An atheist loses his faith.

Atheist converts to Catholicism.

//(Years later, I discovered—and was absolutely pole-axed by —the following passage in Bernard Shaw's Too True To Be Good, in which an old pagan, very obviously speaking for Shaw himself, sums up what I am convinced was Dad's attitude near the end. The passage runs: "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshipers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.")//

PCA Pastor Jason Stellman...

...announces his decision to convert to Catholicism.

Stellman resigned his Presbyterian pastorship earlier this year.

He had blogged at De Regnis Duobus.

Stellman offers his thoughts at Called to Communion, beginning with this confession:

Catholicism never held any allure for me, nor do I find it particularly alluring now.

Now to be honest there has always been an attraction of a “Wouldn’t-it-be-nice” or “stained-glass-windows-are-rad” variety, but when it came to an actual positive drawing to Rome or a negative driving away from Geneva, there has never been any such thing. In fact, since much of my theological output has been part of the public domain for so long (especially in the form of my preaching, teaching, and writing), this claim of mine can actually be proven. If anyone cares to go back and listen to or read what I was talking about right up until the day I was confronted with the claims of the Catholic Church as they relate to those of Protestantism, the inquirer will easily discover that I was about as staunchly confessional an Old School Presbyterian as anyone would want to meet. There was not even the slightest hint of discontent with my ecclesiastical identity, not a trace of longing for greater certitude, nor a smidgen of regret that my soteriology didn’t have enough works in it.

I will raise the pot even more: I wrote a book whose entire purpose was to demonstrate, in the highest and most attractive terms possible, how ironically boastworthy all the supposed disadvantages of amillennial Protestantism are. Messiness? Lack of infallible certitude? The need for faith over sight? Check, check, and check.

Further still, so far from longing for a type of kinder, gentler Catholicism that I could disguise in Reformed garb, I was the prosecutor in a doctrinal trial against a fellow minister in my presbytery for espousing views that I, and many others, considered dangerously close to being Catholic. No, there was never any desire to place human works anywhere but where the Reformed confessions say they belong: in the category of sanctification and never justification.

In a word, I was as happy and comfortable in my confessional Presbyterian skin as anyone, and the trust I had earned from many well-known and respected Reformed theologians, as well as having graduated with honors from one of the most confessionally staunch and academically rigorous Reformed seminaries in the nation, should be sufficient to dispel any notions that I never really understood Reformed theology in the first place or that I was always a Catholic in Protestant clothing.

Why is there so much coverage on Leah Libresco's conversion from atheism to Catholicism?

Obviously, for the popular media, this kind of thing goes against the narrative, which just shows how insular the media really is. Libresco's conversion is not unique, nor is it the first time that a well known atheist blogger quit Team Atheist and signed up with Team Catholic. For that matter, there is a regular conveyor belt that takes atheists from Plato to Aristotle to Aquinas to Catholicism. See Mortimer Adler, J. Budziszewski and a host of bloggers.

The Anchoress writes about the media coverage:

Why so much coverage on Leah? Perhaps the answer is this: Leah’s conversion goes against all of the prevailing narratives that dominate secularist thinking. Religion — or at least religion that goes beyond affirming oneself and actually costs something of one — is the “opiate of the masses” suited only to “bitter clingers” and intellectually-dim peasants (except it isn’t and never was); Leah is a brainy, sophisticated Yalie who is neither bitter, clingy nor dim. Catholicism “hates women” (except it doesn’t and never did) and Leah is a strongly self-possessed, forward-thinking woman. Catholicism “hates homosexual persons” (except it doesn’t and never has although a new apostolic letter might help make that clear) and Leah identifies as bi-sexual.

Wait a second…hold on, I think I’ve got it! Really smart…female…bi-sexual-identifying. Holy smokes! Leah Libresco has pulled off a narrative-busting Trifecta! She’s a secularist thoroughbred who has nevertheless won the Triple Crown of Cultural Incongruity!

No wonder the press is so interested in Leah Libresco. What a thoroughly odd puzzle she must be, to them. And if she had to become a Christian, why not at least an Episcopalian, which is and always has been, the acceptable church of the elite? Why must she mess with narratives and perceptions like some kind of Plato-mystic canoodler?

