A Prodigal Son Returns Home

My Return to the Catholic Church 

Introduction

This is the story of my return to the Catholic Church.  I will attempt to explain how my walk with the Lord these past years has led me to this important and difficult decision, yet one that I make in peace and enthusiasm.  It is addressed to my Evangelical Christian and Messianic Jewish friends in Israel, and particularly to those who do not believe that one can be a "true believer" and a Catholic at the same time.  It is also written as a personal testimony for the many good and faithful friends I have made over the years around the world who may be interested in my walk of faith.  To them I dedicate this essay and pray that it will help us to grow in unity in loving and worshipping the King of Kings.

First, a definition of terms: Even though many believers do not like to be "labeled" to a particular denomination, this will be necessary throughout this essay for the sake of clarity.  I will use the term "Evangelical" to describe non-Catholic Christians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible as the only and final authority for truth.  This definition will generally include "Bible-believing Christians", "Born-again Christians", Pentecostals, and Messianic believers, both Jews and gentiles.  By contrast, I will use the term "Protestant" sparingly since it also includes liberal denominations that sometimes question or even reject the basic tenets of the Christian faith.  For those unacquainted with Messianic Judaism, Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus and the Tanakh is the Old Testament.

At the outset, I wish to clear any potential misunderstandings by stating what this conversion story is not. Firstly, I entitled this essay my "return" to the Catholic Church only with hesitancy, because I am of course not "returning" to where I was several years ago.  My way from the nominal Catholicism of my youth, through Evangelical Christianity, through Messianic Judaism and to (a now correctly understood) Catholicism was not a confused, circular path, but a logical, gradual, and fascinating progression towards finding the fullness of Christ, of Yeshua the Jewish Messiah, within the Catholic Church.

Secondly, my return to the Catholic Church does not mean that I am now turning my back on Evangelical Christianity or Messianic Judaism.  My debt to these two traditions is considerable, and I thank God that I have had the privilege to be a part of them.  I make this decision in a spirit of unity and not of division, remaining committed to continue to serve the whole Body of Messiah - Catholic and non-Catholic - in Israel and in the nations 

Thirdly, this decision is not based on emotional or family-related reasons.  Although I have faced much opposition and many difficulties from some Messianic believers as they heard of my growing interest for Catholicism, my return to the Catholic Church is not a reaction of escapism back to the familiar and safer environment of my youth.  On the contrary, coming to terms with Catholicism has probably been the greatest trial of my life as a believer.  It was much more unsettling than my entering the Evangelical "world" six years ago - at the cost of much strife and division within my family - or of going through an anti-missionary course in the summer of 1999 to fully comprehend the position of those who oppose the Messiahship of Yeshua.  My return to the Catholic Church is the result of an uncompromising search for truth motivated by my love for God.  Even though it has even threatened the safety of my precarious situation as a foreigner involved in ministry within the Body of Messiah in Israel, I had no other choice but to go forward - whatever the cost - for the sake of truth. 

This essay is not intended to be a full-fledged apologetics work covering and defending every point of contention that some Evangelicals and Messianic believers have against the Catholic Church.  I will hardly succeed in summarizing the hundreds of hours I spent reading, thinking, and praying about this decision.  My goal is to clear some common misunderstandings about Catholicism and demonstrate that it is not only a valid way of following Christ, but also perhaps the most biblical and Jewish expression of faith in Yeshua.  Although I look forward to many interesting conversations about this "conversion", I hope this written testimony will help you see the "fuller picture" with more clarity than by relying solely on my potentially confusing verbal explanations.

My return to the Catholic Church has honestly been a difficult, obstacle-ridden, painful, and often lonely path.  I can therefore easily join my voice to Scott Hahn's, a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism, who writes in the foreword of the book Surprised by Truth: "I've considered my own journey to Rome as a mystery story, a horror story, and a love story.  Sometimes being surprised by truth is initially being horrified by truth.  Does the Catholic Church have the truth? The fullness of the truth? Confronting this fact is a gut-wrenching agony for staunch, Bible-based Evangelical Protestants who've thought and taught, largely because of misunderstandings and prejudice, that Catholics are not even Christians."[1]  Like Hahn and many others, I have come to realize that what seemed like the most "unbiblical" church is really the Church of the Bible.  Follow me now for my story.