Articles Archives - The Coming Home Network

The Way of God More Fully: In the Footsteps of Sts. Priscilla and Aquila

mattswaim — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 21:04:08 +0000

When he discovered I had become Catholic, one of the men whom I had pastored for several years called me.

In a distraught voice, he asked, “Pastor Kenny, didn’t you think you were a Christian before? Didn’t you think I was? Do you think I am one now?”

Initially, I didn’t understand the question, but as the conversation unfolded, I discovered that since he didn’t believe Catholics were true Christians, he assumed Catholics believed the same in reverse. Nothing could be further from the truth! (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 817-819).

When I assured my friend that I thought both he and I really were Christians while I was his pastor, he asked, “Then why would you become Catholic?” The answer came flying out of my mouth: “Because being a Catholic is the difference between ‘something’ and ‘everything,’ and that’s a big difference.” I would later learn the phrase “the fullness of the faith” to explain what I meant.

The “difference between something and everything” is illustrated in Acts 18:24-28 when, while ministering in the church in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila come upon an eloquent itinerant Alexandrian preacher named Apollos. From what they could tell, he “had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John” (v. 25).

Notice that it was not the impulse of Priscilla and Aquila to call Apollos’ salvation into question. No! His was a real, vibrant, genuine—though not fully formed—faith in Jesus. Priscilla and Aquila realized that Apollos needed “the difference between something and everything,” so “…when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately.” (Some translations read “more fully.”) To use the phrase I learned later, they brought Apol- los into “the fullness of the Catholic faith.”

Commenting on this text, a 4th century Alexandrian preacher, St. Didymus the Blind, said: “[Apollos] was speaking in the Spirit, and he was teaching in the synagogues what he knew about Jesus. Being students of the apostle Paul, Priscilla and Aquila take him, being full of eagerness, aside in order to pass on to him the entire way of the gospel.”

When we say that our mission at the Coming Home Network is to “help non-Catholic clergy and laity discover the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church, and make the journey home,” we are assuming the same thing about them that Priscilla and Aquila assumed about Apollos. Many of them have a genuine faith in Christ, and unlike Apollos, a valid baptism! (CCC 818, 1256, 1306). They have real spiritual gifts, effective ministries, evidence of God’s grace in their lives, and passion to follow Jesus wherever he leads them. Like Apollos, they are serving Christ with all their hearts and faithfully walking in all the light they have.

In His providence, the Lord is leading many of these dear men and women into the company of Catholics and Catholic apostolates to help them see that while they truly do have “something,” there is a unity and fullness of faith—an “everything”—still available to them, which subsists only in the Catholic Church. (CCC 816, 830, 870).

Let us, then, take up this call to follow in the footsteps of Saints Priscilla and Aquila, and to prayerfully, lovingly, patiently, and gently, introduce them to the everything—the way of God more fully—to be found only in the true and beautiful Catholic Church.

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In the Footsteps of Sts. Priscilla and Aquila appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The Power of a Good Story

mattswaim — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 19:15:15 +0000

There is a reason the Bible is known as the “greatest story ever told.”

Long before the printing press and the availability of the written word for all to access, our ancestors in faith passed down the truth of God’s beauty, wisdom, love, and mercy toward us through their own stories of encounter.

We know of our family history through the lived experience of those who wandered through the desert with Moses, who boarded the ark Noah built, who heard about the promise made to Abraham and told their stories through the generations. We know of God’s fidelity and redemption through the stories of the prophets who didn’t sugarcoat the infidelity of man. Yes, we know the facts—the number of cubits and thread counts and all the materials that went into the creating the ark and priestly vestments. More importantly, though, these stories reveal to us the heart of God the Father, who patiently and persistently calls His children home to Himself through the ages.

