Apostolic Constitution and Conversion: A Call to the Church

There has been a monumental amount of press coverage over the recent decision out of the Vatican to set forth an Apostolic Constitution as a response to Catholic-minded Anglicans. The stories are often very far from one another but a common thread that I found in many of them is the silence about what it means to convert to become a Catholic. And, conversion is necessary I believe. I am a small fish who has been able to jump out of a small pond and into a vast sea where the world of the Catholic Church in all her beauty and frailty is being discovered each and every day. There is more in the Catholic Church than I ever imagined there could be. I've discovered (in the past 5 short months) that her beauty and maturity is beyond what is capable of my human abilities to grasp. She is a stable institution with a bridal maturity that is able to handle even the blips that come her way and has done so since her beginning in the calling of the Twelve. So, in her wisdom, she does know best what is needed in something like this gracious gift to the Anglican world from the Holy Father.

There are a number of voices that are being heard and aired throughout the world on this gift and I admit that my voice is only one among many. I speak as a very new Catholic convert but as one who I believe has had a radical conversion to a Catholic way of thinking in a very short amount of time due to some of the hardest days in my Christian life of struggling to come to terms with what was happening in my head and in my heart. If I were to give any word of encouragement, I think it would be that my former Anglican colleagues around the world must deeply consider what it means to have a complete conversion to a Catholic way of life. I believe a real head and heart conversion is absolutely necessary in order to submit to the Magisterium with a joyful submission.

For instance, it is quite easy for us to say we are submitting when we agree or we are not being asked to make serious sacrifices of our own desires. Submission, I believe, is really tested when what we might or might not have wanted is being asked of us and we respond in a joy-filled desire of obedience. I think people are really fooling themselves to believe that the Catholic Church will bend on her requirements on issues of morality, contraception, divorce and remarriage etc and disappear behind an Anglican party that might wish to grow out of personal opinions. What must be asked of all Anglicans who are considering this step is what Benedict XVI calls all to ask when being called to communion. Perhaps this gives each of us the space to ask 'just what is it that is false about our attitudes?' In my humble opinion, this is probably one of the most important questions that Anglican laity and clergy alike need to be discussing and answering at this time of discernment.

What must Anglicans do in order not to become a 'party' but to become fully integrated as members of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ? I think the answer lies in a deep conversion of head and heart to the Catholic way of obedience to authority. The Holy Father has nailed this beautifully when he preached these words:

When I advocate a party, it thereby becomes part, whereas the Church of Jesus Christ is never my Church but always his Church. Indeed, the essence of conversion lies precisely in the fact that I cease to pursue a party of my own that safeguards my interests and conforms to my taste but that I put myself in his hands and become his, a member of his Body, the Church.

This Apostolic Constitution seems to me that it will not and cannot be something of an answer to Anglican's taste and expectations without demanding a real submission and conversion no matter what patrimony is accepted. it cannot be viewed as an option because of a lack of love from the CofE or any other part of the Anglican ethos around the world. To become Catholic is not and cannot be to run from something that is uncomfortable but must be a turning towards what is absolutely true and of the Holy Spirit. There is a lot asked of those who would make this decision and it is a very serious call to the obedience of faith.

Individuals must be catechised, formed, and enculturated into a true Catholic ethos and this will undoubtedly require time out from ministry and Eucharistic reception and a full submission to Catholic sacramental confirmation for everyone. Anglican patrimony cannot, it seems, include what Anglicans have done so well by being selective about only what pleases them and form to only those desires. Each of us has this ongoing daily struggle whether we or Anglicans or Catholics, but it is something each of us must come to terms with. This is the heart of the conversion experience that God recently has and is continually putting me through in the open heart surgery that is ongoing within me. I would gladly argue that it is a process that is ongoing in this life. I could almost be certain that all those who are now in a period of discernment are experiencing this stretching of head and heart as well and so be assured of my prayers for all of you.

The Catholic Church will not grow from an ideological choice among many but only on the principle of a Catholic magisterium. Clubs develop from personal choice, not the Church, as the Holy Father has spoken in the past. I think it must be remembered that the courage of the TAC bishops who went to Rome and signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other bishops around the globe who have given their allegiance to its teaching is what the Holy Father seems to be responding to so positively. That response is a good will response to men and women becoming Catholic and only Catholic; not Anglicans in a Catholic Church. For the latter it seems would only create a club mentality that goes against what makes the Catholic Church the true Church of Jesus Christ under the guidance of Saint Peter.

I realise that nothing I am saying is new and is probably obvious to all. Yet, it is something very crucial that can be overlooked in this period of discernment if it is only being thought of in terms of the best possible option among many. Becoming a Catholic was not a decision for a 'cause' that I liked; it was a decision to respond to God's grace-filled initiative to call me home to the Catholic Church and to become a Catholic. It is my prayer that this is the discerning question for all Anglicans at this time as it seems to be what the present Holy Father asks not only of Anglicans but those of us presently in the Catholic Church. Becoming a Catholic en masse will not take away the necessary step of a real conversion to a Catholic way of life for each and every one who decides to take this step of faith. To miss this primary obligation of conversion is to do what the Holy Father said, which is 'to confuse the Church with a party and faith with a party programme.' The Corinthians learned quickly from the Apostle Paul that this must not be if we are to remain and grow more into the Church of our Lord Jesus.

I humbly offer this for thought and charitable discussion.