Atheist Converts.

Leah Libresco, Mark Shea's favorite atheist, has a big announcement:

Starting tomorrow, this blog is moving to the the Patheos Catholic channel (the url and RSS will remain unchanged). Meanwhile, I’m in RCIA classes at a DC parish, so you can look forward to more Parsing Catholicism tags (and after the discussion of universalism we had last week, I think it will be prudent to add a “Possibly Heretical” category).

It turns out that it is intellectually confounding to hold to a consistent position on virtue without there being a Person who defines and upholds those virtues, and that for someone who thinks that there is such a thing as "morality," one tradition in particular seems to provide consistent and coherent answers:

For several years, a lot of my friends have been telling me I had an inconsistent and unsustainable philosophy. ”A virtue ethicist atheist whose transhumanism seems to be rooted in dualism? Who won’t shut up about moral lapses as wounds to the soul and keeps trying to convince us it’s better to be sinned against than sinning? Who has started talking about mortifying her pride and keeps pulling out Lewis and Chesterton quotes? C’mon, convert already.”

I could see where they were coming from, but I stayed put. I was ready to admit that there were parts of Christianity and Catholicism that seemed like a pretty good match for the bits of my moral system that I was most sure of, while meanwhile my own philosophy was pretty kludged together and not particularly satisfactory. But I couldn’t pick consistency over my construction project as long as I didn’t believe it was true.

While I kept working, I tried to keep my eyes open for ways I could test which world I was in, but a lot of the evidence for Christianity was only compelling to me if I at least presupposed Deism. Meanwhile, on the other side, I kept running into moral philosophers who seemed really helpful, until I discovered that their study of virtue ethics has led them to take a tumble into the Tiber. (I’m looking at you, MacIntyre!).

Aquinas will do that to you.

A different time, a different world.

This story about the conversion of top Communists to Catholicism provides a fascinating glimpse at an alien world, and besides it's inspirational:

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was known for his "celebrity converts" -- famous people whom he had a role in bringing into the Catholic Church. Among them were the automobile executive Henry Ford Jr. and the diplomat Clare Booth Luce, wife of Time/Life publisher Henry Luce. Less well remembered today -- due in part to our fading memory of the Cold War -- but equally sensational at the time was the conversion of Louis Budenz, editor of the Communist Party USA's newspaper, The Daily Worker. Budenz entered the Church with his wife, Margaret, and their three children on October 10, 1945.


In a way, Margaret's conversion is the more remarkable. Louis was baptized and came from a Catholic family, but he abandoned the Faith and devoted himself to his new religion, social reform. Margaret had little religious background and decided during her adolescent years that she did not believe in God. She remembered setting foot in a Catholic Church only once in her life before she and Louis began attending church when she was in her mid-30s: When she was growing up in Pittsburgh, she accompanied her Catholic friend to a novena service at the girl's parish.

We don't appreciate the cult-like aspect of Communism:

Communists in the United States (as elsewhere) were expected to put Party above all, including family. Although the Budenzes were model Communists in other ways, they never quite fit the Communist vision of family life. Neither Louis nor Margaret adopted the loose interpretation of marital fidelity espoused by many of their comrades. Margaret was expected to work for the Party outside the home, but she always put the welfare of her children first. When forced to choose between her obligations to her children and the demands of the Party, she chose her children, risking the ire of the Communist leadership. When Louis and Margaret's love came to fruition in their third child, their Communist friends were incredulous. One of the Party's top operatives urged Louis to abort the baby (which would have been illegal at the time). Another child would put too much financial and emotional strain on the couple, he said, and might result in Margaret's "becoming 'bourgeois.

And:

The day of their reception into the Church and the blessing of their marriage was hectic. Because of the potentially violent consequences of severing ties with the Communist Party, the Budenzes could not let on to their comrades what they were in the process of doing. Monsignor Sheen announced it to the press on the day they professed Catholicism and publicly renounced Communism. Their residence in suburban New York would become a dangerous and inhospitable place after their conversion became known, so after the ceremony in St. Patrick's Cathedral, they hid in a hotel until they could catch a train out of the state. Their destination was South Bend, where Monsignor Sheen had arranged a teaching position for Louis at the University of Notre Dame.

