Well, since it’s going through the grapevine faster than I can talk individually with people, I figured I’d better get this on the blog. After a spiritual pilgrimage that has lasted about six years, and involved me seeking, reading, researching, talking, praying, counseling, and leaving the Baptist church for the Lutheran church, I’m finally coming to the end of my journey. I’m becoming a Catholic.

Incredible as it may seem, given how ANTI-Catholic I was growing up, I’ve come to the point where my desire for the historical Church matched up with the answers to so many questions I had. Most of the things I thought about Catholicism were wrong. If you’re going to learn about a belief system, it’s a good idea to start with their own official teachings. THEN you can evaluate whether or not you think them credible or worthwhile. But you certainly can’t make an unbiased decision when your only information sources are biased against them. And that’s what I grew up with.

You may have wondered if I was working my way in this direction from the various posts I’ve made about religion during the last year. They seem to have grown progressively Catholic in their point of view. :-)

Rather than blogging about the whole thing or answering the same questions from many different people, I’ve written a relatively brief essay explaining my pilgrimage and the questions and thoughts I had along the way. You’re welcome to download it, print it out, share it with friends, or whatever you like. Just remember that it’s not a theological treatise. It’s a brief narrative that explains the questions I had and the answers I found, without too much detail or citation. Maybe the bigger work with lots of documentation and citations will be forthcoming. But first things first. (For what it’s worth, I do offer a list of websites and books at the end of the essay.)

You can find my essay at: http://coffeeklatch.pfitzinger.net/essay/

The very short version is that I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the Early Church, trying to learn what kind of Church Jesus actually left us. Quite a lot of works by Early Church Fathers (Church leaders during the first 400 years) demonstrated a consistency with each other, with the Bible, and with official Catholic doctrine of today. I began attending RCIA classes (Rite of Christian Initiation) in November and will be officially entering the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass (the Saturday before Easter). For more details about why and how and what I’ve learned, please read the essay. It’s not THAT long of a read. :-)

I do welcome comments and questions, whether through personal emails, Instant Messenger, blog comments, or whatever.

[tags]Catholic, Catholicism, conversion, religion, doctrine[/tags]