Why Bother to Blog?

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."-1 Peter 3:15

To blog or not to blog? I wrestled with this question for awhile. I wanted to make sure that it was the right thing to do, that I was 110% indeed becoming Catholic, and that I had something relevant to say.

I have had a desire to get down in "writing" the issues, ideas, and experiences I have had before, during, and through this journey into the Catholic Church. Why? Well, for starters, I have alot of friends and family that are not Catholic - and thought this might be an efficient format "to give the reason for the hope that" I have - and how Catholicism play it's important part. Also, I plan to document my thinking on some of the differences (and similarities) found between Protestants and Catholics (sharing some interesting tidbits that I have discovered from the Bible - that as a Protestant held little to no meaning for me). Also, I wanted to have a semi-chronicled account of my journey.

But probably one of the most compelling reasons to share my experience- is to be able to give props to the different books/blogs/websites/podcasts/videos/conversion stories that I came across during the midst of my own journey. These things fed my ravenous desire to understand and learn more about the Catholic faith, as well as feel less isolated by recognizing a similiar path that had been paved by many, many before me.

I strongly believe that this is a time, where many are being prepared to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am delighted and honored to be able to enter during The Year of St. Paul - as St. Paul is such an awesome example of conversion.

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!

(Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci)

Paraphrasing from wikipedia: The Annunciation is the revelation to Mary, the mother of Jesus by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. This is celebrated with the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th, which is 9 months before Christmas."

Luckily, I was alerted to this day by a friendly email (see image below) from my new friends, the Sisters of St. Birgitta (more on my special connection to them coming soon)! I was able to attend mass, and also see and participate in the devotions to Mary that followed.

The Conversion Two Step

One of the ceremonies that occurs at the beginning of the Lenten period as a Roman Catholic cathechumen or candidate is the Rite of Election presided over by the Bishop. This ceremony invites those present to continue seeking & preparing through the Lenten season to enter the Catholic Church at Easter.

I came across this delightful video, via Team RCIA on Twitter, that showcases the Rite of Election at the Diocese of San Jose and something called the "dancing books" (seen at the end of the video - who said 'Catholicism is boring'?!?)!

Rite of Election 2009 video, Diocese of San Jose (hi-res) from Diana Macalintal on Vimeo.

Although, this video is different from the Rite of Election/Call to Continuing Conversion that I experienced in DC at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (see below)- I can tell that the excitement and large numbers of adults coming into the Catholic Church look very similar.

My experience: On Sunday March 1st, 2009, along with my Catholic sponser Andrea, I attended the 9am mass at my parish, it concluded with the priest "sending" us to the Bishop for the afternoon ceremony at 3pm. Typically, this ceremony is held at the Cathedral in one's diocese, BUT here in Washington, D.C. there are SO many adults becoming Catholic, that they hold it instead at the very large National Shrine. TWICE! Very exciting stuff. Thanks be to God, indeed.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

ps. And a very Happy Birthday to my sister!

Is it the end of Protestant evangelism as we know it?

The Christian Science Monitor recently had an opinion piece that caught my eye. It speaks to some of the reasons I feel that I have abandoned the Protestant evangelical establishment and moved on towards Catholicism.

In particular - the following points by the author rang true for me:

1) We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent...has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

2) Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

3) Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions.
Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

Although, there are parts of the article that I disagree with - overall I think it raises some valid points. Interestingly enough, it somewhat reminded me of THIS Newsweek article I read last summer (during a train ride in India - 6 months after it had come out - handed to me by a missionary - hmm...God does work in mysterious ways)!
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The coming evangelical collapse

By Michael Spencer

We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Click the link below to see the rest of the article!

The coming evangelical collapse csmonitor.com

Riding the Wave

Over this last year, my experience of becoming a Catholic would definitely qualify as a continuing conversion experience. It is interesting that I use those words, as one main difference between Protestants and Catholics, has to do with the idea of "continuing conversion."

This experience of "becoming Catholic" - has also been such a multifaceted process (posing difficulty to precisely define the starting point and proving equally difficult to identify an ending point - which is a good thing), both literally and spiritually.

Literally, as an adult considering Catholicism, there is an established practice of beginning a class (RCIA) in the fall that continues to - and through Easter Sunday. There have been many steps along the RCIA path as well, many which I took even before beginning the class (such as really studying and examining why I would have any desire to become Catholic - thankfully I came to realize there were many serious reasons why I should desire to become Catholic!)

Spiritually, the reasons why I am "becoming Catholic" have continued to spring forth. Whatever the initial reason to begin this process was, it has now, joined in with all the other reasons that have emerged as I have moved along this continuum. Recently, I have likened my conversion to experiencing a Tsunami.  I characterize it as this, because it seems that day after day, a new wave of TRUTH clobers me over the head.

Another analogy that could describe my experience would be that of the "diagram". In most advanced fields of study such as Engineering, Biology, etc - complex charts have been created to explain how certain phenomena takes place. Although I can imagine how a chart explaining my path to Catholicism might look, at this moment it would seem impossible to "chart" this complicated, yet wonderfully surprising experience. Recently, as I continue to share with others my story, the starting point continues to shift, as different people and circumstances, bring out different aspects of my personal conversion experience.

It is here that I hope to share as many of those aspects as possible :)