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Sixteen-Year-Old Prince Converts

Sixteen-Year-Old Prince Converts

The prince of procrastination finally brings himself to write to you. I offer my most abundant thanks for having the courage and intellectual rigor to produce such an excellent publication, on that in part brought about the conversion of this sixteen-year-old. Truly God’s grace is boundless.

Through the charity of one individual on your staff, James Akin, I was given a complimentary subscription to This Rock. I was sent numerous books and read every tract available on the Catholic Answers web site half a dozen times. The combination of these (and the grace of God, no doubt) provoked me to begin an intellectual and spiritual journey culminating with my reception into the Church this Easter. Were it not for Catholic Answers, I suspect I would still be floating somewhere within the bounds of Protestantism, in a constant state of theological disarray.

Christopher Bennett 
Harriman, Tennessee 

Just the Right Tone

 

I am a Protestant (Lutheran) who is seriously looking at the Catholic faith. I recently read David B. Currie’s “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic.” I was stunned by this work. The only weak part seemed to be its argument on the Immaculate Conception — it didn’t address Romans 3. So I checked out the Catholic Answers web site, and your paper on the topic did a very good job. By the way, the tone of your answers is just right. Not hostile, not arrogant, but very clear and firm. I am not ready to “reconcile” by a long shot, but I plan to continue to explore this path. 

Todd Voss 
Downers Grove, Illinois 


 

Someday Your Prints Will Come

 

I just got your catalogue the other day. The Norman Rockwell-type illustrations on the cover are really nice. Your illustrator, Steven De Lacy, did a terrific job. I wish I had prints. 

Stephanie Meissner 
New Egypt, New Jersey 

Editor’s reply: On the inside back cover you will find an advertisement explaining how you can obtain your own copies of these illustrations. They are being provided in a limited edition of 250 numbered copies, each illustration signed by the artist.


 

Hate to Give It to Friends

 

Thank you for reminding me to pay my subscription renewal. I look forward to this magazine and read it front to back — hate to pass it on to my friends, those who appreciate our Catholic heritage. I am 65 years old and have had the pain of losing my elder son some twenty years ago to the Church of Christ. The pain is still there, but, by God’s grace, I read everything and try to learn everything about my own faith. This Rock definitely helps me. But my son’s family will not read anything Catholic or listen to anything converts have to tell about the Catholic faith. So I just pray and keep up my own faith and have love and respect for his family. He’s a very good man, but they have pulled the wool over his eyes. 

Bertha Guidry 
Opelousas, Louisiana 


 

Food for the Journey 

 

I’ve been receiving This Rock for nearly a year and want you to know how much I enjoy the magazine. God has faithfully provided for my growth in the Catholic faith. While I was born in the faith and loved and believed it most of my life, I really began learning about it all over again the last ten years after coming into a personal relationship with Jesus through a non-denominational women’s organization. The more I learn, the more I see how much I don’t know. The more I am able to love God, the more I see how much more I need to love him. My Catholic faith is so very precious to me as daily God opens my heart to experience more deeply the truth of this faith. I am thankful the Lord provided This Rock to help me on my journey with him 

Maurene Schumann 
Whitehall, Michigan 


 

Tell Me What Causes Hesitancy 

 

I am a former Fundamentalist who returned to the Catholic Church in 1990. I have been writing and speaking about Fundamentalism since then. I am interested in speaking with people who have returned to the Church after becoming “born-again Bible-believers” or Fundamentalist Christians. I am going to be writing about ways Catholic individuals and communities can encourage their return, but I want to understand more about what, if anything, causes hesitancy on the part of those who may be thinking of returning 

Robert L. Rose 
Blooming Glen, PA

 


 

Paying Attention to Inattention

 

I know a convert to the Catholic faith who was once struggling to pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Frustrated and feeling guilty because of a wandering mind that would not stop and remain focused, he implored Jesus’ forgiveness for his inattention. He was startled to receive an immediate sharp rebuke that took the form of “Would you stop it — I’m trying to tell you something!” When he looked again at what had appeared to be the random wanderings of his mind, he saw unfolded a most sublime and glorious truth of the Creator, and for a moment, with grateful tears of joy, he was able to slip the bonds of his mortal flesh and know the hand of God.

