Posted on 03/21/2015 4:27:12 PM PDT by NYer
From The Salem News in Massachusetts:
If the deacon is a different sort of religious figure for the church, then Chuck Hall, 62, is a different sort of deacon. He came of age as an evangelical Protestant. Only slowly did he gravitate toward conversion, drawn by, of all things, the priest abuse scandals.
As one damaging headline followed another, he sensed an imbalance in the treatment of the church. Moreover, he saw the Roman church as at the very foundation of Christianity. While he never faulted the press for following the story, the fierce hostility brought on by the scandals seemed to him an attack on Christianity itself.
“It made me go back and study some church history. … I let the church speak for itself,” he said. The more he studied and understood, the more he began to feel that the conflicts always cited between Protestants and Catholics were overdrawn: “‘Do you worship Mary?’ No.”
The lessons of inclusion brought by Vatican II, the “inspirational” writings of G. K. Chesterton, also a convert, and the courage of Pope John Paul II eased Hall’s path.
“I went to my first Mass,” he said. The very interior of the church shouted of difference — the stained glass, the bright colors of the priest’s vestments, the statuary.
“A lot of things about being Catholic take some getting used to,” he laughed. But Hall began to see the beauty in these things and, sitting recently in the bright, soaring interior of St. John the Baptist, he smiled at the thought that God can be seen in such beauty.
“Art is a great gift,” he said. “The creative life is when we most imitate God.”
There is an added irony in Hall’s attraction to Catholicism. When he married 25 years ago, his wife, Mary, was teaching the Catholic catechism. As he was drawn toward her religion, however, she was drifting away. She currently worships in the Anglican church. Yet, he says, “She has been supportive of everything I’ve wanted to do.” They have no children.
The article has much more on deacons. Check it out.
Ping!
Ping
Blog pimping and cult pimping in one singe thread. When do the Roman Catholics realize they gave been hoodwinked by the master deceiver? This guy "gets off" because he can wear bright clothes and smell incense!
But, this is a story that supposedly presents Roman Cultism in a positive light, while admitting that not everybody is as gullible... His wife has gone from Roman apostasy into cultural apostasy! He has a "religion", not a relationship with Christ!
From not saved to definitely not saved. Not a good transition.
Hoss
In these propaganda pieces NYer keeps putting out I never read about one key aspect of these "conversions". All I read about is someone from another denomination joined the catholic denomination.
No mention if they are Christian or how they came to know Christ.
I can't tell you how many articles I've read about identifying with the catholic church; but very, very few, if any, where anyone identifies as a Christian.
There is a difference.
**As one damaging headline followed another, he sensed an imbalance in the treatment of the church. Moreover, he saw the Roman church as at the very foundation of Christianity. While he never faulted the press for following the story, the fierce hostility brought on by the scandals seemed to him an attack on Christianity itself.**
I bet they the press didn’t plan on this happening.
He was drawn to the shiny objects.
Black and Catholic in America | An Interview with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers
New papal decree clarifies role of deacons and result of defections on marriage
Prison chaplain remembers ("Behind the Walls with the Man Behind the Stole")
Deacon follows skies, stars, rails on vocation journey (to priesthood)
The Greek Deacon of the Papal Rite of Mass (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
Deacons ordained to serve in ministry of presence (RC Diocese of Los Angeles)
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Deacons and the Diaconate[Catholic-Orthodox Caucus]
Use Deacons as Priests
Iraq Ordinations Seen as Sign of Hope
A patron Saint for Deacons [St. Stepehen]
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
Catholic Church in India ordains its first married deacons
10 (Catholic) Deacons Ordained in Basra (Iraq)
What About Women Deacons? (in the Catholic Church)
(Latin Mass Liturgy) Deacon's Position at Consecration
DEACONS AND DIVORCE
Confraternity of Catholic Clergy 2005 Resolutions
Against the Permenant Diaconate
Number of U.S. Catholics, deacons up; priests, religious down
Holy See invites consecrated people to renew their spiritual life
You certainly have my prayers.
He was drawn to the holiness of Catholic Church. And we know only God is holy.
And they wonder why people see through the dead, protestant heresy.
What's next, boys? Honor killings?
I bet they the press didn’t plan on this happening.Bet you're right! It played a major role in many of the new priests and even current seminarians I've spoken with over the past several years. The Spirit works in mysterious ways ... What they meant for evil has been turned into a blessing.
How do you know what this man’s prayer life is like?
Because there isn't a conversion. Catholicism does not guarantee regeneration, consequently, the overwhelming majority of RCs are unregenerate. And there is nothing worse than being unregenerate but thinking you can mix works and faith and offer up something to God that will please Him.
Gal 9:30 - 32 explains the RC dilemma very well ...
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Yesterday I read about a Catholic couple who were not doing well, the husband tried to do more church things and wanted to become a Deacon. Somehow they ended up Baptist but he got to be a Deacon there. I have read of Lutherans becoming Catholic and Methodists becoming Orthodox, and Catholics becoming Lutheran and they each claim they never heard God’s word, or felt His presence at the former denomination. Each tells how they knew they were “home” in their new denomination. I think a lot of churches are failing to really meet the spiritual needs of their members. I think we all have some work to do in our homes and in our churches.
Thanks for that info.
Agree!
Because the Roman Catholic cult teaches that he can pray to idols and dead people! If he has become a Roman Catholic, he has done nothing to bring about his adoption into the family of God. He has chosen to glorify an institution/cult, not God! His testimony is exclusively about how great is the cult of Roman Catholicism, with its bells and smells! He makes it clear about his prayer life with this testimony and glorification of the cult, not Jesus Christ!
Romans 1: 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen....
Romans 15: ... 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Hebrews 13: ... 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ...
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