Holy Church: Finding Jesus As a Reverted Catholic; A Testimonial Response to Chris Castaldo

This is a guest article by Casey Chalk. Casey was born and raised in a Virginia suburb of Washington D.C. Casey was baptized into the Catholic Church and received the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion before leaving the Church with his parents for evangelicalism at the age of eight. Casey attended the University of Virginia, where he was introduced to Reformed theology. Upon graduation in 2007 (B.A. History, Religious Studies; Masters in Teaching), Casey became a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and enrolled in Reformed Theological Seminary. However, an intensive period of study of the “Catholic question” ultimately resulted in Casey’s reunion with the Catholic Church in October 2010. He was confirmed at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in Chantilly, Virginia at the Easter Vigil in 2011. Casey works for the federal government, and joyfully also received the sacrament of marriage in August 2012 with his wife Claire. Continue Reading…

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June 2, 2013

Review of Hans Boersma’s Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry

Filed under: Blog Posts — Guest Author @ 6:38 pm

This is a guest post by Daniel Edward Young. Daniel is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern College (Iowa) where he teaches political theory, international relations, and comparative politics. He received his Ph.D. from Temple University. His scholarly interests include the intersection of political theory and international relations, the history of political thought, and contemporary democratic theory. His most recent publication is “Escape from Machiavellianism? Thomist Themes in Twentieth Century Political Realism” in Politics and Religion 4:3 (December, 2011). His current research is on the relationship of political liberalism and natural law. Below is his review of Hans Boersma’s Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (Eerdmans, 2011).

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May 23, 2013

Pope Francis, Atheists, and the Evangelical Spirit

Filed under: Blog Posts — Tags: Salvation — Andrew Preslar @ 2:56 pm

Some interest has been generated in online news media (which is the only kind I follow) by Pope Francis’s recent homily in which he affirmed that atheists can accomplish some good in the created order, which provides a “meeting place” for them and religious believers. The Pope went on to say that atheists have been redeemed by Jesus Christ in the sense that Christ died for all, not merely some, human beings. We have all been “bought back” from sin and the devil, which opens up new possibilities for every human being. (Continue Reading…)

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May 12, 2013

Apostolic Succession and Historical Inquiry: Some Preliminary Remarks

Filed under: Blog Posts — Tags: Apostolic Succession — Andrew Preslar @ 6:00 pm

Included in the May 2013 issue of First Things is Ephraim Radner’s review of Candida Moss’s book, The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom (HarperOne). I found Moss’s arguments against the historicity of early Christian martyrologies to be particularly familiar and interesting in the light of some recent discussion over at Jason Stellman’s blog concerning the historicity of the early Christian accounts of Apostolic Succession. [1]  (Continue Reading…)

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April 30, 2013

Welcome, Joshua Lim!

Filed under: Blog Posts — Bryan Cross @ 8:53 am

Called To Communion is delighted to welcome Joshua Lim to our team of contributors. (Continue Reading…)

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March 21, 2013

Jason Stellman Tells His Conversion Story

Filed under: Blog Posts — Tags: Conversion Stories — Bryan Cross @ 1:14 am

Regular readers of Called To Communion are familiar with Jason Stellman. In September of last year we posted an article he wrote for us titled “I Fought the Church, and the Church Won.” In November of last year, I interviewed Jason regarding his conversion from Presbyterian pastor to Catholic, and posted the podcast of that interview here. On March 9 of this year, Jason Stellman gave a talk at the Holy Family Conference at Holy Family Parish in Kirkland, Washington. Jason had been planning to talk about “The cruciform life” during that session of the conference. But in the hour before his talk was scheduled to begin, he had lunch with Scott Hahn, who convinced him to tell his conversion story instead. So he did, and thankfully the event was recorded:

 

Download the mp3 by right-clicking here.

Jason blogs at CreedCodeCult.com.

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March 13, 2013

Habemus Papam!

