"Becoming Catholic: Making It Hard"

My thoughts keep returning to an essay written some years ago by a former Lutheran pastor -- a woman -- who, sometime after her reception into the Catholic Church (at the cost of losing her job as a Lutheran minister), wrote the following words:

In its section on music, the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St. Augustine: "How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed through your Church! What emotion I experienced in them! Those sounds flowed into my ears, distilling the truth in my heart. A feeling of devotion surged within me, and tears streamed down my face—tears that did me good." As a former Lutheran pastor who is now Roman Catholic, I am sorry to say Augustine’s wonderful words do not describe my experience with worship in the Church. Though at times I have been on the verge of tears, that was due to feelings of despair and not devotion. Far from drawing me into the Church, the manner in which the Mass is celebrated in most parishes constituted, in the end, the greatest stumbling block to my conversion.

Read her brief and thoughtful account of her journey into the Church and how her journey continued after becoming a Catholic. Notice where she eventually found her solace and joy. This is not an uncommon experience. O bishops and shepherds of God's little flocks, do you hear Ferrara's Lament? It is my lament also, and the lament of many, many others. (John 21:14-17; Acts 20:28-29; I Peter 5:2-3; cf. Jeremiah 23:1-5; Ezekiel 34:1-24; Zechariah 11:15-17)

[Source: Jennifer Mehl Ferrara, "Becoming Catholic: Making It Hard," First Things (January 1999), 9-12.]