A few months ago we held our second annual Clergy Convert Conference in Steubenville, Ohio, in partnership with the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. We were once again joined by around 40 current and former Protestant ministers and a number of their spouses for a weekend of reflection, powerful talks, prayer and sacraments, and of course an abundance of encouraging fellowship.
As I listened to the various testimonies, those shared formally in talks as well as those shared informally around the meal tables or during fellowship times, I was struck once again by the unique experiences and challenges that connect the stories of Catholic converts, and especially those of Protestant pastors and ministers who come home to full communion with the Church. I was reminded of Jesus’ words to the seventy disciples that He sent out to proclaim the Kingdom of God:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road. —Lk 10:2–4
This passage speaks to three aspects of the journey that so many converts experience: the call to preach the Gospel, the call to embrace suffering for the sake of the Gospel, and the call to persevere in living out the implications of the Gospel in detachment and purification of heart.
First, many Catholic converts are people who heard and heeded the call to preach the Gospel—to be laborers for the harvest—long before discovering the fulness of Christ in Catholicism. It has always been both humbling and encouraging to hear in so many conversion stories how deeply committed and effective evangelical Protestants have been in bringing people—sometimes even our own wayward Catholic children— to Jesus Christ. So many members of the CHNetwork come from broadly evangelical Protestant backgrounds, where they were rightly formed with a deep sense of the importance and urgency of sharing the Gospel. It is this zeal for the Gospel that so many converts bring home to the Church, as Pope St. John Paul II wrote in Redemptoris Missio:
Certainly, every convert is a gift to the Church and represents a serious responsibility for her…especially in the case of adults, such converts bring with them a kind of new energy, an enthusiasm for the faith and a desire to see the Gospel lived out in the Church. (RM 47)
God does not will the divisions in the Body of Christ, but in the midst of those divisions, He nevertheless raises up men and women of faith to proclaim the Gospel to those who might otherwise never hear it. The call to preach the Gospel that so many Catholic converts experienced long before discovering the Catholic Church is an answer to the prayers of the faithful for “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”.
Second, the journey home to the Catholic Church challenges converts to accept and embrace suffering for the sake of the Gospel—to be sacrificial lambs sent out by the Good Shepherd in the midst of wolves. Every Christian who answers Christ’s call to preach the Gospel, knows and expects, at least in theory, that some suffering will come with it. To stand with Christ means to stand against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But clergy converts especially face unique and unexpected challenges as a result of the often earth-shattering realization that the Gospel they loved and preached for so many years was incomplete—that there is “more Christianity” that the Holy Spirit is calling them to discover and embrace. As has frequently been shared in these pages, the decision (or even the consideration) to become Catholic so often turns a Protestant minister’s world upside down: Immense challenges to marriage and family relationships; loss of ministry, community, and identity; loss of income with no obvious prospects for moving forward. And even if these challenges are overcome and a convert comes home, the new joys and consolations of becoming Catholic come with new and lingering challenges. “Is God done with me?” many wonder.
It takes time to feel at home in the Catholic Church, and it often takes patience to find a new sense of place and purpose with regards to that call to preach the Gospel. Helping Protestant pastors and ministers persevere in this journey is at the heart of the mission of the CHNetwork. At the darkest moments, we all need to be reminded and encouraged that while Jesus promised his disciples that they would suffer for the sake of the Gospel, He also promised that His grace would be sufficient and that through suffering willingly embraced we ourselves participate in Christ’s redemptive act (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Finally, through the journey home to Catholicism, Christ calls converts to live out the full implications of the Gospel in a new and radical way—setting out on an uncertain road with no purse, bag, or sandals. For many, the journey challenges them to live out a Gospel detachment from possessions and worldly security that they may have preached on for years, but which now confronts them in a way they never expected. Perhaps hardest of all is the call to “salute no one on the road,” to detach from the good opinions and acceptance of friends and loved ones for the sake of single-mindedness in following Christ’s call to journey onward. The Lord’s instructions speak to the interior dispositions of detachment, purity of heart, and radical trust in His providence that are required of all of us if our preaching of the Gospel is to be fruitful—and if we ourselves are to continue being formed and converted by the very Gospel we proclaim.
The powerful stories we share through the Coming Home Network are a reminder that we are all called by Christ to be laborers in the harvest, to be lambs willing to suffer with Him, and to travel lightly — detached from all that would keep us from continual conversion to Him. The stories also remind us that the needs of the many converts and journeyers to the Catholic Church, both clergy and laity, are great. Let us continue the journey while supporting each other in prayer and encouragement.
