I was a Protestant for 40 years and have been a Catholic for 29. (There’s no need to do the math.) I consider my conversion a great blessing. Here are a few reasons why:
The sacraments. I could rattle off a definition of transubstantiation, but I don’t really understand it. I don’t understand how dipping a baby in water is a second birth or how fragrant oil brings healing and seals consecration. Why does speaking softly to someone in a tiny room bring forgiveness?
I don’t know, but I have a clue. The essentials of our faith need to be something anyone can grasp whatever their intellect or education. So God has taken universal experiences like eating, bathing and soothing as ways to convey grace to his children. All that’s required to receive that grace is faith. We don’t need theological training; we just need to “take and eat.”
These sacramental blessings flow both ways. All meals are special now because we’ve eaten at God’s table. Hearing a priest assure us that we are forgiven helps us to forgive others. Each bath can remind us that the Holy Spirit is continually cleansing our souls.
The priesthood. Personally, I’m in favor of married priests. However, I see the value of celibacy. Celibate priests have greater freedom than Protestant ministers. A priest can preach hard truths without risking his job. He can spend hours at church without shortchanging his family. He can pastor a rich or poor parish with detachment. He can serve in dangerous mission fields and risk only himself.
Sacrifice lies at the very heart of our faith. Christ sacrificed his life for us. Priests and religious sacrifice marriage and family to better serve him. Their example challenges me to consider what, if anything, I’ve sacrificed for God. Do my actions identify me as a Christian as clearly as a collar or habit marks our clergy?
Our diversity. In many Protestant churches, members belong to the same race, ethnic group or social class. Catholicism, on the other hand, includes everyone. Here in little Hilo, I’ve worshipped with Caucasians, Japanese, Koreans, Hawaiians, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipinos and Africans. I know fellow Catholics who are millionaires and others who receive public assistance. It’s harder to look down on those who are different from us when we’re kneeling side by side.
Our universality. Catholics are also geographically diverse. In the years that I’ve been a Catholic, we’ve had two Italian popes, one Polish, one German and now an Argentine. Even our two local saints were “foreigners.” This global reach reminds us that we are one human family and that we have a duty toward all our brothers and sisters wherever they live and however our customs differ. We Catholics love our country, but our ultimate loyalty is to something greater than any one nation.
The Magisterium. My Protestant relatives warned that converting meant giving up independent thinking for blind obedience. Hah! I’ve thought longer and harder as a Catholic than I ever did as a Protestant. Our faith has more supernatural elements than Protestantism, and our moral code is generally stricter. It also conflicts more often with popular culture. I work constantly to discover and explain our positions on various issues to my family and friends — and to myself. Fortunately, God has blessed the church with numerous gifted and wise thinkers whose writings can guide and deepen my understanding. Some of them have columns in this very paper.
I don’t know if I’ll live another 29 years, but I do know this: I will live my remaining years as a Catholic, and for that I’m profoundly grateful.
Kathleen welcomes comments. Send them to Kathleen Choi, 1706 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo, HI 96720, or e-mail: kathchoi@hawaii.rr.com.
