From Jan and Jeanne

Thank you, Chris, for your candid and honest observations. We were hoping that family members would have the courage to be honest as you were about what Jeanne and I have done in joining the Catholic Church. Having some open dialogue is also a good way for us all to think through some of the most important questions about the life of the church today, whether Protestant or Catholic. Jeanne and I are writing this blog together so as not to clog up the blog. Here is our response to some of the observations you made in your last post.

First, regarding your question about the genuineness of our conversions. You are right to wonder about this. Jeanne admitted to not being totally on board with every Catholic teaching. Our only answer to this is that we both feel that what is right in the Catholic Church so far outweighs what is not right that it has been actually quite overpowering for us. We find a repentant church that is making manifest through Word and Sacrament that Jesus is the life of the world, that his truth and life obliterates the delusions and lies of this present age, that the gates of hell cannot prevail or stand against it. We observe the Bishops who are called as the custodians and overseers of the faith, and we see that they regard themselves not as personalities who have great talent, but are called to the office of preserving the gospel as handed to them. As regards your comment about the Catholic Church having teachings that aren’t justifiable, we have a different view. We agree that there have been a lot of changes in the Catholic Church, especially since Vatican II, but she has essentially retained her core teachings from earliest times, through the middle ages, up to the present. I (Jan) have made the study of the Catholic Church’s teachings a project for the past 30 years or so. In my studies, I have looked at just about all the understandings that separate Catholics and Protestants, and have come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church holds the positions that I affirm. At some time, we may want to have a discussion about specific doctrines and understandings, and I am certainly willing to do that, but from my point of view, I think there are a lot of issues behind the different viewpoints of Catholics and Protestants that determine how each will come down on particular issues, and that these are very seldom discussed. They have to do with origins, preservation and transmission of truth, development (of doctrine, Church, and worship), and hermeneutics.

It is true that our options for a Eucharistic (or liturgical) church were narrowing. Witnessing the downward spiral in the Episcopal Church, which culminated in the consecration of a divorced and practicing homosexual man as a bishop, we felt that that was no longer an option. We did, however, look carefully at other churches (Lutheran, Evangelical, Orthodox, various continuing Anglican communities). We finally came to the conclusion that the Roman Catholic self-understanding was the one we most fully agreed with. In other words, our movement was not simply a “negative” one—away from problematic churches—but also, and even more so, a positive movement in the direction of Rome. Would we have ended up Catholic if there hadn’t been, as we came to believe, deep problems in the other Eucharistic churches? I don’t know. But we can say thus far, having been catechumens and communicants for nearly a year, that we are very thankful that we have been led to the Catholic Church. Just about everything that we have experienced, in worship, community, teaching, and—surprise!—even preaching has confirmed our decision.

Thank you also for sharing your distant ancestor’s charge to future generations, as well as the part about your grandfather having a signed photo of the pope over his bed. The juxtaposition of these two incidents indicates, I think, how much the two separated groups of Christ’s followers have drawn closer over the intervening years. My own view is that there was a great deal of misunderstanding on both sides at the time of the Reformation, and that both sides had understandings that were problematic. I think a good deal of that has been overcome, as Lutheran/Catholic and Anglican/Catholic joint statements on agreed points about Justification, Apostolicity, and Authority, as well as new common lectionaries and very similar Eucharistic liturgies, indicate.

For us, the part of your post that touched us most deeply was your comments about pomp and circumstance in relation to the passing of JPII and the election of Benedict XVI. And here, perhaps, is at the heart of what separates us. For us, the human expression of gloriousness or excellence, whether it be in the NCAA Basketball tournament or in the passing or election of a pope, is a natural part of what it means to be human. God created us as human beings to enter into and participate in his glory which fill the earth. Since the image of God in all humanity, what Francis Schaeffer used to call “the mannishness of man,” still remains despite the Fall, we are able to acknowledge and take part in that glory, even though it be through glimpses and shadows. As those who have been called into his body, we are even more able to participate in glory, because just as we enter into his death through baptism, we will share in his glorious resurrection (Rom. 6). Thus, when we respond to pomp and circumstance with deep feelings of joy even accompanied by weeping, it is a perfectly legitimate response because we sense that we are caught up into greater unseen realities which are truly coming. The greater the occasion, and the more aptly it foreshadows the coming glory of God, the more we feel ourselves moved, if we are properly oriented internally. Jeanne and I often feel ourselves deeply moved in Catholic worship, which we see as an “entering in” to the redemptive action of Christ, who offered himself on the cross once for all time but whose sacrifice is made present to us in the celebration of the Pascal Mysteries.

And yes, weddings are some of the hardest events (or most glorious, depending on your point of view). Since the marriage of a man and woman is specifically used by the biblical writers as an image of Christ and his bride, the Church, the ceremony contains such profound meaning, made manifest by words and symbols—pledges of fidelity, the exchange of rings, the wearing of a white garment symbolizing purity—that one is often reduced to tears. For most Christians who hold marriage as a sacrament, a material means through which God graciously confers his grace and blessing, the marriage ceremony contains such depth of meaning and powerful feelings, that one is nearly overcome. At least that was our experience when we reaffirmed our marriage vows.

Once again we thank you, Chris, for you open and heartfelt response to Jeanne and me. We welcome additional thoughts on these matters from anyone else who'd like to share.