Conversion Story of Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, Western University

The National Post today publishes an article named My Path to Rome. It is an excerpt from That Time of Year - a book written by Ian Hunter, Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law at Western University. It discusses Hunter's conversion to the Roman Catholic Church and the four people who influenced his conversion story: JPII; his father, a die-hard Presbyterian; C.S. Lewis, a popular and distinguished Anglican writer; and Malcolm Muggeridge, also an Anglican scholar who converted to Catholicism at the ripe old age of 80. The article contains many beautiful lines; just to quote a few:

"For him, Christianity was not a convenience but a life creed; attending church was not a social outing but an opportunity to worship in the presence of Almighty God; religion was not a subject for social chatter, but a life changing commitment." - On his Presbyterian father who saw the Catholic Church as the enemy of Christianity.

"If C.S. Lewis were alive today, he would almost certainly be a Roman Catholic." - On the paradox that Lewis' writings had caused so many people to convert to Catholicism and yet he himself remained an Anglican all his life.

"I came to believe not just that truth is to be found within Rome but -something quite different -that in a unique way, the truth is Rome." - On his own conversion to the Catholic Church.

What is most striking to me, an RCIA catechist who often hears stories of Catholics abandoning the Catholic Church to join the reformed churches because "their ministers preach well", is the fact that on this two-way street of conversion the converts to Catholicism tend to be deep thinkers and intellectuals who have had the opportunity to examine and live both the reformed and Catholic faiths seriously and decided to settle with the latter. Yes, Catholicism is "deep stuff" that deserves more than just a superficial sermon that offers warm and fuzzy feelings, or entertains us with a good laugh. Before you go down the two-way street of conversion to join a reformed denomination, why not read and reflect more on your Catholic faith and save yourself an unnecessary trip?

Here’s the link to Ian Hunter’s National Post story:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/path+Rome/5099247/story.html