Reformation Catholics
Reformation Catholics
This website is not simply a place for me to do Catholic apologetics for Protestants. Although that occupies a fair amount of space, the real end to start building a community, ecclesial vision, and spirituality to animate what I hope will blossom into a movement. This is the corner of the site I’ve dedicated to
The purpose of this page is to help you navigate the content on this site depending on your background. In general, I write for two audiences. First, Protestants who are exploring Catholicism and need clear arguments/explanations couched in familiar language. Second, Protestants who have recently Returned to Rome and are trying to make sense of their new identity and its relationship to their former tradition.1 These groups have some overlapping and some distinct needs. Everyone needs to be encouraged and shown that it is in fact possible to thrive in the Catholic Church without entirely renouncing a Protestant heritage. To that end, the first section features Return Stories, the testimonies of those who have moved from being serious Protestants to being serious Catholics. Although I help edit these stories, the words are not mine; they belong to others who have followed the Spirit’s call to every Christian’s surest home while we sojourn here on earth. The second section is written with Protestant explorers in mind, and offers a guide through the contents of this site, a Reformation Catholicism syllabus of sorts. The third section is for new Catholics, to encourage them as they share their decision with Protestant friends and family, learn to articulate their newly deepened faith, and develop a spirituality that retains the best aspects of their Protestant background.
Return Stories
If you have a Return Story to share, please reach out to me here!
Coming soon…
A Guide to Reformation Catholicism
The very first thing you should do is pray this:
Jesus, I give you thanks and praise for your faithful work in my life. Please send your Spirit to “guide me into all truth” as I begin discerning whether the claims of the Catholic Church are true. Give me spiritual insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual perseverance. You promise that you will answer the one who knocks, and that the one who seeks will find. I knock, I seek: in your great love, answer me. Above all, may my life be a pleasing offering that brings you glory and hallows your Name. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Second, read my essay about why I become Catholic.
From here, my recommendations will depend somewhat on your interests. One note on methodology, though: the number one factor in whether a Protestant will become Catholic is whether they have enough steam to keep up a sustained, systematic investigation. I have watched a number of serious Protestants become extremely interested in Catholicism, find satisfactory answers to their questions, but peter off (pun very intended) because, well, “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” If you want to make an honest go at this, here’s what you should do.
List out your objections. Physically or electronically, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you DO it. Ask yourself both: “Why do I think Catholicism is false?” and “What would it take for me to accept the truth of Catholicism?” These will form your initial questions.
Keep track (can be very brief descriptors) of what different conversation partners have said about each question (including myself, CatholicAnswers, or friends).
Compare the answers to your original question. Consider whether they satisfactorily deal with that question. If they don’t, ask whether it’s because the answer to that question was unconvincing, or whether the answer requires you to accept other premises that you aren’t sold on yet. This is extremely important. If the answer is of the second kind, consider your first answer closed and create a new question based on the premises you didn’t buy. This will keep you from losing track of what the problem issues actually are.
As often as possible, see what the Catechism and the Summa have to say about your question. These were indispensable resources in my own journey.
If you follow these steps, you will likely find that Catholicism doesn’t teach what you had been led to believe it does. Most of the “Why do I think Catholicism is false?” questions are likely to be resolved that way. The second kind, “What would it take?” questions, will depend greatly on what sort of things tend to persuade you. Broadly, experience tells me there are generally three kinds of converts. There are those (like myself) who were basically exclusively interested in a philosophical, propositional quest for the True. Others are attracted to the Beautiful, likely drawn in by a solemn Mass, Catholic art, or the system of interlocking doctrine that forms a kind of theological Rose Window. Others still, probably the majority, are most of all drawn by the Good. They sense Christ’s immediate presence in the Eucharist, or are awed by the piety of holy men and women, or are overcome by the richness of Catholic biblical interpretation (especially if they’ve been raised on Protestant hermeneutics based purely on historical-critical exegesis). In the end, it usually takes a combination of all three. The True can be most helpful in resolving misconceptions and clearing serious intellectual barriers. The Beautiful is well-suited to showing that Catholicism seeks always to reveal God to man. The Good teaches us that Catholicism is really ordered to human flourishing, however much her institutions struggle.
If the True moves you most, you’ll want Reformation Catholicism for theological arguments, Joshua Charles for historical-exegetical arguments (his project is basically an extremely intense version of mine, without the added desire to preserve some elements of Protestant spirituality), ChurchFathers.org for an introduction to the Catholic character of ancient Christianity, and CatholicAnswers for anything else. For me, no single resource was sufficient. I needed all these plus a personal philosopher to bug. If you don’t have one of those on hand, I’d be happy to do my best. Of my own material, I recommend perusing the FAQ page. You are likely to find me addressing your first questions there. If I haven’t gotten to something that’s bothering you or missed something you think I should address, please reach out to let me know.
If the Beautiful moves you most, get familiar with great Catholic art and artists. From organizations entirely dedicated to the revival of Beauty in artwork to some of the best musicians of all time, Catholics have and continue to create work that glorifies God and lifts the soul up to Him. Cathedrals and icons alike show how innovation can be combined with ancient techniques to expand the tradition without losing contact with the past. If you spend enough time with the West’s greatest art, you will find you Catholics at every turn, particularly among those stewarding Beauty’s legacy against postmodern sensibilities. As for fiction, I’ve written about that here and given reading recommendations here. If you read Tim LeHay’s Left Behind as a kid, you have a moral obligation to read the far superior novel by Robert Hugh Benson (himself a late 1800’s convert from Anglicanism), Lord of the World. One notable recent convert from beauty is the former editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Mark Galli. Although I don’t agree with the final conclusions of this article, it does a great job summarizing the journey of Evangelicals to Rome.
If the Good moves you most, I recommend attending to the spiritual masters of the Catholic tradition. Few profiles are better than GK Chesterton’s treatments of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas. Merton’s Seven Story Mountain, Thomas A Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, and Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle are all classics. Of course, you can’t go wrong with St. Augustine’s Confessions, but Protestants have a habit of reading Augustine as denominationally neutral, so he may not be the best point of entry. Provided that you invest enough time into ChurchFathers.org, you may be able to overcome this tendency. In addition to this, I strongly recommend praying the Rosary (Church Calendar is a great free app that walks you through this and even offers recordings you can pray along with), attending Adoration services (especially if you have something like Catholic Underground nearby), and this specific Father Mike Schmits video that was the final push for a friend. You might also enjoy George Weigel’s Evangelical Catholicism, Bishop Robert Barron’s This is My Body, and Flannery O’Connor’s short story collection. Lastly, the free Bible app Catena collects the Church Fathers commenting on particular passages. Evangelicals will find that the way early Christians read the Bible does not sound much like contemporary Protestant methodology.
Whatever you do, see it through to the end. Don’t be like the sluggard of Proverbs:
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.Rather, be like the Apostle John and “eat this Book”!
Becoming Catholic Well
Coming soon…
Obviously, I believe the work I’m doing here will benefit anyone, from the most militant Protestant to the sleepiest cradle Catholic, but if you aim at everyone you won’t reach anyone.