Going Quiet from Blogging for a Time

I must say that blogging has been a great platform for me to write and explore many of my own thoughts as I journeyed in faith with all the readers. There is very much a part of me that is sad about taking a blogging break because it is a place where friends and fellow Christians gather to discuss theology and living the Christian faith. This blog has been a wonderful resource for making new friends around the world and I have been greatly encouraged by so many of you who read it and express gratitude for it. But I have come to think that the blog needs a retreat for a while as I complete one journey and begin another. There will probably be a day when I appear again but for a while I believe sitting back quietly, reflecting, praying and contemplating being a Catholic is necessary as I come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

I will keep the blog up for the links I have on here but I will not be posting anything for the near future. If you have a facebook account you will be able to keep up with parts of my life there as that is how many family members across the pond keep in touch and share photos. Search for me on facebook and I will happily add any readers as a friend. Thank you for being a faithful reader of de cura animarum and continue to remember us in your prayers as we settle into our new Catholic life. I will be spending all my time that I used on blogging to study, pray, write and spiritual growth.

All of you will remain in my prayers and we thank you for remembering us.

Received into the Catholic Church: 18 July

It has undoubtedly been a very interesting journey for us into the Catholic Church. There are numerous challenges that will undoubtedly face Anglican clergy converts especially those with large families like mine. But this is not a complaint about any part of our journey at all. It is simply an expected fact that challenges are to occur when one journeys into the Catholic Church. We are quite happy with our journey thus far and we are all adjusting very well to our new church family. The reception and warm welcome from our new very large family has been absolutely delightful and has really made us feel like this is indeed a journey home.

The family is planning on being received into the Church on 18 July. There is something very interesting about this date. I looked ahead at the calendar and noted that 18 July is the memorial of S. Camillus de Lellis, priest. What is so interesting about this date and my particular reception is the similarity of backgrounds of S. Camillus and my own. Though I was never addicted to gambling, some have said that I have taken many gambles in my life though I hope that most of them are acts of faith rather than gambles. But, when I was young, I often would take numerous risks and gambles that were simply foolish acts of youth. S. Camillus was known to be addicted to gambling and at one point in his life became penniless. Catholic online describes him in the following way.

He devoted himself to caring for the sick, and became director of St. Giacomo Hospital in Rome. He received permission from his confessor (St. Philip Neri) to be ordained and decided, with two companions, to found his own congregation, the Ministers of the Sick (the Camellians), dedicated to the care of the sick. They ministered to the sick of Holy Ghost Hospital in Rome, enlarged their facilities in 1585, founded a new house in Naples in 1588, and attended the plague-stricken aboard ships in Rome's harbor and in Rome. In 1591, the Congregation was made into an order to serve the sick by Pope Gregory XIV, and in 1591 and 1605, Camillus sent members of his order to minister to wounded troops in Hungary and Croatia, the first field medical unit. Gravely ill for many years, he resigned as superior of the Order in 1607 and died in Rome on July 14, the year after he attended a General Chapter there. He was canonized in 1746, was declared patron of the sick, with St. John of God, by Pope Leo XIII, and patron of nurses and nursing groups by Pope Pius XI. His feast day is July 18th.

I too served in the military in the US Marine Corps from 1987-1990. I too served the sick in hospital while studying in seminary from 1995-1998 as a rehabilitation physio technician. There were numerous instances in reading about his life that I was able to relate to and now it is on his memorial feast day that I am to be received into the Catholic Church. What the future holds for me as far as ministry is concerned is still undecided. First, I believe that there is an element of the Anglican priesthood within me that has to in some sense die. So, what needs to happen with me is a lot of quiet reflection, prayer and learning.

I would like to once again thank all the kind readers who sent emails, made comments or phoned me to congratulate our family on coming into union with the Catholic Church. We really appreciate it. Though many have spoken to me about my courage, I think it should not go unspoken that my wonderful wife has shown equally or perhaps more courage in being so agreeable to God's will for our lives knowing that this would take me out of secure employment. She is a wonderful gift who is to be praised in the gates as well (Prov. 31).

Newman on Private Judgment

Enough has now been said on the theory of Private Judgment. I conclude then that there is neither natural probability, nor supernatural promise, that individuals reading Scripture for themselves, to the neglect of other means when they can have them, will, because they pray for a blessing, be necessarily led into a knowledge of the true and complete faith of a Christian. I conclude that the popular theory of rejecting all other helps and reading the Bible only, though in most cases maintained merely through ignorance, is yet in itself presumptuous.

I make but one remark in conclusion. A main reason of the jealousy with which Christians of this age and country maintain the notion that truth of doctrine can be gained from Scripture by individuals, is this, that they are unwilling, as they say, to be led by others blindfold. They can possess and read the Scriptures; whereas of Traditions they are no adequate judges, and they dread priestcraft. I am not here to enter into the discussion of this feeling, whether praiseworthy or the contrary. However this be, it does seem a reason for putting before them, if possible, the principal works of the Fathers, translated as Scripture is; that they may have by them what, whether used or not, will at least act as a check upon the growth of an undue dependence on the word of individual teachers, and will be a something to consult, if they have reason to doubt the Catholic character of any tenet to which they are invited to adhere.