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Authors: Marcus Grodi
Tags: conversion, Catholics -- Biography; Coming Home Network International; Conversion, Catholics -- Biography, Coming Home Network International
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of course, the
usual ups and downs, joys and sorrows of living and serving. But
through it all, we felt most blessed by our Lord in all the important
ways.
Through these years of study, prayer, and simply living with God's
people, we gradually moved to a more "catholic" view of the Church
(from "low church" to "high church"). There began a search for
the historical "roots" of the Church. We became more and more
aware of conflicting views and teachings in the Episcopal Church,
not only in doctrinal matters but in moral ones as well. Some
teachings were quite heretical.
Questions arose: Who was right? Which were the teachings faithful
to the Gospel? Who was to say which teachings were true or false?
Where was the locus of authority?
When we began to see where the search was leading, we resisted.
We did not want to go. We did not want to turn our comfortable
life upside down. We did not want to go into the "unknown," into
a "foreign land."
We loved the Episcopal Church and all it meant to us: the people,
the beautiful churches, the grand music, and the liturgy. Then
there were all the questions about how to support our family and
how we could leave dear friends. (When we entered the Church,
we knew not even one Catholic, only the two priests who instructed
us.) What about our families who would grieve and be shocked that
we had "lost our minds"?
Those who have traveled this road know all about the sufferings.
And yet, and yet ... we could hear the insistent beat of the "following
feet" of the Hound of Heaven as He pursued, keeping His steady
and unhurried pace.
When the Holy Spirit showed us, through sheer grace, beyond the
shadow of a doubt, that the Catholic Church is indeed the true
Church, founded by Jesus Christ Himself on the Rock of Peter,
could we say anything but "Yes!" to Him? Praise be to Jesus Christ
for His mercy and grace!
In 1963, together with our five young children, we were received
into the Catholic Church. We had truly come home. In those days,
it was rather rare for a Protestant clergyman to take that step.
Except for the angels and archangels, we had no one with whom
to celebrate our joy. But joy it was and is.
Dear brothers and sisters who are on the Way, or contemplating
the Way: The path may be dark for you, the problems seemingly
insurmountable, the sufferings great. But if you are looking to
Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, you can be certain
of this: He will never betray your trust. Trust Him.
Ruth Ryland and Father Ray Ryland (see the previous chapter) recently
celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. They have five
children and twenty-two grandchildren.
DELVING DEEP INTO HISTORY -- JIM ANDERSON
former Methodist and Lutheran seminarian
SOJOURN AMONG THE LUTHERANS
GETTING TO KNOW CATHOLICS
MEETING THE CHURCH FATHERS
THE NEED FOR APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
THE EUCHARIST
LOSS OF FAITH AMONG PROTESTANT LEADERS
NEW CONVICTIONS DEVELOPING
HOME AT LAST
The Spirit of God first entered my life on Easter Sunday, April
10, 1955, when, at the age of three months, I was baptized at
the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Union Furnace, Ohio.
Reared in Ohio, in a nominally Evangelical United Brethren (later
United Methodist) family, I grew up in an environment where neither
parent attended church. I was one of those kids who would be dropped
off for Sunday school. Afterwards, a neighbor usually would bring
me home. The greatest influence on my early faith development
was my Grandmother Anderson, one of the few churchgoers in the
immediate family.
Since I grew up Protestant, Catholicism was not a factor in my
life. We did have one neighbor family that was Catholic. The husband
would brag about going to Confession before a party to confess
any sins he might later commit while having a good time.
"You never know," he would say, "what the traffic might be like
on the way home."
Our neighbor might have been joking, but how were we to know?
We certainly knew he was telling the
usual ups and downs, joys and sorrows of living and serving. But
through it all, we felt most blessed by our Lord in all the important
ways.
Through these years of study, prayer, and simply living with God's
people, we gradually moved to a more "catholic" view of the Church
(from "low church" to "high church"). There began a search for
the historical "roots" of the Church. We became more and more
aware of conflicting views and teachings in the Episcopal Church,
not only in doctrinal matters but in moral ones as well. Some
teachings were quite heretical.
Questions arose: Who was right? Which were the teachings faithful
to the Gospel? Who was to say which teachings were true or false?
Where was the locus of authority?
When we began to see where the search was leading, we resisted.
We did not want to go. We did not want to turn our comfortable
life upside down. We did not want to go into the "unknown," into
a "foreign land."
We loved the Episcopal Church and all it meant to us: the people,
the beautiful churches, the grand music, and the liturgy. Then
there were all the questions about how to support our family and
how we could leave dear friends. (When we entered the Church,
we knew not even one Catholic, only the two priests who instructed
us.) What about our families who would grieve and be shocked that
we had "lost our minds"?
Those who have traveled this road know all about the sufferings.
And yet, and yet ... we could hear the insistent beat of the "following
feet" of the Hound of Heaven as He pursued, keeping His steady
and unhurried pace.
When the Holy Spirit showed us, through sheer grace, beyond the
shadow of a doubt, that the Catholic Church is indeed the true
Church, founded by Jesus Christ Himself on the Rock of Peter,
could we say anything but "Yes!" to Him? Praise be to Jesus Christ
for His mercy and grace!
In 1963, together with our five young children, we were received
into the Catholic Church. We had truly come home. In those days,
it was rather rare for a Protestant clergyman to take that step.
Except for the angels and archangels, we had no one with whom
to celebrate our joy. But joy it was and is.
Dear brothers and sisters who are on the Way, or contemplating
the Way: The path may be dark for you, the problems seemingly
insurmountable, the sufferings great. But if you are looking to
Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, you can be certain
of this: He will never betray your trust. Trust Him.
Ruth Ryland and Father Ray Ryland (see the previous chapter) recently
celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. They have five
children and twenty-two grandchildren.
DELVING DEEP INTO HISTORY -- JIM ANDERSON
former Methodist and Lutheran seminarian
SOJOURN AMONG THE LUTHERANS
GETTING TO KNOW CATHOLICS
MEETING THE CHURCH FATHERS
THE NEED FOR APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
THE EUCHARIST
LOSS OF FAITH AMONG PROTESTANT LEADERS
NEW CONVICTIONS DEVELOPING
HOME AT LAST
The Spirit of God first entered my life on Easter Sunday, April
10, 1955, when, at the age of three months, I was baptized at
the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Union Furnace, Ohio.
Reared in Ohio, in a nominally Evangelical United Brethren (later
United Methodist) family, I grew up in an environment where neither
parent attended church. I was one of those kids who would be dropped
off for Sunday school. Afterwards, a neighbor usually would bring
me home. The greatest influence on my early faith development
was my Grandmother Anderson, one of the few churchgoers in the
immediate family.
Since I grew up Protestant, Catholicism was not a factor in my
life. We did have one neighbor family that was Catholic. The husband
would brag about going to Confession before a party to confess
any sins he might later commit while having a good time.
"You never know," he would say, "what the traffic might be like
on the way home."
Our neighbor might have been joking, but how were we to know?
We certainly knew he was telling the
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