Mark Gross 
Boise, Idaho 


 

Not Just Trick Questions 

 

I’d like to share with you how I use apologetics here at Columbia Correctional Institution, where I resides as an inmate. When I spot someone who “looks Catholic,” my opening statement is, “You’re Catholic, aren’t you?” I’m ashamed at the number of time the response I get is, “I’m Christian.” Here’s what took place the last time I got that response.

“Hi, how’s it going. You’re Catholic, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m Christian,” William said.

“Oh, really? Me too. But were you born and raised Catholic?”

“Yeah, but I’m a Christian now.”

“Did you know Jesus as a Catholic?” I ask.

“He was a Christian,” William says. I allow him this — for the time being.

“What was the only Christian church for a hundred years after Christ’s Resurrection?” I’m hoping he will remember something from the sisters who taught him.

“I don’t know.”

“The Catholic Church.”

“And what was the only Christian church a thousand years after the Resurrection?”

“I don’t know.”

“The Catholic Church.” He smiles. “I think you’ve caught on,” I say. “One final question. What was the only Christian church for fifteen hundred years after the Resurrection?”

“The Catholic Church,” he says, still not sure, though.

“Absolutely!” I say enthusiastically. “The Catholic Church. And if the Catholic Church was the only Christian church for fifteen hundred years after the Resurrection, which church did Jesus Christ start?”

“The Catholic Church,” says William.

“Then Jesus must have been a Catholic. Had he been a Methodist or a Baptist, then he would have started the Methodist or Baptist Church. Don’t you agree, William?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Trick question,” I say with a smile. “What are the apostles?”

“Catholics!” Now William smiles.

Scott Gray 
Lake City, Florida 


 

Questioned Every Day

 

I met a woman who is new in my department at work. I heard her inquiring of some non-Catholic friends about “church shopping.” I thought this would be a chance to evangelize. Not having a catch phrase or anything fancy to say, I cleared my throat and said, “Umm, I’m Catholic.” Luckily, that’s all it took. I came to find out that her late mother had been Catholic and had her baptized. Her dad married again to a Protestant, and she was raised in a Protestant home. She really began to inquire, and I was most willing to help and give her answers. I gave her a Scott Hahn conversion tape, and she really liked Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth. She admitted she had been looking for a church for the wrong reasons and now is very seriously thinking about fulfilling her baptismal promises. Her natural mother must be interceding in heaven. 

This woman asks me questions every day, and she is very open in telling everybody about her journey. She doesn’t let anti-Catholic replies bother her. She says she read Pillar three times within the week she got it. Please pray for her family. Although she already is talking about putting her children in parochial schools, her husband might be somewhat skeptical of that. I tell her to take it slow and to be patient with him and to pray for him. It’s nice to work with Catholic Answers as an instrument of God’s grace 

Tim Higdon 
Hannibal, Missouri 


 

Stand Up, Sit Down

 

A while ago, at a Life Teen Mass at St. Timothy’s Catholic Community in Mesa, Arizona, Fr. Dale Fushek, the pastor, asked the congregation how many of them believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and almost all of them stood up. After another question on basic Christianity that was answered again by almost everybody standing up, he asked, “How many of you all really believe that the fullness of Christ’s teaching is contained in the Roman Catholic Church?” Only about one-sixth of the “faithful” stood up. (I also did, and I am a baptized Episcopalian who is going to enroll in RCIA this September.) It blew me away that all those Catholics knew what they believed but were clueless as to why. So, a few months later at a prayer meeting, I passed out printed pages of Bible passages that illustrate the biblical basis for Catholicism (Catholicism and Fundamentalism was a big help). 

What is worse is that Roman Catholicism is frequently bashed and “refuted” by many of the “Christian” radio and television stations. Personally, I have found Catholicism and Fundamentalism and Steve Ray’s Crossing the Tiber very informative and helpful. I help in spreading the defense of the faith to every Catholic because, at one time or another, directly or indirectly, every Catholic is under attack by “Bible Christians.” 

