Paul V. Abbe, former Lutheran Pastor now Catholic

My colleague and good friend, Dr. J. Larry Yoder, told me sometime last year that Paul Abbe had become a Catholic. Like Philip Max Johnson (whose reception into the Church in August of 2006 by Rev. J. Scott Newman we noted in a post last year), Abbe was a member of The Society of the Holy Trinity (Societas Trinitatis Sanctus), a conservative "ministerium" of Lutheran pastors who subscribe to a "Rule" committing them to live out their ordination vows by praying the Daily Office, exercising mutual private confession, faithful pastoral practice, etc. However, neither Yoder nor I knew any real details about Abbe's story beyond the fact that he had taken the plunge and swum the Tiber.

The February 2007 issue of journal of The Coming Home Network International, however, carries the story by Abbe himself. It is called "From Shadows and Symbols," in the Journeys Home column beginning on the first page (pp. 1-7). I'm hoping the story will eventually become available online, like so many others, which can be found under the "conversion stories" tab of the CHNI website. What I can say here is that there is a good bit of historical, patristic, and theological reflection, and that Paul and his wife were both received into the Church together. He writes:

I resigned from the clergy roster of the ELCA on April 25th, 2006, the Feast of St. Mark. My wife, Marie, and I were received into full communion on September 14th, the Feast of the Holy Cross [my birthday, by the way], at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. At my confirmation, I took the name "Michael"; my sponsor was Fr. Jay Scott Newman.

Fr. J. Scott Newman appears to be a key player here in more than one story. God bless him! Abbe continues:

Do I believe the Protestant Reformation was a mistake? To borrow a phrase from the late, great Lutheran historian, Jaroslav Pelikan (who in his latter years converted to Orthodoxy), I believe the Reformation was "a tragic necessity." The necessity of the tragedy was confessed by no less a person than Pope Adrian VI, through his Legate at the Diet of Nurenberg, in 1523:

We freely acknowledge that God has allowed this chastisement to come upon His Church because of the sin of men, and especially because of the sins of priests and prelates ... We know well that for many years much that must be regarded with horror has come to pass in this Holy See: abuses in spiritual matters, transgressions against the Commandments; indeed, that everything has been gravely perverted.

Pope John Paul II, in his 1995 ecumenical encyclical Ut Unam Sint, asserted that "intolerant polemics and controversies have made incompatible assertions out of what was really the result of two different ways of looking at the same reality" (no. 38). A year later, speaking to Lutherans in Paderborn, Germany, he stated:

Luther's original intention in his call for reform in the Church was a call to repentance and renewal to begin in the life of every individual. There are many reasons why these beginnings nevertheless led to division. One is the failure of the Catholic Church ... and the intrusion of political and economic interests, as well as Luther's own passion, which drove him far beyond what he originally intended into radical criticism of the Catholic Church, of its way of teaching. We all bear guilt. That is why we are called upon to repent and must allow the Lord to cleanse us over and over.

In 1999, the Lutheran World Federation (rather, a majority of its member churches), and the Roman Catholic Church, signed The Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification. That document clearly affirmed a consensus in the Gospel, echoing Eph. 2:8-10:

Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works. (JDDJ 15) ... [Emphasis mine, [Abbe]]

Over 475 years ago, because of the fault of sin, the fire of personal temperaments, and the fuel of political intrigues, a sad division arose within the Body of Christ over the theological definition of the Gospel, resulting in separation from the apostolic See of Rome "with which, because of its superior origin, all churches must agree." If indeed we have come to a consensus on the Gospel, then separation from the apostolic authority of the Bishop of Rome is no longer necessary, and if no longer necessary, then -- for the sake of the Gospel -- no longer permissible.

A note at the end of the CHNI article states that Paul Abbe is currently working at the Catholic bookstore resource center of the Diocese of Raleigh, "In His Name," while awaiting "God's perfect provision for a new career in the fullness of time." Please keep Paul and his wife Marie in your prayers as they continue to adjust to the various changes that their reception into the Catholic Church has brought into their lives. Imagine giving up your secure career at mid-life!