Filed under: Blog Posts — Bryan Cross @ 6:38 pm

Habemus Papam! Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina has been elected to be the successor of Pope Benedict XVI, and has chosen the name Francis, the first pope to take the name ‘Francis.’ He is also the first Latin American pope, and the first Jesuit pope. John Allen writes of him, “Bergoglio’s reputation for personal simplicity also exercised an undeniable appeal – a Prince of the Church who chose to live in a simple apartment rather than the archbishop’s palace, who gave up his chauffeured limousine in favor of taking the bus to work, and who cooked his own meals.” (Continue Reading…)

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February 26, 2013

The Papacy and the Catholic Act of Faith

Filed under: Blog Posts — Tags: Conversion Stories, Ecclesiology, Faith, The Papacy — Bryan Cross @ 10:07 am

On Friday, April 22, 2005, I was sitting at my desk at Saint Louis University, trying to think of a good remaining reason not to be Catholic. I had been investigating the Catholic question intensely for over a year, and one by one I had been discovering that my objections were largely based on straw men or question-begging assumptions. The final obstacle for me was not a doctrinal or intellectual objection. It was the difficulty of trusting that no future pope would turn against the Tradition, and lead the Church into heresy or apostasy. Pope Benedict XVI had been selected by the conclave three days earlier, and his selection challenged me to face this difficulty thoughtfully and carefully. Was it reasonable for me, in light of the entirety of the Catholic paradigm, to treat the selection of Pope Benedict XVI as another factor in deciding whether Christ was perpetually protecting the papal office, and whether or not to become Catholic?

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February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI’s Renunciation of the Petrine Office

Filed under: Blog Posts — Barrett Turner @ 12:34 pm

Today the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, announced his renunciation of the Petrine office effective at the end of February, 2013. You may listen to Benedict read his announcement in Latin at the bottom of the link above. You may also find here the English translation of Cardinal Sodano’s response as seen in the video.

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February 8, 2013

On the Usefulness of Tradition: A Response to Recent Objections

Filed under: Blog Posts — David Anders @ 4:32 pm

I have often heard Protestants object that the Catholic concept of Tradition is practically useless. There are usually two arguments for this position. First, Tradition allegedly reduces to “whatever the Magisterium says,” in which case it is redundant. Alternately, the concept of Tradition is supposedly too vague to be serviceable. On this view, there is no good answer to the questions, “What exactly counts as Tradition? Where is the official list of Traditions?”

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February 2, 2013

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Filed under: Blog Posts — Bryan Cross @ 3:53 pm

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, when Mary and Joseph, forty days after the birth of Jesus, brought Him from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to present Him to God in the Temple in fulfillment of the law of Moses. On this day, Mary handed the Infinite One (Infinity itself) to an old man named Simeon, who held the Creator and Sustainer of all things in his arms.

(Continue Reading…)

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December 12, 2012

Three Frameworks for Interpreting the Church Fathers

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Church Fathers, Unity — Guest Author @ 2:50 pm

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This is a guest article by Dr. Kenneth J. Howell. Dr. Howell earned an M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary, an M.A. in Linguistics and Philosophy from the University of South Florida, a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Science, and a second Ph.D. from Lancaster University (U.K.) in the History of Christianity and Science. He was a Presbyterian minister for eighteen years and a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary for seven years. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1996. He taught in several universities until 2012, the last of which was a decade at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where he also was the Director of the Institute of Catholic Thought. He now serves as the Resident Theologian and Director of Pastoral Care of the Coming Home Network International. He continues his work of translating and commenting on the early Church Fathers, having already authored Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna: A New Translation and Theological Commentary and Clement of Rome and the Didache: A New Translation and Theological Commentary. In June of 2010 we posted the video of his talk titled “The Issue of Authority in Early Christianity,” which he delivered at the Deep in History conference in 2009. (Continue Reading…)



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September 23, 2012

I Fought the Church, and the Church Won

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Conversion, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura — Guest Author @ 9:00 pm

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This is a guest post by Jason Stellman. Jason was born and raised in Orange County, CA, and served as a missionary with Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in Uganda (’91-’92) and in Hungary (’94-’00). After becoming Reformed and being subsequently “dismissed” from ministry with Calvary, he went to Westminster Seminary California where he received an M.Div. in 2004. After graduation he was ordained by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and called to plant Exile Presbyterian Church in the Seattle area, where he served from 2004 until resigning in the Spring of 2012. He is the author of Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet (Reformation Trust, 2009), and The Destiny of the Species (forthcoming from Wipf and Stock Publications). In 2011 he served as the prosecutor in the trial of Peter Leithart in the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA. He currently resides in the Seattle area with his wife and three children. He was received into full communion with the Catholic Church on September 23, 2012. (Continue Reading…)



