Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us at The Coming Home Network International! Here’s our latest weekly roundup of original and curated Catholic content for converts and the curious:
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We interviewed Sr. Miriam James Heidland, S.O.L.T., about how she abandoned her faith as a scholar athlete in college, and eventually left the unfulfilling “party girl” lifestyle for true fulfillment when she answered God’s call to become a religious sister.
In our latest written story, Steve Divers shared his experience as a young adult working at “Brooklyn Bethel,” the New York City headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and how he eventually left to become Catholic.
CHNetwork outreach team member Ken Hensley continued his series for Catholic Answers, “Why I’m Catholic: Sola Scriptura isn’t Historical, Part IV.”
For #ThrowbackThursday, we shared a 2003 special Christmas roundtable epsode of The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi (former Presbyterian minister), Fr. Gray Bean (former Baptist minister) and Gordon Sibley (former United Methodist minister), discussing how they celebrate Christmas differently now that they’re all Catholics. A fun watch!
And we polled our Twitter followers to see who they thought was the most iconic fictional Christmas convert: Ebenezer Scrooge, George Bailey, or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?
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Meanwhile, around the web:
At The Integrated Catholic Life, Journey Home alum Randy Hain suggested five practical ways we can be more welcoming to “Christmas and Easter” Catholics.
Msgr Charles Pope spent the week looking at Christmas-themed theological questions through the eyes of St. Thomas Aquinas: Why was it the Second Person of the Trinity that took on flesh, rather than the Father or the Holy Spirit? Would Jesus have come if Adam hadn’t sinned? and Why was Jesus born when and where He was?
Fr. Dwight Longenecker wrote about how to avoid the false dichotomy implied by the question, “Are you Christian or Catholic?”
And over at Catholic Answers, Shaun McAfee disputed the common claim that Christmas is just a warmed-over pagan celebration.
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As you’re finishing up your end-of the year giving, please consider including The Coming Home Network International! To do so, visit chnetwork.org/donate. And be sure to check back in with us next week, when we’ll be breaking down the top online features and Journey Home episodes of 2016!
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“God has done everything; he has done the impossible: he was made flesh. His all-powerful love has accomplished something which surpasses all human understanding: the Infinite has become a child, has entered the human family. And yet, this same God cannot enter my heart unless I open the door to him.”
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
From his 2012 Urbi et Orbi Christmas Message