We hear Jesus use stories and parables to explain and unveil the Kingdom of God to his disciples and all who would listen. Even after the Resurrection, we see Jesus continue to patiently reveal the Father’s plan to those who, having witnessed the crucifixion, still couldn’t see the fulfillment of God’s promise through the risen Christ. More than this, we begin to know the heart of Christ, the promise of mercy, and the power of the Holy Spirit, through the stories of the Gospel writers and the first apostles. We witness the fulfillment of God’s promise through the experiences of those who walked with Christ on earth and continued to preach the Gospel following his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension— often to their own earthly demise.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Through the centuries, we have the stories of countless men and women who have continued to show us what it means to live out the Gospel, what it means to love God and neighbor, what it means to pursue a life of heroic virtue in imitation of Christ. We know the everlasting power of the saving grace that lies in Christ through His Church empowered by the Holy Spirit because of the stories of the saints throughout the last two millennia. We know the truth of the faith through their experiences and testimony. And yet, that, too, is not the end.

The story continues with each of us. The goodness of God continues to be proclaimed in the movement of our own lives. The fruit of Christ’s sacrifice for us—His tender mercy and compassion and love—continues to be revealed in our encounters with the steadfast sacramental life of the Church despite (or perhaps through) our suffering and wandering.

No story is insignificant. Each one is another chapter— however long or short—in the overarching story of God, the only story worth sharing again and again.

We would love to hear YOUR story of conversion. Visit chnetwork.org/submissions to see our submission guidelines, or email us at info@chnetwork.org.

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The CHNetwork Family Remembers Al Kresta

mattswaim — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 10:36:59 +0000

As tributes pour in for the late Al Kresta, founder of Ave Maria Radio and host of Kresta in the Afternoon, the Coming Home Network family remembers him in a special way, because of his identification with CHNetwork’s core mission of working with and sharing the stories of Protestant clergy who are seeking a home in the Catholic Church.

Raised Catholic, Kresta left the faith of his youth as a young man in the 1960’s. As he told CHNetwork in a 2019 interview, “My parents’ generation had extolled the virtues of wine, women, and song. And my generation didn’t mind that; but we preferred drugs, sex, and rock and roll.”

In the Spring of 1969, Kresta had a series of what he called “pseudo-mystical” experiences while using LSD. Beyond the recreational highs he’d been accustomed to seeking, he began to sense a supernatural reality that existed but was somehow inaccessible to him. During the last of these experiences, in May of that year, he felt a presence that he would later describe as Marian, and that caused him to take a fresh look at the world of faith and spirituality he’d abandoned.

Kresta’s search took him into conversations with New Age thinkers, and he regained an appreciation for Jesus, but only saw Christ as one enlightened teacher among many “ascended masters.” It wasn’t until his time at Michigan State University that he began reading the Bible on his own for the first time, and the picture of Jesus that began to emerge from the Gospels stood in sharp contrast to Al’s concept of Him as a mere sage. Al found himself bewildered, and unsure of what to do next.

One day, while walking down Grand River Ave toward the center of town, he met a man handing out Christian tracts. He took one, and was struck by the first line of it: “Do you want to know why some people have trouble understanding the Bible?” It was as though God was speaking directly to the question in his heart. As Kresta put it, that was the day that he went “from believing in the Jesus of the New Age, to believing in the Jesus of the New Testament.”

Kresta spent the next eighteen years in various capacities of Evangelical ministry, serving for five of those years as a pastor. But questions that arose about authority, the interpretation of Scripture, and a host of other issues eventually led him back to the Catholic Faith he’d walked away from decades before, and he returned to full communion with the Church in 1992.

However, as a former Protestant pastor becoming Catholic, he faced many of the issues that are common to clergy seeking a home in the Church, such as difficulty explaining the decision to leave Protestant ministry, experiencing the reality of being a member of a congregation rather than a leader of one, and wondering how to use the gifts and talents of a Protestant ministry background in a Catholic context.

Al shared his experience of journeying from cradle Catholicism through agnosticism, the New Age, and Evangelical ministry back to the Catholic Faith on CHNetwork’s flagship program, The Journey Home, which airs on EWTN television and radio and for many years was hosted by Marcus Grodi, who had also been a Protestant pastor before entering the Catholic Church. Al appeared on the show in 2004 and 2007, and also joined the program in 2017 for the show’s 20th anniversary special. He also appeared as a guest on Marcus Grodi’s radio program, Deep in Scripture.

In the weeks since Kresta’s initial diagnosis, the radio show that bears his name has continued, with Marcus Peter of Ave Maria Radio filling in as host. Peter, who was a guest on The Journey Home in 2021, shares a number of things in common with Kresta; he too went from cradle Catholic to unbeliever to born-again Christian and Protestant preacher before returning to the Catholic Faith. As such, he identifies with Al’s journey in a special way. “He and I shared such similar journeys, albeit in different ways. Having his influence was invaluable to me,” said Peter.

Peter also noted that Kresta’s mentorship helped him, as a convert with Protestant leadership experience, to see the world through a more thoroughly Catholic lens: “He challenged me to expand my capacities. I used to focus only on preaching the truths of Scripture for the salvation of souls. Al showed me how applying those same truths to history, art, politics, science, and current events had an equally powerful salvific effect in the lives of Christians.”

Please join the Coming Home Network in giving thanks for the extraordinary life and witness of Al Kresta, and praying for the repose of his soul and the consolation of his family.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace.

*****

The following is a video testimony that Al recorded for CHNetwork’s Signposts series in 2019:

The post The CHNetwork Family Remembers Al Kresta appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Br. Joseph Dutton: A Baptist Convert on the Path to Sainthood

mattswaim — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 20:04:29 +0000

In January of 2024, the sainthood cause of Joseph Dutton concluded its local phase of exploration in the Diocese of Honolulu, meaning that he became officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a Servant of God. If miracles are approved through his intercession, he would be the third person from Hawaii to become a canonized saint.

So who was he?

As it turns out, Brother Joseph, as he was known to the lepers of Molokai, followed a long and winding path to Christian service, through sin and struggle and discernment, before leaving everything behind to honor Jesus by ministering to those affected by leprosy.

He was born Ira Barnes Dutton on April 27, 1843, in Stowe, Vermont, and was living in Wisconsin when the Civil War broke out a couple of decades later. He joined the 13th Wisconsin Infantry and witnessed the horrors of brother fighting against brother, as well as the fallout of a nation divided by violence and strife. Dutton grew up Baptist, but his experience of war factored into his descent into alcoholism, as well as a broken marriage. That struggle with alcohol would go on for several years, until he made a resolution to quit drinking in 1876. This was part of a deeper conversion in his life, which led him to eventually consider and embrace the claims of the Catholic Faith.

In 1883, he joined the Catholic Church, and in his vocational discernment, spent more than a year living with the Trappist monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. When he learned of the mission of Fr. Damien de Veuster in Hawaii, and how St. Damien was ministering to the lepers there, he decided to leave everything behind and make himself available to that work.

When Dutton, who had taken the name “Brother Joseph,” arrived in Hawaii, he made a simple declaration to Fr. Damien: “My name is Joseph Dutton; I’ve come to help, and I’ve come to stay.” Brother Joseph would remain there until and after the passing of St. Damien of Molokai, going on to found the Baldwin Home for men and boys.

The work of Brother Joseph even garnered the attention of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt; after learning of Brother Joseph’s work, Roosevelt had the naval fleet dip their flags in tribute as they sailed past the island where he was ministering.

Brother Joseph Dutton died in March of 1931 at the age of 87, and nearly a century later, the Diocese of Honolulu organized a committee to begin exploring the possibility of recommending him to the larger Church for possible sainthood. The files sent to Rome regarding Brother Joseph detailed over 2,000 pages of documentation regarding his work and correspondence. After a thorough review of them by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican concluded that the canonization cause could move forward, meaning that Brother Joseph could offi- cially be recognized by the Church under the title “Servant of God.”

In a Mass of celebration for the announcement, Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu said that Brother Joseph “left everything behind, so that he could not only change course himself but change the course of many others, by catching them from drowning in despair and raising them to the light that is Jesus Christ.”* The next step in his cause for sainthood will be a deeper review of his life and legacy, to determine whether or not he can be officially recognized with decree of Heroic Virtue. This would result in him being given the title “Venerable Servant of God,” which would put him one step closer to the possibility of being held up to the Church as “St. Joseph Dutton.”

In being recommended to the Church for possible sainthood, Dutton joins the ranks of two other significant missionaries to the lepers of Hawaii; St. Damian of Molokai, the Belgian priest whose mission he joined on the island, and St. Marianne Cope, who left her hospital work in upstate New York to minister in the North Pacific. If Brother Joseph ends up being canonized, it will set Hawaii apart as a hotbed of American saints; all three of them having done the bulk of their ministry before Hawaii was admitted to statehood in 1958.

Servant of God Joseph Dutton, convert, veteran, and missionary, pray for us!

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A Baptist Convert on the Path to Sainthood appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The Ugandan Martyrs: Conviction, Conversion, and Courage

mattswaim — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 14:38:05 +0000

Photo by Rsk6400 \ Creative Commons Copyright

*****

The story of the Ugandan Martyrs is a powerful account of heroic faith in the face of persecution. All of them were young men, some of them teenagers. And all of them knew that their conversion to the Catholic faith would likely cost them their lives.

In 1879, the king of Buganda, Kabaka Mukabya, invited French Catholic missionaries into his kingdom. He had no interest in Christianity himself; he was more interested in the educational opportunities the missionaries might bring. What the Kabaka did not expect was that the message of the Gospel would have such a powerful impact among his people.

When Mukabya died, and his son, Mwanga, claimed the throne, he allowed the missionaries to continue their work, but he quickly became angry with the way that the conversions were affecting his royal court. Mwanga wanted the young men and boys who served in his court to submit themselves to immoral acts with him, and because of their newfound faith, these young converts refused to participate.

The head steward of the palace, a 25-year old convert named Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, pleaded with the king to not force these acts upon his pages and servants. In response, the furious Mwanga had Joseph beheaded, and his body burned.

Witnessing this martyrdom, a young catechumen named Charles Lwanga, who was in charge of some of the royal pages, felt compelled to approach the missionaries, from whom he urgently requested and received Baptism, despite having seen one of his own friends and fellow court attendants die that very day. St. Charles Lwanga was baptized on the same day that St. Joseph Mukasa was martyred: November 15th, 1885.

Mwanga’s attempt to intimidate through violence was inffective; even more young Ugandans from his court sought catechesis and baptism. Christian teachings against sexual violence, polgyamy, and inhumane treatment of prisoners only made Mwanga more and more angry with these new Christians. The tide was turning toward the Gospel in his kingdom, and he chose to act swiftly and decisively against it.

On May 26th, 1886, Charles Lwanga, who had only himself been baptized a few months earlier, baptized a group of young pages, including a boy named Kizito, who was only 14. Later that day, Mwanga returned to his compound after an unsuccessful hunting trip, and looking for the attendants of his royal court, found that many of them had left to go pray together. Outraged, Mwanga locked down the palace, summoned all his pages, and commanded each of them to admit whether or not they were Christians. Those who were, answered in the affirmative, including the 14 year-old Kizito, who had been baptized only hours before.

Mwanga condemned them all to death. The young men were tied together and marched 37 miles to a wooded area. As they marched, Charles Lwanga, who had catechized many of them, led them in prayer and reminded them of the catechism lessons he had taught them. Kizito, the youngest of the group, kept up their spirits with songs, and even laughter.

When they reached the execution site on June 3rd, the prisoners were rolled into straw mats and fed into a fire. In all, sixteen young convert men were martyred that day, including Charles Lwanga, who had baptized many of them. As he was being burned, Lwanga is reported to have said to his executioners, “It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me.”

In 1920, Pope Benedict XV formally beatified a large group of these martyrs who died under the reign of Kubaka Mwanga, and in October of 1964, Pope Paul VI canonized them. Their feast is celebrated on June 3rd, the date that Charles Lwanga and his companions were marched to the fire.

Catholics were not the only ones who suffered persecution under Mwanga’s rule; several Anglican converts were martyred as well. As with the Catholic martyrs of Uganda, the Anglican calendar also observes their feast on June 3rd.

The courage of Sts. Joseph Mukasa, Charles Lwanga, Kizito, and their companions is extraordinary. For all who follow Christ on the path of conversion, there is a cost. Sometimes that cost includes confusion or opposition from loved ones, or even having to start one’s life over from scratch. But the courage of the Ugandan Martyrs, who requested baptism knowing it would almost certainly cost them their lives, is a powerful witness to all of us who are praying for the strength to follow God’s will, however difficult it may seem to us in the moment.

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St. Justin Martyr: An Echo of the Apostles

mattswaim — Fri, 31 May 2024 09:30:17 +0000

One of the greatest benefits of reading the early Church Fathers is their witness to the beliefs and practices of the earliest Christians. The writings of St. Justin Martyr, the patron saint of Catholic apologists, are a fascinating window into the early Church. Justin was born c. AD 100 to a pagan family in Flavia Neapolis, the present-day Nablus, on the West Bank. After exploring several schools of philosophy, he was converted to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, c. AD 132, through the witness of an elderly Christian man while walking along the seashore. St. Justin began to travel around the Roman Empire teaching the truths of Christianity, eventually settling in Rome and founding a Christian school. Around the year AD 165, after debating with the Cynic philosopher Crescens, Justin was denounced to the Roman prefect. Along with six companions, he was beheaded for his faith in Christ.

In his First Apology, written c. AD 150, he describes the Mass as it was celebrated in his day, bearing many similarities to ours over 1,800 years later:

“[At] the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves…and for all others in every place…having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the presider of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying, ‘Amen’. And when the presider has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.” [First Apology, chap. 65]

St. Justin further testifies to the established understanding of both baptismal regeneration and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist:

“And this food is called Εὐχαριστία [Eucharist], and no one is permitted to partake of it, except those who believe that what has been taught us is true, and have been washed [baptized] for the remission of sins and unto regeneration, and thus live as Christ handed down. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” [First Apology, chap. 66]

Having written the following almost 175 years before the time of Constantine, St. Justin also provides a strong witness against the assertion that Constantine imposed Sunday worship upon Christians:

“But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead” [First Apology, chap. 67].

There are certainly a multitude of other examples in his writings that illustrate the consistency and continuity of the Catholic Church’s practices and teaching throughout the centuries. Ultimately, St. Justin Martyr (and all the Church Fathers) have passed down a lasting witness of how Scripture and Sacred Tradition were faithfully lived out by our ancient brothers and sisters who still had the voices of the Apostles echoing in their hearts.

St. Justin Martyr, pray for us!

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The Queenship of Mary – CHNetwork Community Question

mattswaim — Thu, 09 May 2024 14:40:33 +0000

The month of May includes a special devotion to Mary in Catholic parishes throughout the world. In 1987, the bishops of the United States dedicated the month of May to Mary as the Queen of Heaven, encouraging the May Crowning devotion, where a statue of the Blessed Mother in the church is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and flowers are laid at her feet.

Devotion to Mary can often be a stumbling block for Protestants who are curious about the Catholic Church. This month, we asked our members: “At any point in your journey, have you been bothered by talking about Mary as ‘Queen of Heaven?’ If so, why? And has anything helped you better understand this title for her?” Here is what some of them had to say:

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“Seeing Mary as the woman with the 12 star crown standing on the moon in the heavens in Revelation 12:1 was a clincher very early in my journey to the Catholic Church along with us being the rest of her offspring in Revelation 12:17.”

– Howard H.

“I used to be (troubled by it), until it was explained that in history, the mother of a king was often the queen of a nation. Then it made sense that Our Lady is the Queen of Heaven.”

– Janis J.

“I privately asked the question on occasion where our heavenly mother was over the years. There was never a context for it in my understanding of Christianity. Protestants barely acknowledge Mary and denigrate her implicitly. But, I thought, in families there’s a father and mother. I wondered who the mother was in the heavenly family. Now I know. Understanding the Queen Mother’s role was the key that unlocked the Church’s theology on Mary in that regard.”

– Anna Y.

“When I first read about it, it made perfect sense. It was a kind of ‘DUH!’ moment (Mother of the King is the Queen Mother) and it also clicked with the woman crowned with the twelve stars in the Apocalypse. So no, it didn’t bother me except for the fact I never realized or thought about her much at all until that point.”

– Leonard A.

“Honestly? It still bothers me even though I have been Catholic for 15 years. I know all of the verses and apologetics for it. That said, I trust the Church’s judgment more than I trust my own gut reactions and I remind myself of that.”

– Laura F.

“This was my biggest hang up, coming from the Evangelical space. All of the points above really helped me understand her role better. It’s been such a healing process finding a rela- tionship with her. I read Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary and that completely shifted my thoughts. Highly recommend!”

– Meghan G.

“I had hesitations with parts of the Hail Holy Queen prayer, but not Mary as Queen. It helps to look at history and know the role of queens in the royal courts. She is never equal to the King, but she rep- resents the crown. It all fits together so nicely!”

– Morgan C.

*****

Here’s what the Church has to say about Mary as Queen:

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resur- rection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians… CCC 966

Mary, Queen of Heaven, Pray for Us!

“Because the Virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right that the Church has honored her with the title of ‘Queen’.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori
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CHNetwork Community Question: Catholic Converts Share Perspectives on Tithing

mattswaim — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 15:59:18 +0000

With tax deadlines as part of everyone’s Spring routine, and reviews of our annual charitable contributions on the brain, we asked our members if the previous faith traditions and congregations they came from had specific teaching on tithing or financial obligations. Here is what a few of them shared:

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“[For the Latter Day Saints,] it is a mandatory 10%. In fact, it’s so mandatory that it’s required to get into the highest heaven. You have to receive temple ordinances to get to the highest heaven, and you have to tithe 10% to get into the temple. So a 10% tithe is one of the major points on which your eternal destiny hinges. Also, we gave a “fast offering” every month that goes to the needs of those struggling in our congregation specifically. That is left to the discretion of the giver and is often based on how much money you save by fasting for two meals on the first Sunday of the month (an LDS tradition which is actually one of my favorites).” -A.C.

*****

“When I was an Evangelical, we were taught to give ten percent. We had a lot of teaching about money. Occasionally we had some pretty guilt-inducing animated videos inflicted on us about tithing. A popular one was using the story of Cain and Abel as a lesson in tithing. Also it was said that unless you were a regular ‘ten-percenter,’ you would never be considered for the church eldership team. When I looked up Catholic teaching on giving, it made a lot more sense I’m glad to say!” -V.W.

*****

“As a non-denominational Christian, tithing was 10% of our gross income. Giving is a representation and demonstration of your faith and following of Christ. And is one of the items of the checklist to become a member.” -T.K.

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“My husband belonged to a church where the pastor mentioned tithes at every service. Scripture was read about giving and receiving 100 fold, and about God blessing those who tithed. Testimonies were given about how a raise was given at work or blessings were received due to being a faithful tither. It seemed like something from a prosperity-type gospel. Of the Catholic Churches I’ve attended, I’ve never heard tithing mentioned except once, and that was when there was the possibility of some of the smaller Churches being closed, including that particular church.” A.J.

*****

So what about Catholics? Is there a set amount one must tithe in the Church?

It turns out that your obligation to give, according to the Catholic Church, doesn’t have a specific number or percentage attached to it. That may be in part because Catholicism has a wide socioeconomic range among Her membership, which includes people from both the wealthiest and poorest places on earth. But the Church DOES have something to say about the obligation to give, and it’s detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church starting around paragraph 2041. That information is included in what are called the Precepts of the Church—essentially the “bare minimum” obligations
for a Catholic. Giving is addressed in the fifth one:

You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church (primarily
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).
You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.