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August 6, 2012

The Audacity of Pope

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Authority, The Papacy, Tradition — Neal Judisch @ 3:08 pm

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When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob, a coward – in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link. – G.K. Chesterton

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May 27, 2012

Joshua Lim’s Story: A Westminster Seminary California Student becomes Catholic

Filed under: Featured Articles — Joshua Lim @ 8:02 pm

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This a guest post by Joshua Lim. Joshua graduated this Spring from Westminster Seminary California, where he earned his MA in historical theology. He was born and raised in the PCUSA. He spent a few years in college as a Baptist before moving back to a confessional Reformed denomination (URCNA) prior to entering seminary. He was received into full communion with the Catholic Church this year on April 21st, the feast day of St. Anselm. He plans on continuing his studies in systematic theology.

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March 14, 2012

“Have you been Born Again? Catholic Reflections on a Protestant Doctrine, or How Calvin’s view of Salvation destroyed his Doctrine of the Church”

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Calvinism, Ecclesiology, Sacraments, Soteriology — David Anders @ 9:44 pm

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When I first began to study Calvin in earnest, I was puzzled by what seemed a glaring omission in his writings and sermons. He never counseled his readers and listeners to be “Born Again.” This struck me as odd because I knew our denomination (PCA) considered Calvin to be our true founder. I also knew that the evangelical doctrine of “New Birth” (regeneration), understood as the moment of personal, conscious conversion, was the linchpin, the central dogma of our congregation. As an Evangelical Presbyterian, I had grown up constantly hearing these exhortations to be “Born Again.” My pastors and teachers revered evangelistic luminaries like Billy Graham and Bill Bright right along with the great Lion of Geneva. (Continue Reading…)



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March 5, 2012

A Catholic Reflection on John Armstrong’s Your Church is Too Small

Filed under: Featured Articles — Guest Author @ 12:01 am

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On Monday, March 26, ACT 3 and Wheaton College will be hosting “A Conversation on Unity in Christ’s Mission,” involving a dialogue in Edman Chapel between John Armstrong and Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago. The event will be streamed live from the Wheaton.edu website. In light of that forthcoming event, we invited Devin Rose to review Armstrong’s most recent book. Devin is well known to CTC readers. In July of 2010 he wrote a guest post for us titled “Faith and Reason in the Context of Conversion,” in which he recounted his conversion twelve years ago from atheism to faith in Christ. Devin is also the author of the recently published book If Protestantism is True: The Reformation Meets Rome (2011). He blogs at St. Joseph’s Vanguard. We’re grateful to Devin for his thoughtful review of Armstrong’s book. – Eds.

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February 13, 2012

Making My Way to the Church Christ Founded

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Conversion Stories — Fred Noltie @ 4:05 pm

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Readers of Called To Communion will recognize the name Fred Noltie, since in July of last year he wrote a guest post for us titled “The Accidental Catholic.” Recently we invited Fred to join the CTC team, and we’re delighted that he has agreed. Fred was in the Presbyterian Church in America for twenty years, attending both Covenant College and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. On the Easter Vigil of 2005 he, his wife Sabryna, and their son were together received into full communion with the Catholic Church at St. Lawrence parish in Monett, Missouri, where they are presently members. In this article Fred tells the story how he and his family became Catholic. Fred, welcome to CTC! -Eds.

In The Accidental Catholic I described how I realized that Protestantism’s proposed means for discerning revealed truth in the Bible do not afford us any basis for certainty about what that truth actually is. This fact, which struck me like a bolt out of the blue, forced me to realize that I could not remain a Protestant. But on the day that I decided that I was no longer Protestant I was equally certain that I would never become Catholic. I was just not interested in that at all, because – after all – it was the Catholic Church, and I just “knew” it was wrong! Why did I change my mind? (Continue Reading…)



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February 7, 2012

An OPC Pastor Enters the Catholic Church

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Church Fathers, Conversion, Reformed Theology, Sola Scriptura, The Canon — Jason Stewart @ 9:54 am

