One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

I am sometimes asked why I became Catholic. There are multiple reasons, but please allow me to give you a bit of background first.

I was baptized Lutheran at infancy, but I was raised in a church affiliated with the United Church of Christ, a merger of two Protestant denominational bodies in the U.S., the Congregational Christian Church, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The former was by far the larger of the two, so most UCC churches are "Congregational," many still bearing that in their name. I first learned about Jesus Christ in the UCC, and I am grateful for that: I have no desire to "bash" the UCC.

As I grew, though, I became aware that much of the Christian doctrine which I was being taught was considered to be "fair game" for debate and revision by the UCC, or by individuals. At the same time, I began to learn about other "flavors" of Christianity, notably the Catholic faith. I heard a lot of misconceptions about the Catholic faith, but I don't recall ever being taught anything mean-spirited by the UCC or by my parents.

When I came of age in the UCC, I received "Holy Communion," but I was taught that it was merely a symbol of Christ (though a later look at a UCC textbook from my youth shows that even that was up to individual interpretation); but I had heard about the Catholic teaching of the Real Presence of Christ in the eucharist, and my gut feeling was that something important was going on there in the Catholic Church...something very important.

After moving out on my own--like most people in their late teens and early 20's--I stopped going to church on a regular basis. I would like to say that I was exploring different religions and philosophies; but in truth, very little such study was going on. I was largely indifferent to religion, and to God.

There was a brief period during the 1970's when I allowed a group of Jehovah's Witnesses to spend a few afternoons telling me what they were all about, but the life that I was living was decidedly antithetical to Christianity in general, so I requested that our sessions be discontinued.

In 1978, when I got married to a Catholic girl, I made the (admittedly unknowledgable) decision that I would become Catholic so that we could share the same faith. I enrolled in a class of instruction at the local Catholic parish (RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, was not yet in wide use in the Catholic Church), and began learning; and I received an amazing summary of the basics of the Catholic faith.

Our instructor was Msgr. Richard Sweeney, at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City, Iowa. His classes were one evening per week, over the course of about three months. He would give a lecture--which he requested not be interrupted--and would then answer questions. As an outline for his lectures, he used the Baltimore Catechism. Our reading assignments were in a book called Life in Christ, which, by the way, is still in print, and is still a fine adult catechism, having been revised to coordinate with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Very early on in this study, I learned that when the Catholic Church teaches that something is the truth, a Catholic does not have the option of rejecting or even doubting it. At the time, this seemed like the most difficult thing to accept. So, for the first time in some years, I prayed. I said, "Lord, I can't just go though the motions of this; so if this is where you want me, you're going to have to lead me." In retrospect, I know that my prayer was answered with the grace of accepting the magisterium; that is, the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. I am grateful for the grace of believing that the Church has the authority to determine what is the truth, and teach it; and that I don't have to understand or even like it; but I am obligated to accept it as truth.

I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church in May of 1978, when I made a profession of faith and receieved the sacraments of penance, confirmation, and eucharist all in one evening.

To return to the original question, why I became Catholic: It might appear to a disinterested observer that I became Catholic because my wife is Catholic; that would be a grossly over-simplified explanation. I often say that marrying a Catholic girl gave me the "excuse" to look more deeply into the Catholic faith, but ultimately, that was not the reason; if it were, it would be a pretty shallow reason indeed. I "took the plunge" because I came to believe that the Catholic Church is the one Church which Christ founded, and that it continues to have the authority which Christ gave it when he said that "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" in Matthew's gospel. What drew me most to the Catholic Church? That's simple: The Holy Eucharist.