Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The surprising stories of converts . . .

Being a convert myself, I am ceaselessly amazed at the diverse backgrounds and paths from which our Lord draws converts to His Church. Some of you may have taken a look at my list of "Notable Catholic Converts" linked -- along with my other blogs -- in the sidebar of this blog. I keep updating this list occasionally, including not only 'notable' converts, but ordinary 'pew peasants' like myself (I will be happy to list any of you who email me your name, basic biographical information, religous background, and year of reception into the Church).

My most recent discoveries (not yet added to the list -- this takes a little time), include R.R. Reno (2005), Ola Tjørhom (2003), Randall Terry (2006), Orestes A. Brownson (1844), Henry G. Graham (author of Where We Got the Bible; no date yet, but I'm guessing ca. 1905-10), David Mills (senior Editor of Touchstone magazine; no date yet, but I'm guessing 2001 or 2002), and E.F. Schumacher (author of Small Is Beautiful; no date, but I'm guessing 1972, from this delightful piece by Charles Fager, "Small Is Beautiful, and So Is Rome: Surprising Faith of E.F. Schumacher" Religion-Online).

I have information from at least two or three of you that I have not yet posted online, for which I ask your indulgence: I promise it will appear in due time.

The stories, as I say, are ceaselessly amazing, inspiring, humbling, edifying, and very often surprising. "No news is good news," they say; but that's because the news media generally pander to our basest and most prurient appetites (another reason I am happy to have lived without television for the past 30 years). The news media manage to fill up their daily quota of alloted time and space (including human mental space) with much that is simply depressing -- about the latest killings in Iraq, terrorist bombings, murders, rapes, global warming, dystopic forcasts, etc. As important as these events may be, this myopic focus forms in the human mind an exceedingly distorted picture of the world. It shows us nothing of the wonder of a child's hour spent on a playground flying a kite, or a son's camping trip with his Boy Scout troop, or the experience of creating your first successful Tiramisu and sharing it with family and friends. Even on the religion front, there is plenty of good news in the world, though it's not often bound to make headlines (one rare exception is Chuck Colson's recent article, "Christian Comeback in Europe" on the revival of Christianity in the postmodern, secularist Netherlands). But if you want some really great stories to balance the horror of what Herbert Marcuse used to call telenewsmagspeak, try reading the stories of converts, which, like the classic stories of Saints, not only offer balance, but put things in eternity's perspective.

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