Why Did You Choose “Catholic? (Why do adults become Catholics?)

CE.com ^ | January 27th, 2012 | George Weigel

[Salvation]

Why Did You Choose “Catholic?”

January 27th, 2012 by George Weigel

Why do adults become Catholics?

There are as many reasons for “converting” as there are converts. Evelyn Waugh became a Catholic with, by his own admission, “little emotion but clear conviction”: this was the truth; one ought to adhere to it. Cardinal Avery Dulles wrote that his journey into the Catholic Church began when, as an unbelieving Harvard undergraduate detached from his family’s staunch Presbyterianism, he noticed a leaf shimmering with raindrops while taking a walk along the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass.; such beauty could not be accidental, he thought—there must be a Creator. Thomas Merton found Catholicism aesthetically, as well as intellectually, attractive: once the former Columbia free-thinker and dabbler in communism and Hinduism found his way into a Trappist monastery and became a priest, he explained the Mass to his unconverted friend, poet Robert Lax, by analogy to a ballet. Until his death in 2007, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger insisted that his conversion to Catholicism was not a rejection of, but a fulfillment of, the Judaism into which he was born; the cardinal could often be found at Holocaust memorial services reciting the names of the martyrs, including “Gisèle Lustiger, ma maman” (“my mother”).

Two of the great nineteenth-century converts were geniuses of the English language: theologian John Henry Newman and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. This tradition of literary converts continued in the twentieth century, and included Waugh, Graham Greene, Edith Sitwell, Ronald Knox, and Walker Percy. Their heritage lives today at Our Savior’s Church on Park Avenue in New York, where convert author, wit, raconteur and amateur pugilist George William Rutler presides as pastor.

In early American Catholicism, the fifth archbishop of Baltimore (and de facto primate of the United States), Samuel Eccleston, was a convert from Anglicanism, as was the first native-born American saint and the precursor of the Catholic school system, Elizabeth Ann Seton. Mother Seton’s portrait in the offices of the archbishop of New York is somewhat incongruous, as the young widow Seton, with her children, was run out of New York by her unforgiving Anglican in-laws when she became a Catholic. On his deathbed, another great nineteenth-century convert, Henry Edward Manning of England, who might have become the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury but became the Catholic archbishop of Westminster instead, took his long-deceased wife’s prayer book from beneath his pillow and gave it to a friend, saying that it had been his spiritual inspiration throughout his life.

If there is a thread running through these diverse personalities, it may be this: that men and women of intellect, culture and accomplishment have found in Catholicism what Blessed John Paul II called the “symphony of truth.” That rich and complex symphony, and the harmonies it offers, is an attractive, compelling and persuasive alternative to the fragmentation of modern and post-modern intellectual and cultural life, where little fits together and much is cacophony. Catholicism, however, is not an accidental assembly of random truth-claims; the creed is not an arbitrary catalogue of propositions and neither is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It all fits together, and in proposing that symphonic harmony, Catholicism helps fit all the aspects of our lives together, as it orders our loves and loyalties in the right direction.

You don’t have to be an intellectual to appreciate this “symphony of truth,” however. For Catholicism is, first of all, an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And to meet that person is to meet the truth that makes all the other truths of our lives make sense. Indeed, the embrace of Catholic truth in full, as lives like Blessed John Henry Newman’s demonstrate, opens one up to the broadest possible range of intellectual encounters.

Viewed from outside, Catholicism can seem closed and unwelcoming. As Evelyn Waugh noted, though, it all seems so much more spacious and open from the inside. The Gothic, with its soaring vaults and buttresses and its luminous stained glass, is not a classic Catholic architectural form by accident. The full beauty of the light, however, washes over you when you come in.

 

George Weigel is author of the bestselling books The Courage to Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church and Letters to a Young Catholic.

This column has been made available to Catholic Exchange courtesy of the Denver Catholic Register.

 

[EnglishCon]

Ha!

Dad was strict on the dietary thing - except for bacon. Until I was 10 I thought bacon was called pink salmon.

Thanks for the smile, not thought of that in years.

[Quix]

God does seem to have a hobby with such ‘coincidences.’

No, Verga, that’s not numerology.

Numerology is ascribing to numbers magical powers. THAT’S satanic.

[daniel1212]

i am skeptical of such means of proof, and math is my least favorite subject but it is interesting and impressive, and good to see someone countered the attack. However that is too much for me to read and comprehend now.

[PJ-Comix]

Medical research has proven that only Protestant stomachs can tolerate summer sausage. All members of other religious groups shrivel up in agony when even the smallest piece of summer sausage enters their systems.

