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Deep Theology, Deep Grace

“I looked at Christianity within my own cultural context and wondered, as a foreign missionary, how much of Christianity in America was distinctly Christian and how much was just my own cultural values with a bit of Christianity sprinkled on top? There were two axes that I could measure my own Christian upbringing against: history and universality. How did my understanding of the Bible and my own practice of the Christian life compare to that of Christians in other places and other times? If the Church is the Body of Christ in time and space, then surely the Church as a recognizable, apostolic body did not vanish following the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. At the time, I had no inkling that I was looking for ‘one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church…’”

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Journey Home episode

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Aug 04 2014
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And The Truth Will Set You Free: How I Was Reconciled to the Catholic Church

Kathleen M. Gavlas | Anglican & Episcopalian, Assemblies of God, Conversion Stories, Pentecostal | 8 Comments

I have to begin my conversion story by relating something of my family life. My father worked for the government as an air traffic controller. They transferred him wherever they wished even though he had a family. So, we moved from state to state when I was a little girl. My youngest brother and I were born in Minnesota, our home state. I was born in 1948 in Minnesota and baptized October 31 that same year in Selma, Alabama, which tells how often we moved. My other brother and sister were each born in a different Southern state. Because of our constant moving, establishing a stable spiritual home was quite difficult for us.

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Jul 28 2014
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Crossing the Tiber

Steve Ray | Baptist, Conversion Stories, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

At this very moment in our lives a long-time Evangelical friend and pastor announced to us, “Steve, my wife and I have decided to join the Catholic Church.” Janet and I were stunned. I immediately blurted out, “Al, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard; you are way too smart to be a Catholic!”

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Jul 21 2014
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Taking Courage: How God Drew Me into the Light of His Church

Alicia Smith | Agnostic, Anglican & Episcopalian, Atheist/Agnostic, Conversion Stories | 14 Comments

“Learning about Catholicism, after being schooled by Protestants, I felt like I had only been allowed to view little random pieces of incredible artwork. It is only now that I understand the pieces were a single, beautiful masterpiece.” After a rocky childhood, Alicia joined the US Navy, which brought about stability and order in her life. Life in the Navy prepared her for life in an unexpected place: the Catholic Church.

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Jun 02 2014
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On Whose Authority?

Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D. | Anglican & Episcopalian, Conversion Stories, Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D., is a former minister of the Episcopal Church. In 1963 he was received with his wife, Ruth, and their five children into the Catholic Church. Twenty years later, he was ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic Church, with a dispensation from the rule of celibacy. Currently, he serves as chaplain for Catholics United for the Faith and on the boards of both that apostolate and The Coming Home Network. He is also a regular columnist for The Catholic Answer Magazine, and he serves as an assistant at St. Peter’s Church in Steubenville, Ohio.

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Apr 28 2014
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“I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”

Peggy Gibson | Anglican & Episcopalian, Conversion Stories, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

My story began as a cradle Anglican, which means I have been surrounded by beautiful words of prayer my whole life. As long as I can remember I have come into God’s presence on the Lord’s day praying “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy Holy Name.” Each week we approached Holy Communion praying “Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body and our souls washed through his most precious Blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us” (The Book of Common Prayer).

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