Dialoguing with a Convert

Have you ever wanted to ask someone who converted to the Catholic Church a question about their conversion? I can well imagine some of the questions that had to go through the minds of our friends when they found out we had “crossed the Tiber”:

“What were you thinking?”

“How could you throw away everything you were taught all your life?”

“Don’t you know Catholics believe in works-salvation?”

“Why did you decide to become an idol worshiper?”

Maybe not so inflammatory – just a deeply puzzled, heartfelt, “Why?”

I listened to an interview this evening with a former Orthodox Presbyterian Church pastor and his wife, Jason and Cindy Stewart, who converted in 2011, as did our family.  I commend it to you, in large measure because many of the aspects of their journey reflect my thought processes along the way, coming through the Reformed faith as part of my journey.  In particular, I was struck by what Jason talks about in the opening minutes of the interview, in reference to his own attempts, prior to converting, at discussion with another Catholic convert.  He talks about honesty, about asking questions based on a sincere desire to understand the other person, rather than a desire to prove someone wrong or to win a debate.  This is such an invaluable point, and strikes at the heart of why a recent Facebook conversation ended in communication failure.

Paul and I are both very open to answering sincere questions.  We would love to talk with anyone about the different catalysts that God used with each of us to unite us and bring us as a family into the Catholic Church.  If you are interested enough to have a dialogue offline, or would like some info about Catholic resource material, drop me a note at the email address on my “About” page and let me know what you’d like to discuss.  Paul has graciously invited questions via email as well, so either or both of us may join in.  Of course we do not claim to have all the answers about the Catholic faith – we are still learning, and always will be.  But we can speak to our own journey.

And I do encourage you to listen to that pod-cast – it is under an hour, and really enjoyable to hear how this married couple in the ministry approached this process together.