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Please welcome our first of two newly added authors at Called To Communion, Jason Stewart. Jason was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) before he and his wife Cindy entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in January of 2011. He earned his Master of Divinity from Mid-America Reformed Seminary (Dyer, IN) in 2005, and subsequently served for 5 1/2 years as pastor of Trinity OPC in eastern Pennsylvania. Jason and Cindy live in Rockford, IL, and have four children. He is currently completing a two year course of study with the Diocese of Rockford’s Diaconal Program. Jason wrote the following narrative about his conversion. We are blessed to have him aboard. (Our other new addition, Fred Noltie, will be properly introduced shortly!)  -Eds.

I hope to tell my story simply, because it is genuinely uncomplicated. Complex, yes. Multi-layered, sure. Who’s journey in the Christian faith isn’t? But I do promise to keep the telling of it simple by concentrating on the main catalysts that gave my wife Cindy and me the courage to approach the doors of the Catholic Church and with confidence begin to knock. (Continue Reading…)



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September 22, 2011

What Therefore God Has Joined Together: Divorce and the Sacrament of Marriage

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Church Fathers, Divorce, Marriage, Sacraments, Tradition — Bryan Cross @ 12:44 pm

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There are some ancient Christian doctrines that only the Catholic Church has retained. One such doctrine is her teaching on contraception, which was the unanimous teaching of the Church Fathers, and which all Christians shared for nineteen centuries until the Lambeth Conference of 1930. At that conference the Anglican Church decided to permit the use of contraceptives, and were soon followed by all other Protestant denominations. Another such doctrine is the Catholic Church’s teaching concerning the indissolubility of marriage, and thus the impossibility of remarriage while the spouse lives.¹

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1. CCC 1614-1615, 1640. [↩]



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May 25, 2011

The Commonitory of St. Vincent of Lérins

Filed under: Featured Articles — Tags: Church Fathers, Development of Doctrine, Ecclesiology, Tradition — Bryan Cross @ 3:22 am

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Yesterday (May 24) was the feast day of St. Vincent of Lérins, a soldier who became a monk at the monastery in Lérins, and wrote his famous Commonitory in AD 434, three years after the third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus, and seventeen years before the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. Because Protestants generally accept both those councils, St. Vincent’s Commonitory provides a window into Catholic thought during a period treated by Protestants as still orthodox, prior to any ‘great apostasy.’

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November 11, 2012

How the Church Won: An Interview with Jason Stellman

Filed under: Podcast — Bryan Cross @ 6:16 pm


Jason Stellman

In July of this year, Jason Stellman wrote a Called To Communion guest post titled “I Fought the Church and the Church Won,” in which he explained briefly why he was becoming Catholic. Last week I had an opportunity to talk with Jason about this paradigm change, and the four years of internal wrestling that preceded it. (more…)



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June 17, 2012

Podcast Ep. 17 – Jason & Cindy Stewart Recount Their Conversion

Filed under: Podcast — Tags: Conversion Stories — Tim A. Troutman @ 6:14 pm

In this episode, Tom Riello, a former PCA pastor, interviews Jason Stewart, a former pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and his wife Cindy on the topic of their conversion to the Catholic faith in 2011. Jason earned his Master of Divinity from Mid-America Reformed Seminary (Dyer, IN) in 2005, and subsequently served for five and a half years as pastor of Trinity OPC in eastern Pennsylvania. Jason and Cindy currently live in Rockford, IL, and have four children. He is completing a two year course of study with the Diocese of Rockford’s Diaconal Program.

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February 17, 2012

David Anders on Catholic Answers: February 13, 2012

Filed under: Podcast — David Anders @ 11:45 pm


David Anders

“Open Forum for Non-Catholics”
David Anders on Catholic Answers, Monday, February 13, 2012.
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August 2, 2011

Episode 16 – Stephen Beck’s Conversion Story

Filed under: Blog Posts,Podcast — Tags: Conversion, Reformed Theology, Sola Scriptura — Jeremy Tate @ 8:00 am


Stephen Beck

Stephen Beck was raised Evangelical, but read his way into the Reformed world. He became a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and then the Presbyterian Church in America. Stephen and his family were received into the Catholic Church on the Easter Vigil of 2011 at St. Andrew’s by the Bay Catholic Church in Annapolis, Maryland. He has a Master’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Greek and Latin at the Catholic University of America. Stephen is a brilliant thinker with a deep love for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. In this episode, Stephen’s personal friend and regular CTC contributor, Jeremy Tate, interviews him to find out the reasons behind his conversion.

