over my views on the Terri Schivo case because they thought starving a woman to death was a “merciful” thing to do. I have worked with many fundie nurses who believe in euthanasia & plenty who thought Clinton was just a hottie who was unfairly targeted by Ken Starr & Newt Gingrich.
The point is, I could go on & on. There are plenty of hypocrites on both sides. I see people on here trying to explain to you the difference between Catholics and Catholics-in-name-only. Yet you seem to be the one who isn’t interested in an intellectually honest discussion. Get with it.
To: ansel12
You wrote:
“This is silly, Democrats will never end abortion,”
This is silly, Protestants will never end abortion.
“and Catholics are a Democrat constituency, by the way look at the chart in post 106.”
And Protestants are a Liberal constituency, by the look of it.
“If you want to end abortion then get a majority of Catholics to vote like the majority of Protestants.”
If you want to end abortion, then get a majority of Protestants to become orthodox Christians for the first time in their lives.
“Protestants clearly can not carry the load alone,”
Protestants clearly carry the load of responsibility for abortion being legal in this country.
“they voted against Obama”
They put Obama in the White House.
“but they need help from a majority of Catholics, not a minority of them.”
But Protestants will clearly insist on killing more children through abortifacients like the pill and making excuses.
146
posted on
08/07/2010 8:05:52 PM PDT
by
vladimir998
(Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
To: ansel12
Where did that data come from? That is not what we talk about. It’s pro-life. Must be bad info.
147
posted on
08/07/2010 8:06:52 PM PDT
by
RedMDer
(Throw them all out in 2010... Forward with Confidence! Forward!)
To: ansel12
**the majority of Catholics are liberals**
You are so wrong.
The majority of Catholics are very, very, very conservative. Think about the REAl Catholics, not the CINOs.
No REAL Catholic voted for Obama....(BTW, your numbers are wrong — they came out with new numbers after the final vote....but no one wants to find them. They just want to slam Catholics because of the CINOs. Believe me, I know, because some of my CINO family voted for Obortion O.
But real Catholics did not vote for him.
Please stop telling lies by repeating these supposed facts, because they aren’t the facts.
148
posted on
08/07/2010 8:07:56 PM PDT
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: vladimir998
You keep going back to religious theory and ignoring how the Catholics actually believe and vote in real life.
That is what I am trying to get people to see, changes can not be made until American Catholics see the scale of the relationship between Catholics and the Democratic party.
We can not change electoral politics when even the supposed, conservative activists of the Catholic membership don’t even know that the majority of their fellow Catholics are pro-abortion Democrats, and we sure won’t be able to mobilize our anti-illegal immigration efforts if Catholics don’t realize that those illegals are just more pro-abortion, Democrat voters.
149
posted on
08/07/2010 8:09:32 PM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: ansel12
150
posted on
08/07/2010 8:13:06 PM PDT
by
RedMDer
(Throw them all out in 2010... Forward with Confidence! Forward!)
To: MamaB
“You can not find a more pro-life church than Southern Baptists.”
Define pro-life. It’s not just abortion, you know. And if you want to make comparisons, I’ll challenge you that the Catholic church is the purist in its stance on life.
To: fish hawk
The following verses are in your bible too... James 2:21, John 8:56, Matthew 3:9, Acts 7:2, Acts 21:40, 22:1, 9:10, Romans 4:16-17.
The quote from Matthew 23 can not be removed context of Jesus’ entire statement and the audience for whom Matthew was writing.
To: vladimir998
So, the SBs are all in favor of murdering innocent children if they think the mothers are in danger.
Not only that but I bet they’re in favor of in-vitro fertilization, too. People think that “pro-life” means just abortion. They need to get educated
To: ought-six
**If we can get Catholics to vote like Protestants then we could stop abortion.**
Then why is it that only Catholics are out praying in front of abortion clinics?
Actions speak louder than words!
154
posted on
08/07/2010 8:17:10 PM PDT
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: Salvation
Think about the REAl Catholics, not the CINOs. No REAL Catholic voted for Obama BTW, your numbers are wrong they came out with new numbers after the final vote....but no one wants to find them. No they did not find some magical new numbers about the 2008 election, people have called you on that for probably a year on thread after thread.
I get that you dont like Catholics that dont vote like you do and you deny them the Catholic faith, but I think that the Vatican still counts them as Catholic in spite of your presumptions.
Tell me what you think is the true number of Catholics in the United States, do we take that 54% right off the top of the total that the Catholic church claims?
155
posted on
08/07/2010 8:17:36 PM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: Quix
Too many... we have to do a better job with the whole internal evangelization thing.
Too many folks who are Catholic or might have been Catholic believe in some sola fide nonsense (some Latin term I don’t understand... )and as a result don’t act quite right.
To: ansel12
You wrote:
“You keep going back to religious theory and ignoring how the Catholics actually believe and vote in real life.”
More Protestants voted for Obama than Catholics. You keep ignoring that. Protestants gave us abortion. Protestants gave us Obama.
“That is what I am trying to get people to see, changes can not be made until American Catholics see the scale of the relationship between Catholics and the Democratic party.”
Changes cannot be made until Protestants stop putting people like Obama and Clinton in the White House.
“We can not change electoral politics when even the supposed, conservative activists of the Catholic membership dont even know that the majority of their fellow Catholics are pro-abortion Democrats, and we sure wont be able to mobilize our anti-illegal immigration efforts if Catholics dont realize that those illegals are just more pro-abortion, Democrat voters.”
Protestants put Obama in the White House.
157
posted on
08/07/2010 8:21:27 PM PDT
by
vladimir998
(Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
To: Alamo-Girl
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND REPLY.
I felt there were some Spirit born insights in that. PRAISE GOD.
Nice YOU noticed that it was at least worth reading! LOL.
158
posted on
08/07/2010 8:21:38 PM PDT
by
Quix
(THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
To: RedMDer
Denial is very common on this thread, clinging to illusions and fantasy is no way to advance conservatism.
159
posted on
08/07/2010 8:21:46 PM PDT
by
ansel12
(Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
To: ansel12
You wrote:
“Denial is very common on this thread, clinging to illusions and fantasy is no way to advance conservatism.”
Many more Protestants voted for Obama than Catholics. Will you deny that?
Protestants put Obama in the White House.
160
posted on
08/07/2010 8:23:45 PM PDT
by
vladimir998
(Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140, 141-160, 161-180 ... 2,881-2,887 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson