Here follows the rest of my lecture....
In the Fall of 2004, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the liberal Lutheran denomination that I had joined only six months prior, was engaged in a heated and momentous struggle between various factions of the denomination. The essence of the debate was whether, first of all, homosexual relations were in fact sinful and, however one decided that question, whether or not homosexuals in a stable sexual relationship with a person of the same gender would be admitted to ordination. Previously, only homosexuals who remained single were permitted to become Lutheran ministers. Around that time, I believe it was in November, the Lutheran Church was having a general assembly of church delegates to decide this very issue.
It has been a few years, so some of the particulars of how this debate was carried out have become a bit fuzzy. I remember that the big controversy going into the assembly was that the faction in favor of ordaining gay individuals simply didn't have the votes to pass any binding decision changing the rules for ordination. I also remember that, prior to the assembly, a list of "discussion questions" was being circulated around the various local churches by the ELCA leadership, encouraging "ongoing dialogue" on this issue. I love politics, so I knew what was up. The plan was to keep the resolution in play even if the assembly voted down the changes, so that eventual passage was virtually assured.
On this issue, I took the standard ELCA middle-of-the-road stance. It was probable, I thought, that the Scriptures condemned extra-marital sexual relationships, even between persons of the same gender, and there was no provision for marriages between people of the same gender. However, my opinion was that, on a personal level, there was no way for a church to judge the guilt of any particular person; rather, as I thought then, each person had to act according to the dictates of their own conscience. As for ordination, it seemed to me that Scripture offered only two acceptable lifestyles for an ordained person: celibacy or marriage to one wife. Neither of these allowed for those who are in homosexual unions. (N.B., I didn't go into this much detail during the original lecture.--Clayton). My views on this have somewhat changed and matured since becoming Catholic and having the benefit of the Catholic tradition of moral theology.
However, whether or not the assembly of church delegates voted for or against ordaining gay individuals was not really the primary source of concern for me. As I followed the coverage of the meetings, I was disheartened to see that the various sides of the debate primarily used political or social arguments to advance their cause, shoving scripture and church teaching aside as almost irrelevant to the question. It also struck me that, however we decided at this point, the position of the church had already shifted from its original doctrine on sexual relationships. We were the church that invented the phrase "Sola Scriptura", but if that was the case, and if the Bible were a sufficient 'rule book' for the Church, why in God's name could we not decide what to believe and what was right and wrong? Did God intend for the Church to decide orthodoxy by a majority vote? Certainly the Scriptures do not point that way.
At that point, my connection to the Lutheran church was severed. I had started attending the ELCA because I wanted to believe what I wanted to believe. I had gained a conscience and became a Lutheran because I wanted to believe in something. Now I left the Lutheran Church because I realized that that something could not be a path to a close, authentic walk with God. And so, on a cold November afternoon, with about a foot of snow on the ground, I left my computer screen, right after reading the latest on the ELCA general assembly, and walked to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church to meet with the Catholic priest. I had no idea what conversion would entail, but at this point, I simply knew that only the Catholic Church even claimed to have stable doctrine and a way of determining truth from fiction and I was determined to see it through.
(The rest of the lecture gave some technical details about the process of conversion and explained a bit about the Conclave procedure. I omit it here, because it doesn't really pertain to the story of my journey into the Catholic faith.)
It has now been seven and a half years since that day. Every day of my life, I have some new reason to thank God for my Catholic faith. Every day I find something new and wonderful about Catholicism that helps me to grow closer to God. I ask all of your prayers for final perseverance and for all those who have just made the journey into the Catholic faith last Easter. It has truly been, and continues to be, the greatest journey of my life.
I would be happy to answer any questions that you have at this point.
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