 

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July 16, 2011

David Anders on Catholic Answers

Filed under: Podcast — David Anders @ 8:23 am


David Anders

On Friday, July 8, I was the guest on the Catholic Answers Live radio program, taking calls and questions from non-Catholics. The one-hour broadcast featured the following questions and discussions:

7′ A discussion of John Calvin’s view of his relation to the Catholic Church, the Catholic positions he affirmed, and his rejection of denominationalism.

15′ A discussion of the Catholic doctrine of communion of the saints, and whether the saints can hear our prayers.

22′ A discussion of legalism and scrupulosity among Catholics.

28′ Why is it difficult for Protestant leaders who recognize the truth of the Catholic Church to become Catholic? Wouldn’t remaining Protestant, in order to hold on to reputation, livelihood, etc. be contrary to Protestant theology?

33′ What are some resources for non-Catholics who want to understand the differences between Calvinism and Catholicism?

36′ What is the Catholic understanding of the relation between divine sovereignty and human freedom?

41′ How does the Catholic understanding of justification address the Reformed claim that the scriptural evidence supports the Protestant notion of justification by the imputation of the alien righteousness of Christ to the believer?

51′ What is the Catholic position on eternal security and the possibility of apostasy, and what is the support for that position?

Listen to the program:

 

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November 24, 2010

Episode 15 – The Conversion of Annie Witz (OPC)

Filed under: Podcast — Tags: Calvinism, Conversion, Conversion Stories, Mary, Real Presence, Reformed Theology, Saints, Sola Scriptura — Tom Riello @ 8:00 am

In this episode, Tom Riello, former PCA minister, interviews Annie Witz, a convert from the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church).  Annie’s father is an elder in the OPC church and serves on the board of Westminster Seminary California.   Annie shares her personal conversion story from being a devout OPC member to a Catholic in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (an Eastern Catholic Church).  Of particular interest is the role that the women saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, played in her conversion.  We are thrilled to have our first female guest on the show!

 

To download the mp3, click here.



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August 25, 2010

Episode 14 – A Presuppositional Apologist Becomes Catholic

Filed under: Podcast — Tags: Authority, Calvinism, Conversion, Faith and Reason, Greg Bahnsen, John Calvin, Mary, Philosophy, Presuppositionalism, Scripture, Sola Scriptura, The Canon, Van Til — Marc Ayers @ 8:00 am

Tom Riello interviews Marc Ayers on the topic of his conversion to the Catholic Church. Marc was a ‘disciple’ of Dr. Greg Bahnsen. Hear him tell how his presuppositional apologetic method helped him see the need for a divinely instituted authority, namely the Catholic Church.

 

To download the mp3, click here.



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May 30, 2010

Episode 13 – Holy Orders

Filed under: Podcast — Tags: Authority, Holy Orders, The Priesthood — Tom Riello @ 4:25 pm

In this episode, Tom Riello interviews Tim Troutman on his recent article “Holy Orders and the Sacrificial Priesthood.” Who are the rightful shepherds of Christ’s flock?  Is Holy Orders truly a sacrament?  These and other questions are addressed in this episode.

 

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April 27, 2010

Episode 12 – Jeremy Tate’s Conversion

Filed under: Podcast — Tom Riello @ 7:00 am

In this podcast episode, Tom Riello interviews Called to Communion regular, Jeremy Tate, on his recent conversion to the Catholic Church.  Jeremy is currently finishing his degree at Reformed Theological Seminary.

 

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March 27, 2010

Episode 11 – The Canon Question

Filed under: Podcast — Tags: Authority, Scripture, Sola Scriptura, The Canon — Tom Brown @ 12:59 am

Tom Riello interviews Tom Brown on his recent article on the issue of the canon of scripture.   How do we know which books belong in the Bible?  Who has the authority to answer such a question?  These issues are addressed in this podcast episode.

 

Download the MP3 here.



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