Darrenn Jackson 
Chandler, Arizona 


 

We’re Now “In Demand”

 

We at St. Joseph’s Parish have begun using your pamphlet Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth as a retreat resource for evangelization and re-evangelization. I have been studying Scripture and apologetics for fifteen years, and this is the best small catechism I’ve used since my Lutheran days, when I used Luther’s own version. I think yours is better because it leads on to the whole truth. I have compiled a day-and-a-half retreat schedule and a question-and-answer study guide to accompany the booklet. We use a facilitated workgroup format, with me facilitating and Fr. Ray Hannigan available for certain theological issues and for reconciliation. We conclude each retreat with Mass on Saturday. We have conducted one Lenten retreat already using Pillar with great success. It resulted in much reconciliation, rededication, and some other healings that were impressive. We are now “in demand,” and we are scheduling our retreat at neighboring parishes throughout northwest Montana.

I am a Catholic convert by way of agnosticism and thirty adult years as a Lutheran (Missouri Synod). I was converted by a series of experiences, including a very lonely search and a study for answers from my old church that were never forthcoming (or forthright, for that matter). This search resulted in a cascade of conversions. My sons and I began our formal conversion in 1996. My youngest was received at Easter of 1997, I on the feast of the Assumption, and my oldest son was received this year. My wife returned to the Church after a thirty-year sojourn to other churches. Other family members are considering our path as well.

I am involved in evangelization and apologetics at our parish. I also teach adult religious education. In my twenty-six years of Army life I never had and didn’t make time for Christ like I have since retiring in 1993. It would seem the Lord has called me and my family to do much work in this area. Several of us are starting a program of St. Joseph Covenant Keepers in the parish and hope eventually to sponsor a conference here.

Catholicism and Fundamentalism, along with a steady dose of the New Oxford Review, reading Father’s copies of This Rock, and a much-improved prayer, study, and teaching regimen has given me new purpose. Had I known, rather than merely suspected, that my cup was only half full as a Lutheran, I would have begun my Christian life as a Catholic. But the Lord brings all along according to his plan and purpose. 

Bill Mann 
Libby, Montana 


 

Consecration of Russia, Again

 

Your comment in “Dragnet” (April 1998) on the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested at Fatima, is not entirely accurate. Our beloved John Paul II did consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, but the problem, as usual, was the bishops of the world. They did not join him in unison when he did it. 

I am not a fan of either Fr. Robert Fox or Fr. Nicholas Gruner. However, I am a member of the Marian Movement of Priests (Don Stefano Gobbi). In 1987 our Lady said, via Fr. Gobbi, that the consecration was not properly done. Even if you’re skeptical of the locutions of Fr. Gobbi and the Marian Movement of Priests, the format of what our Lady specified was not followed. Again, it’s the bishops of the world that have not done what our Lady has requested. Sure, the Berlin Wall came down, the Eastern Bloc is no more, and the USSR is no more, but Russia has not been converted. I can’t help but believe that this is where people err. Russian is an almost open society, but it is nowhere near converted 

Donald P. Keating 
Swansboro, North Carolina 

Editor’s reply: In “Dragnet” we noted that Sr. Lucia, the last survivor of the three Fatima children, said that the consecration took place properly. Pope John Paul II seems to agree, as does Fr. Robert Fox, a long-time leader of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and an acquaintance of both Sr. Lucia and the Holy Father. As for Fr. Gobbi, the Vatican has declared that his “locutions” are to be understood as merely his private meditations and not as having any supernatural source-a polite way of saying they’re not authentic. That being the case, his comments can be of no greater authority than those of any other private individual 


 

After the Honeymoon Is Over

 

It is good to read all the inspiring conversion stories that appear regularly in This Rock. This is honeymoon time for new converts, but maybe a small warning should be issued regarding probable things to come. The devil doesn’t like these conversions one bit. He has a bag full of nasty treats he loves to hand out to the unwary. They range from the garden variety to personal and soul-wrenching tests of our faith. They come at times and in ways we least expect, and, worst of all, they often come from our own. So stay alert. The devil hangs out in unexpected places and is hard to recognize, but his intent is always the same — to separate us from the Church. I speak from experience.

Edie Galbraith 
San Diego, California 


 

Not Merely Refutational

 

Just thought I’d drop you a line to let you know how much your work is appreciated here on the East Coast. Until “Catholic Answers Live” began broadcasting on 96.3 FM, the only religious radio program worth listening to was “The Bible Answer Man,” and that was purely for refutational purposes. The range of topics on your show is fantastic; my wife and I especially enjoy listening to the Open Forum Q&A with Karl Keating.

Timothy G. Ouellette 
North Waterboro, Maine 

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