[EnglishCon]

I thought that was because the rest of us have functional tastebuds .....

[Lera]

i am skeptical of such means of proof, and math is my least favorite subject but it is interesting and impressive, and good to see someone countered the attack. However that is too much for me to read and comprehend now.

My language skills suck . I don't like to talk and I like writing even less (I do read a lot though ) but I really like numbers, puzzles fascinate me . You can't read any of these numbers to decipher any predictions (it's not like a horoscope that attempts to tell you what is going to happen ) Hebrew and Greek are numerical languages .It would be impossible for a man to write these scriptures , especially at the time they were written (no computers) . Man did not write these words , these words were inspired , they wrote down word for word what the Holy Spirit told them to write . The math behind the words prove they were not written by any man just like our DNA proves that we did not happen by accident .These numbers prove that every jot and tittle was there for a purpose .

God did not create anything in a chaotic manner , everything was created in an order. There is math behind everything if you know how to look (actually it was sin that introduced chaos) Our Creator is not only not only an architect but he has some amazing math skills . The creation testifies of him and so does his word .

[Lera]

Divination ? Are you kidding . You can not possible get any answers to any future knowledge you are not suppose to have from any of those number . It’s not like reading a horoscope or going to palm reader . You are grasping at straws .

[GiovannaNicoletta]

LOL!!!

The indisputable proof that the Bible is divinely inspired is the fact of fulfilled prophecy. Jesus said:

From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. (John 13:19)

Jesus tells us that one of the reasons why He gives us prophecy, aside from warning us about what is to come and giving us time to come to Him for salvation and escape the judgment that He will send on this earth, is so that when what He said will happen actually happens, we will know that He is God.

It is very dangerous and foolish to take God's glory and credit for what He has done and hand it over to men. God said:

“I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images." (Isaiah 42:8)

So we are told by Jesus Christ that He expects to be credited for prophecy that comes to pass, and we are also told that God will not share His glory with anyone.

There was more than enough inarguable evidence given that not only is the book of Matthew divinely inspired, but the entire Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Men don't know what is going to happen in the next ten minutes, let alone hundreds and thousands of years into the future.

There is no man who wrote any prophecy in the Bible.

And, I guess that since the Scripture is not from God, anyone who doesn't believe that the Bible is divinely inspired but thinks that they are saved and going to Heaven can forget about that because if the Bible was written by man, then all of it is irrelevant, including that parts where Jesus Christ said that if a person is not born again, He will not see the kingdom of God. So if you think that you're saved, and okay with God, but you don't believe that God said you had to be saved to have eternal life, then you need to be extremely concerned about your eternal destiny.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Anyone who denies any part of Scripture, and certainly anyone who denies that the Holy Spirit inspired every single word in Scripture, has denied the Person of Jesus Christ and is not saved and will go through the Tribulation.

No true believer in Christ, who was saved only because of the Holy Scriptures and the divinely inspired words in those Scriptures, will ever deny any part of that Scripture.

Denial of Scripture comes from one source and one source only - the same source who asked Eve, "did God really say" - and has repackaged that lie down through the millennia to fit any given situation to make people doubt God and His word and spend eternity in hell. The lie has been packaged for this thread as a denial of the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, which, of course, makes the Bible irrelevant, and there are some who will read that and believe it and heave a sigh of relief that the Bible was written by men and therefore they have nothing to worry about.

It's a dangerous game to play, this denial of what God has done and the attempt to rob Him of His glory and the credit that is due Him - but if God never really said what He said He said, then what is there to get upset about?

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Thank you boatbums.

That's pretty bullet-proof, but I have a feeling any proof presented that the Bible is divinely inspired will be rejected.

It goes back to what God said about those who do not know Him:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Unless a person has been given the Holy Spirit through true salvation in Christ, and can see with the spiritual eyes that can only be given by the Holy Spirit, he does not understand the things of God, and Scripture is foolishness to him.

Nothing anyone says will enable an unsaved person to see. Only Christ can change the condition of spiritual blindness.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Thanks, Lera.

That is incredible.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the Holy Spirit is the Author of the entire Bible.

[smvoice]

I want to share something with you both that I came across in 1 Peter. You both know that I believe that Hebrews through Revelation were inspired by the Holy Spirit for those tribulation saints going through the last days and enduring to the end for Christ's return to set up His Kingdom. We've talked before about the Book of Hebrews being written to THE HEBREWS. And James being written to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. Both 1 and 2 Peter are written to those going through the "last time" 1 Peter 1:5, "the revelation of Jesus Christ"(v.13); "these last times for you" (v.20). And on and on, throughout his writings.

