Here is Part II:
When I moved into the Fraternity, it was located two blocks from the Cardinal Newman Student Center (St. Paul's). Many of my Fraternity brothers (and roommates) were Catholic. One Sunday, one of them invited me to attend and I went to St. Paul's. I'm not sure if I can describe it properly or with all the impact it had, but when I walked into St. Paul's it was a different church. I knew I was not in the United Methodist Church. For the first time I felt an immediate and ever present awareness that God resided at St. Paul's.
When the service began the liturgy started and I was mesmerized. Never had I experience such a feeling of closeness and oneness with God as I did that day at St. Paul's. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew that being minister in the United Methodist Church was not a shoe in yet.
There was so much that I didn't understand about the liturgy, but wanted to – yearned to learn. During the rest of the fall I attended St. Paul's with my Pledge sponsor (who was Catholic) and who helped me understand the ritual and liturgy a little better. He suggested that I attend a RCIA (Right of Christian Initiation for Adults), the class the church offered each spring to bring new converts into the fold. It seemed a logical thing to do. It would not jeopardize my desire to become a United Methodist minister – in fact, I thought it would make me a better minister as I would understand the Catholic church and its church services in order to broaden my knowledge about different denominational faiths in preparation for the ministry.
After I had completed “hell week” in January of 1982 and become an Active in the Fraternity (as well as House Manager), I decided to attend RCIA and asked my Fraternity sponsor if he would be my sponsor for RCIA as well. He agreed. So I attended. It was during the Spring semester of 1982 while attending RCIA I began to expand my knowledge. I wondered why there was United Methodist Church and a Roman Catholic Church (not to mention a plethora of other mainline and offline denominations) that all seemed to worship God and Jesus. Why was there not one Church? If our faith started with the Church and the Apostles, why did we not all have the same Church? RCIA began to answer many of those questions. Father Jeremiah Cullinane was the Associate Chaplain at St. Paul's who taught RCIA. Father Bob Sims and Father Kim Wolf (who attended and taught a few of the night sessions) were the Pastors for St. Paul's.
During RCIA, I noticed a change in me. Faith seemed to take on more of a personal meaning to me. It wasn't because I grew up in the Catholic faith like the United Methodist Church as was “comfortable” with the church service. I really felt God for the first time tugging hard at me and I felt at peace at St. Paul's. It was like “coming home” - that is the only way I can describe it. When the end of the class came, I had a choice to make. Do I convert? Or do I take this new information and integrate it with my thoughts of ministry in the UMC. I could not ignore the feeling I had nor the strong urge to become Catholic. March 1982 (right before Easter), the RCIA class I attended, we all were re-baptized into the Catholic Faith, Confirmed in the Catholic Faith, and received our First Communion in the Catholic Faith. After the service, my sponsor took me to lunch and for my Confirmation gift, gave me a St. Christopher medal. He explained who St. Christopher was and how he was the patron saint of travels. On March 11, 1982, I became a full member in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. I never felt so happy or close to God.
So during school when I lived at the Fraternity (Chi Phi http://www.chiphi.org), I attended St. Paul's. When I went home in the summer time, I attended Lawrence United Methodist Church just as I always had, but then attended usually anticipatory masses on Saturday evening for the Roman Catholic Church so that I could keep my holy day of obligation as a Roman Catholic while continuing to pursue the ministry in the United Methodist Church.
I began to research the church and learn more about the United Methodist Church (as a result of my attending RCIA and becoming Roman Catholic). I wanted to know from where UMC came. I learned about John and Charles Wesley, two Anglican priests in communion with both the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic. They came to the New World and realized that the message of Christ needed to continue in the New World. They requested that the Archbishop of Canterbury come to the New World, and ordain them as Bishops so they could continue to grow the Church and feed the spiritual need of this new World. The Archbishop refused, stating they would have to come back to England to receive their episcopate. John and Charles, through their own lineage (line of succession) stayed in the New World and started appointing unordained itinerant ministers of a new church in America. These individuals became known as the circuit riders and had an incredible impact in the development of America through the continued communication of support with explorers in this new world. At one time during the 18th century, the Methodist Church was one of the largest churches in this United States of America.
John (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley) had developed a very intense, yet simple “method” to study the bible. John didn't believe you could just attend church and be a Christian. He believed you had to “live” the life to be in full communion with God. As the bible study grew, his group got the nickname “Methodists” since they used the Wesley Method to study the bible.
Through all of this I learned that the United Methodist Church's lineage led directly back to the Anglican Church, which in turn led directly back to the Roman Catholic Church. Those denominations who were not “Roman Catholic” were known as “Protestants” , all beginning back in the 16th century when Martin Luther (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther) posted a lists of “protests” against the Roman Catholic Church (like the selling of indulgences).
Look for Part III sometime this upcoming weekend.
Peace,
jeff
