The stories, reflections and thoughts of a few who have journeyed from protestant Christianity to the ancient faith of the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Church.
When we left the story, I had just started Seminary in 2002. I also took this time to immerse myself in the Evangelical™/Charismatic church that I was attending. Playing on worship team, sitting on staff meetings and doing a small internship. I was very firmly planting myself in the Evangelical™ stream and seeking out where it was that God was calling me to be when I graduated. I was barreling full steam ahead, not really knowing what lay at the end.
To begin, I should give some background of who I am and where I’ve been. I was born in Illinois, and at the time my mom baptized me in a Catholic church. However, shortly after that my mom fell away from the faith for a period of time and it wasn’t until I was six years old that I had any other real exposure to a religious setting. When I was 6 my mom sent me off to the local churches Summer Youth program.
Greetings and welcome to my story. I wanted to take a brief moment to introduce myself, and to set the stage for how I’m going to tell my tale. Each of our stories is unique, but in one particular way, mine is different. Of the four of us writing, I’m the only one who has decided to go Roman Catholic, the rest deciding to commune with the various Orthodox churches. However, even though we’re taking different paths backwards towards ancient faith, we all share the same underlying desire to return to the roots of Christianity and of the Church.
As they say, “today is the first day of the rest of my life.” It’s a bit melodramatic, sure, but going to my first catechumen class today was a huge step for me — it’s saying, “yes, I want to be a learner of the Orthodox faith, that I might align myself to you and be in communion with you.”
As I’ve discovered in reading and hearing the stories of others on their journey towards a life of Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism, there are vastly different stories but the themes usually resonate in harmony — people are hungry for an authentic faith that can be traced to the time of Christ; a faith that looks like the first century Church.
