I have had a few conversations and email exchanges with some friends who are not interested in the upcoming Ordinariates. These are usually quite peaceful discussions, but it makes my heart ache to see the struggle that these brothers and sisters of mine are going through. It is especially difficult to hear their misconceptions. Where some people get their information is beyond me. For us, though, who are already convinced and know where we are headed, we long to help them, and bring them with us; if not now, then at least some time in the future. Understanding how people are thinking, and what their precise relation is to the Catholic Church (mentally and emotionally) is usually helpful.
G. K. Chesterton once described three stages of conversion into the Catholic Church. He called the first stage "patronizing the Church"; the second was, "discovering the Church"; the third was, "running away from the Church". In the first stage, the soon-to-be convert believes that he is somewhat detached from the Church and its views, but he wants to be impartial towards it. He sees the Catholic Church suffering an occasional injustice, and he desires that things be set straight. We may call this "being sympathetic" toward the Church without actually wanting to join it.
In the second stage (discovery) the convert begins to find that there are a number of errors floating around about the Catholic Church, and that the actual truth is startling to him. He is beginning to see Catholicism in a new light. I believe it was Chesterton himself who said it is like discovering a new continent that has "strange flowers" and "fantastic animals" that he has never seen before. The convert is interested in this continent, but is not actually ready to live there. This stage is clearly the most pleasant of the three.
Once someone arrives in the third stage, just before actual conversion, he is at the point of trying not to be converted. He has already flown low over the valley and seen the beauties of the landscape. Looking at the Church at this point, according to Chesterton, is like a magnet that can attract and repulse with equal power. He says that in this stage it is impossible to be truly just toward the Church since once a man ceases to pull against it, he begins to feel it drawing him in.
As soon as the convert ceases to shout down the Church he begins to listen to it. It is this listening that causes pleasure and that is somewhat scary. Fairness toward the Church leads to affection and it is that very affection that will get someone into "trouble" since it is very difficult to shake that affectionate feeling. In this third stage, the terror of being trapped can sometimes overcome the convert, and he may even get frantic.
The final stage is, of course, actual conversion. This is where one sees that the Catholic Church is not what so many of its enemies say. The priests do not sacrifice babies on the altar; the Pope is not the head of a secret Illuminati; and the Vatican is not hiding the original copies of the book of Hebrews that have Mary Magdalene's name signed at the top (yes, I'm being facetious).
Those of us who are already converted, but not yet in full communion, should recognize that many of our brethren are not even in the first stage; they are still "shouting down" the Church because they have no (or little) distaste toward the injustices done toward the Church. Those who are outside the stages always need our help, but it is those in the three stages that Chesterton describes that need our extra help, especially at this time. They need our good example (sometimes silently) as well as our tender words about the sweetness of Christ as seen in the Catholic faith. Like a young man talking about his soon-to-be bride, we must show that we are enamored with the beauty of Mother Church, rather than brag about how we made it through the Chesterton stages unscathed. Give them time and room to wrestle; exactly as God gave time to each of us.
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Thanks for a wonderful post. I can certainly see these stages in my conversion.
Deborah
Excellent post!
These stages are totally true!! I went through all of them and recently experienced the last ditch effort of trying run from the Church but, I succumbed to the power of Gods truth and Grace. I thank Him for every bit of it. I enter the RCC in August with my family……AMEN!
Yes, lovely Father, thank you. I've read GKCs 'The Catholic Church and Conversion' several times and marveled at his description of the stages, and how they described my own conversion. Whenever friends ask my thoughts about Catholicism, usually as they are traveling toward Rome, I say, (with lightness and gentle teasing I hope!) "Run away, run away!!"
Growing up as an anti-Catholic it would have simply been impossible to have predicted the end game (and the Church will never let me forget it ! Bless Her !). She is a Romancer of the First Order, with a gravitational pull that one must try to escape…sooner rather than later. Because if you do not, you will be dragged, kicking and screaming—-yet, paradoxically—you will be racing toward Her, at full speed, ignoring even your own will, your own objections, and in the end, say, perhaps as I do, "Wild horses could not hold me back."
(ps, I'd like to thank Br Stephen for his reference to 'The Price of Unity' [by Fr Maturin] the other day—as I mentioned to my wife this morning, he does not speak with the voice of Chesterton, not Newman's, and not Ratzinger's, but his own, and it is lucid & warm….much to be highlighted. I am embarrassed to admit I had never heard of him before, so, thanks.)
As a life-long Protestant currently going through this process, I found your words to be thoughtful and wise. God's blessings to you, pastor.