You both also know that I believe Ephesians 2:7-13 shows us Dispensations. "Time Past", "But Now" and "The Ages to Come". And that we are in the "But Now" of God's plan, the dispensation of the grace of God.

But this is very interesting in 1 Peter 2:9,10."But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy NATION, a peculiar people: that ye should shew forth the praises of him who HATH CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT; Which IN TIME PAST were NOT A PEOPLE, but ARE NOW the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but NOW HAVE OBTAINED MERCY."

Notice that Peter speaks of "TIME PAST" and "BUT NOW". The question is, when was Israel in darkness, not God's people (Lo Ammi), and without mercy?

Do you see what I'm getting at? Paul's "But Now" (us, the Church the BOdy of Christ) is Peter's "TIME PAST". It's Peter's "TIME PAST" because WE AREN'T HERE. This age of grace has ended, and the "Ages to Come" have begun: Peter's "BUT NOW" is Paul's "AGES TO COME"...after the Church the Body of Christ is raptured, and God once again deals with Israel as a NATION, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD (which was prophesied they would be). THey once again become the people of God. And those going through the tribulation, the tribulation saints, are a CHOSEN GENERATION. THose who will endure and go into the Kingdom when Christ returns.

All of 1 and 2 Peter deal with the last days. So do John, Jude, James, Hebrews, and of course Revelation.

But not the same "last days" that Paul spoke of. Paul's last days concern the last days of the Church the Body of Christ. Peter, James, John, Jude, and whoever wrote Hebrews deals with the "last days" before Christ returns to set up His Kingdom.

[Lera]

Mathew7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Only HIS BLOOD ! It was a gift .

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“Do you have any comprehension of statistics at all ?”

Yes, I do.

“MATHEW DID NOT WRITE THE GOSPEL OF MATHEW .”

Well, first of all, it’s “Matthew” and not “MATHEW”. If you’re going to discuss what he did or did not do, it would help if you spelled his name correctly. Secondly, inspiration is not dictation by God. That is the Muslim notion of inspiration and is more akin to channeling than inspiration in the Christian understanding. Your misunderstanding is a direct product of the false belief called sola scriptura. Even most Protestants do not make your mistake, however. Example: “This inspiration, however, is not a dictation, but a movement of God’s spirit through the writer, utilizing the personality and style of the writer.” http://carm.org/inerrancy-and-inspiration-bible

“THE GOSPEL OF MATHEW WAS DICTATED TO HIM WORD BY WORD BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

Again, nothing in the Christian understanding of inspiration has anything to do with dictation.

“Not only does this paper show(which BTW the team of Harvard’s Mathematical department could not even begin to duplicate with the aid of computers ) God’s hand is all over this text .It also shows you exactly which text God’s hand is all over - Textus receptus”

So you claim. 1) I have no logical reason to believe your claim. 2) Nothing you are claiming actually proves inspiration. 3) Even if it proved inspiration, it would not prove Matthew was the author (or - as you might have it - the one dictated to by God).

“It also shows us just who is behind all the false text - Did God really say? (BTW that question is what Satan asked Eve in the garden)”

You have failed to provide what was asked for. Pity.

“The entire Textus receptus manuscript is full of statistics like this and so are the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures (the ones the Jews say are scripture)”

So you claim. And even if so, it doesn’t answer the challenge.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Great analysis. You could build an entire sermon around your excellent conclusions.

[boatbums]

I got this in an email today. Thought you'd like it especially as we were talking about satan questioning God's word.

[boatbums]

So, do you or don’t you believe that those Apocryphal books are divinely-inspired, God breathed, infallible Holy Scripture every bit as inspired as any other of the books in the Bible?

[verga]

From my post 331; Yes Absolutely!, what part of yes absolutely is not clear. I showed you a stie and a book that clearly demonstrate that there are over 200 direct and indirect references to the Deutrocanonicals used by both Jesus and the Apostles.

They have been part of the Jewish canon for several hundred years before Jesus walked the earth.

They were not "removed" until 60 years after His resurrection.

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls we have proof of there inclusion in Hebrew/ Aramaic text.

[xzins]

In my ongoing walk through the bible, we are up to James 4:7-10 this week. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment expressed to metmom. Great sermon insight.

Thanks.

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Title is: Resistance and Repentance.

It is still in the works.

[metmom]

When you get it done, FReepmail me a copy, if you could.

I’d love to see it.