I picked these off of a single combox on MCJ. They are from the post where Christopher Johnson was kind enough to announce the existence of this blog. Here’s a brief sampling:
“Swimming the Tiber does not solve the problem. Add bad preaching and liturgy and I cannot figure out why anyone would go to Rome. Grass is always greener I suppose..."
“If this kid is happy where he is, I'm happy for him. But I know more than a few who have swum the Tiber (or the Bosporus), only to discover that the Camelot they were looking for was more or less illusory."
“I'm one who swam away from Rome, but not from Catholicity. If I believed that Rome were the most Catholic of places, that's where I would have stayed. But it's not; so I didn't."
“The real bar for Anglicans becoming Catholic (and this is, at times, more true of "anglo-Catholics" than low church folk or evangelicals) is an underlying Calvinist theology and that individualism which, I believe, is genetically encoded in Protestantism."
Each of these comments, to one degree or another, deals with the individual first and the Church second. I’m not looking at it from that point of view, though I do understand when people see it from that perspective.
As I look back on my life, I can see certain patterns. Events that seemed random twenty or thirty years ago, now don’t seem so random. I’m not Catholic because the grass is greener; far from it, there are plenty of dead patches in the Roman lawn. I didn’t come to Rome because it made me happy, my own personal happiness never really entered into the decision on a conscious level. And it’s true, my individualism had to die a slow and painful death before I was ready to convert. I was, without any doubt whatsoever, brought to Rome by the direct actions of the Spirit. (Some of the people reading these words will have been brought here by the direct actions of the Spirit as well, but will they recognize this for what it is? That's the key.)
I came to Rome because I followed a feeling that I believe came from the Holy Spirit. To turn Martin Luther’s quote back upon him: Here I stand, I can do no other.
I came to Rome because I felt that the Catholic Church teaches the truth, and within that truth was where I wanted to live my life. I didn’t do it to make myself, or any other mortal, happy. If you believe that the ECUSA teaches the truth, then by all means remain there. If you think that some other version of Protestantism teaches the truth, then by all means go, and I pray you find peace. If you think that Catholicism may offer the truth, then explore the idea of conversion. But a great mistake MAY (not will, but may) be made if you convert to make yourself happy, or because you’re miserable in your current surroundings. Follow your heart and the lead of the Spirit.
The final push into the Tiber is very much a result of the Spirit acting in your life. You can start to swim the Tiber, and always turn back in mid-stream. Or you can jump in, as I did, and not even know how to swim...but jump as in faith.
When you see all the controversies surrounding the Anglican church (not that the Catholic Church is immune from controversy) and the number of people who are "fed up" with the direction that Anglicanism is taking, one caution I would have is if you do decide to raft (or swim) the Tiber, don't do it because you're running away from something, do it because you feel something irresistably beconing. :)
That's such a huge part of it, Mark. It's tough for a cradle Protestant (and that DOES include Anglicans of all threads) to move outside the mindset of "denomination shopping". Catholicism is something totally different.
The situation is slightly different for those of us who considered themselves Anglo-Catholics as we believed we already WERE Catholic and didn't need to be in communion with "Rome". With folks like you, Al Kimel, and Fr Peregrinator over at Canterbury Tales around, I'm happy to see these misconceptions being addressed!