This Catholic Journey
As a former Pentecostal who converted to the Catholic Church, I can say that my greatest anxiety was not whether I could accept all the doctrine of the Church but how my decision was going to affect my relationship with my family, particularly my mother, and a certain person whose long-time friendship I highly value. The possibility of rejection is a very very scary thing. I consider myself blessed in that my decision was ultimately supported with charity and sympathy and my relationships remain as they were before
And I'm just an average Jane living in obscurity. You have to believe Dr. Beckwith knew full well he was likely going to get that kind of reaction to his decision. That's why I truly admire his courage.
I found out too that when you take a step in faith to follow God, He provides the grace to give you strength.
Truly we can share his pain and pray and offer up our pain for him as well.
Nancy,
I can completely relate with you. And I'm sure there are many, many others as well. I'm glad your relationships have managed to remain in tact!
Dr. Beckwith definitely has quite a road ahead of him but, with that will be many rewards...
Thanks for your comment.
Reversion to the Catholic Church among her members, especially among those who have now occupied preeminent positions in their walks of life, both in the United States and elsewhere, is something for which we, as Catholics, should be truly grateful and about which those who used to be, or are not yet, Catholics should give serious thoughts.
My reception into the Catholic Church (as someone who comes from Muslim background) last Christmas (2006) can be called, in a sense, an act of reversion. For it was the Catholic Church that I had in mind when I wanted to become a Christian, yet, mostly through ignorance of my own, and partly because of lack of good testimony from the Catholics around me, I was baptised in one of the (international) evangelical churches in my country, and, as a consequence, I'm presently still, though soon will no longer be, working for its interests!
Dr. Beckwith's reversion to the Catholic Church hopefully will ignite some spark of interest in, and appreciation to, the Church among her dormant members, and will give conviction and comfort to her faithful members who are currently being tempted, from within or without, to question their belief in her teachings, which were truly received from Jesus her Lord, were faithfully handed down by the apostles, are carefully guarded by her present adherents, and will continue to be protected mightily until the end of the age by The Holy Spirit, by whose guidance, and at the command of her Master, she ardently proclaims the truth to the very ends of the earth.
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