I recall being deeply moved by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ recounting of his journey from Lutheranism into the Roman Catholic Church (“How I Became the Catholic I Was”). It is a move that not a few have made, with denominational provenance spanning most every Protestant confession. Though I journeyed in a different direction from that of Neuhaus, many of the sights along the way were quite similar. Like him, however, neither do I wish for what follows to be an argument for my position, nor do I wish to engage those who have “cruelly, disdainfully, and despitefully” spoken against me, with little or no basis for their assertions (Psalm 31:20). The former I wish to avoid because I have embraced a way of life, not a set of dogmatic presuppositions, and everyone must be persuaded for himself or herself; and the latter because, as Jesus said, “they have received their reward” (Matt 6:5). Instead, I wish to tell my story for the sake of my friends, for those who may be asking, with kindness: Why?
On 1 December 2013, my family and I were received into the Orthodox Church by the Sacrament of Holy Chrismation. On that same day, my entire family received, for the first time as Orthodox Christians, the Eucharist—the constitutive gift of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Nevertheless, my journey began long before that most profound day, probably around the time I entered the Fort Wayne seminary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 2003.
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