You’ll often hear Catholics refer to three ways to fulfill that 5th Precept: Time, Talent, and Treasure. What that means is that you can provide for the Church’s needs by giving time to help out in various efforts or works, talent in the sense that you bring your personal gifts and skills and offer them in some way for the building up of the Church, and treasure, meaning financial support in whatever way you discern God is asking of you.

“Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could.” -St. Gregory Nazianzen
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Catholic Converts Share Perspectives on Tithing appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Marcus Grodi on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa

mattswaim — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 13:41:52 +0000

Recently, Marcus Grodi joined Fr. Mitch Pacwa on EWTN Live to talk about how he’s been spending his retirement, the history and philosophy behind The Coming Home Network, and a new book from EWTN Publishing: Guideposts for The Journey Home. Check it out!

The post Marcus Grodi on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Conversion Conversations: From the Head to the Heart

mattswaim — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:06:22 +0000

In speaking with those who are exploring the Catholic faith, we sometimes notice different themes emerge. It can be helpful to hear how those questions are answered by others as we consider our own responses should we ever be on the receiving end of the question ourselves. Below is an excerpt of a conversation between an inquirer and Matt Swaim, Director of Outreach:

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INQUIRER: How do you balance the onslaught of information in religious education with becoming a Catholic who has a personal relationship with God—how do you solve the head/heart conundrum?

MATT: I absolutely had to sort through that kind of thing on my way toward the Catholic Church; I still do with some regularity, if I’m honest. I think it comes from the particular kind of Evangelicalism I was raised in, which emphasized the familiar/relational aspects of God—a lot of language about “personal relationship” and a primary emphasis on friendship with God.

At the same time, there wasn’t a strong emphasis on the intellectual aspects of Christian faith—at least not until I got to college. When I discovered them, it was like walking into a candy store, and I got very prideful about what I was learning, a lot of which was pointing to the transcendent, infinite, and philosophical questions about Christianity. It was confusing and exciting at the same time, and when I got beyond C.S. Lewis and into people who’d been dead a lot longer than him, it got even more exciting and confusing.

Catholicism wasn’t on my radar until well into this exploration, and while I can’t put my finger on all of it, I can say that the Church is very old and wise and understands human beings very well. The Church knows that if she is to be universal, and the true Body of Christ, there has to be room for peasants and kings, for scholars and those with intellectual disabilities, for introvertsand extroverts. St. Gregory once described all of it as being like a river, where it’s shallow enough for a lamb to cross in one part and deep enough for an elephant to swim in another part. It has to hold up to intellectual scrutiny, but it also has to speak to the deepest desires of the human heart. St. Paul appeals to the intellect when he says “test everything; hold on to what is good” (1 Thes 5:21), but he appeals to our human longings when he says “the Spirit himself intercedes for us in groans that cannot be expressed.” (Rom 1:26)

In terms of the head/heart conundrum, my advice is to tap back into the realizations that got you excited about Christianity in the first place, because those are absolutely still valuable. I know I can get inside my own head, and sometimes I just need to experience silence, meditation, and prayer instead of research and study and diving into arguments. Have you checked out Eucharistic Adoration yet? Or had a chance to visit some beautiful area parishes to just look around and soak it in? I know those things have helped me when my head and heart seem to be in conflict with one another. But most of all be patient with yourself; absorbing Catholicism is like eating five thousand elephants.

And while there’s plenty to learn as Catholics, I have to constantly remind myself that Catholicism isn’t about knowing a lot of information. It’s about entering ever more deeply into a relationship with God, Who is love. St. John Chrysostom, one of the smartest people in the history of the Church, said that “In the evening of our life, we will be judged on love alone.” Or as St. Bonaventure put it, a little more pointedly, when asked if only the learned could be saints: “Any old woman can love God better than a doctor of theology can.”

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