Crossed The Tiber

An Evangelical Converts to Catholicism

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Location: Pennsylvania, United States

I was born into the Catholic faith. At 14, I was "born again" and found Jesus personally but lost His Church. After thirty years as an evangelical protestant, I have come full circle to find that He has been there all the time, in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I wish others to find the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith as I have found.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

7 Years of Grace

7 years ago on this day, Deborah and I went to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, had our marriage convalidated (canonically recognized and sacramentally blessed) and received the Holy Eucharist!  I truly had no idea how live-changing becoming Catholic would be, as well as how much fun it has been!
Listen to our 11 minute podcast that highlights 7 events over the past 7 years.

The first 3 people to e mail me and say what the last highlight mentioned on the podcast is will receive a free signed Way to Emmaus CD.

God bless you on this weekend which is so full of His grace. Divine Mercy, St. Joseph's feast day and the beatification of our late Holy Father John Paul 2!  So much grace, so little time.

Here's the Podcast which can be downloaded too.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Adoration Chapel At My Parish

Our pastor is currently making plans to expand the adoration chapel at St. Joseph the Worker, in Orefield PA to accomodate 100 worshipers!
Check out the St. Joseph Chapel Blog here and please keep this project in your prayers.

Monday, April 25, 2011

"To Whom Shall We Go? You Have the Words of Eternal Life."

On Easter Sunday, our local newspaper had a front page article on the new changes in the Roman Missal that are being introduced in Advent 2011. Over the past 40 years that the mass has been in the vernacular, it has come to the attention of the Vatican that the liturgy has lost some of its effectiveness and worse yet, the theology of the Eucharistic sacrifice, perhaps, has been watered-down or lost on those who assist in the liturgy (meaning us).
  So the Church has re-translated the Latin rendering it more accurate to the original meaning and intent . The entire mass is not changing but a few key parts will be changed slightly, and the faithful will have to learn the new responses with training and teaching occurring so we can all benefit from these new changes.
In the newspaper article, a local professor of law who is Catholic was criticizing the changes in the new liturgy
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Donna Steslow of Macungie, researched the translations online and said she was dismayed enough by their strangeness and complexity to consider leaving Catholicism for the Episcopal or Lutheran church.

"If I have to stand there and hear things that don't sound familiar to me, it bothers me," she said, contending that a church beset by sexual abuse scandals should be making better use of its resources.

Steslow, 50, a parishioner at St. Thomas More in Salisbury Township, said she worries that the language hailed as "elevated" will only serve to confuse the young people who represent the future of the church.

"To me," she said, "it's a step backwards."

It saddens me that this lifelong Catholic would consider joining a faith tradition that does not have apostolic succession and thus is devoid of the Eucharist. Personally speaking, I would trade a "clumsy and complex sounding" liturgy any day if I knew that the end result is that I am privileged to go to the altar and receive the God of the Universe, His body, blood, soul and divinity, into my spirit, soul and body.

Doesn't sound like a bad trade to me,   Besides, this is not the first time that Jesus and his Church have been accused of saying something complex and strange and offensive to the listener. In John 6:66, a large amount of disciples were offended by His words and stopped following him. I pray though, that this woman in the Morning Call article will ultimately side with the apostle Peter (the first pope) who said:   "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). 

For more information on the new translation, I encourage you to obtain a copy of Jeff Pinyan's Praying the Mass. It is a quick and easy read and will  help you understand and appreciate the new translation and see the Mass with new eyes and a new heart!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

He Is Risen!

  We spent the past 40 days in penance (prayer, fasting, alms giving) preparing for the  Easter Triduum culminating in the celebration of his glorious resurrection.  Through the readings of scripture in daily mass since early March, the Church took us on a journey with Jesus climaxing in this Holy Week journey to Jerusalem. The Lamb of God that was to take away the sins of the world allowed himself to be raised up on a cross and ultimately bear the sins of humanity, past, present and future. He broke the bonds of sin and death by his resurrection. Death no longer holds power over us and has lost its sting. Satan loses and creation is redeemed!

The passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ changes everything. 
Lord, grant me the grace to live out your passion, death and resurrection every day in my own life so that I can truly say: "Not my will , but yours be done."

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