Then, the ending with a twist:

Thus Margaret's in some ways extraordinary biography nonetheless fits a pattern that is recognizable to most Catholic mothers. The constant in her life was devotion to family. She admired and served her husband, bore and cared for her children. This selflessness, it seems clear, paved the way for her journey from atheism to Christianity. After a long career as a Catholic high school teacher following Louis's death, she passed away in 2002 at the age of 94.


"God's grace! What a mystery!," Archbishop Sheen began his foreword to Margaret's autobiography, Streets (1979). A mystery, indeed. Remember the parish novena Margaret attended as a child? The preacher that evening was a relatively unknown but unusually gifted young priest from the Diocese of Peoria whose name meant nothing to her at that point. He was Fulton Sheen.

What a crazy trip.

Jewish comedy writer for "Seinfeld" tells his story about why he will be joining Catholic Church this Easter.

His story demonstrates a phenomenon called "synchronicity" - "a coincidence of events that seem related: the coincidence of events that seem related, but are not obviously caused one by the other."

Whether "synchronicity" grabs you - like it did the author, Tom Leonard - depends on who you are.  In M. Night Shyalaman's movie "Signs," one character observes:

"People break down into two groups when the experience something lucky. Group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in Group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in very suspicious way. For them, the situation isn't fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear."

Another way of looking at the two groups is "grace."

OK, the part about Sitting Bull was really unexpected.

Matt Archbol lists "6 of the most unexpected Catholic converts":

Buffalo Bill Cody - William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody is one of the most iconic figures of the Wild West. His Wild West show made him one of the most famous people in the country. Cody was known as a trapper, a soldier, a Medal ofHonor recipient, bullwhacker, “Fifty-Niner” in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, and a stagecoach driver. But Cody also became a Catholic the day before his death.


It is believed that Cody was inspired to become a Catholic by his friend Sitting Bull, himself a Catholic convert. Who could’ve seen that one coming?

Sitting Bull?????

That one needs some verification.

Also, this one is interesting:

Alexis Carrel - Carrel was an avowed atheist who received the Nobel Prize in 1912, for his work in vascular anastomosis. (I don’t know what it is either.)


Carrel had a secret, however. He’d witnessed a miracle in Lourdes which took place on May 28, 1902 when he met Marie Bailly, a young woman dying of tuberculosis on her way to Lourdes. So far gone she was that in March 1902 doctors refused to operate on her.

On May 25, 1902, she was smuggled onto a train that carried sick people to Lourdes. She was smuggled because such trains were forbidden to carry dying people. At two o’clock the next morning it was clear she was dying. Carrel was called. He gave her morphine and stayed with her, diagnosing her with a fatal case of tuberculous peritonitis.

On May 27 she insisted on being carried to the Grotto, although the doctors were afraid that she would die on the way there. On arriving, some water from the baths was poured on her diseased abdomen. Amazingly, Carrel watched as her enormously distended and very hard abdomen began to flatten. In the evening she sat up in her bed and had dinner.

Early the next morning she got up on her own and was already dressed when Carrel saw her again. She was healed.

Carrel asked her what she would do with her life now. She told him she would join the Sisters of Charity to spend her life caring for the sick. And she did.

The scientist in Carrel refused to accept the possibility of a miracle for years. He was a eugenics theorist with no use for God. In 1935, Carrel published a best-selling book titled L’Homme, cet inconnu (Man, This Unknown) which advocated that mankind could better itself with enforced eugenics.

For many years, Carrel tried to ascribe Marie’s healing to “psychic forces” and other lame explanations. But Carrel couldn’t shake what he saw and returned to Lourdes again and again because of his inability to explain fully what he’d seen. On his third trip to Lourdes, in 1910, Carrel saw an 18 month old child regain his ability to see.

Nearing the end of his life, Carrel finally accepted what he’d seen and received the sacraments of the Church and died reconciled to God. Oddly enough science seemed to stop hailing him as a genius around the same time.

Psychic forces would have been more palatable, although modern skeptics would say that the scientific answer was obviously "spontaneous remission of death."

Then, there is "Dutch Schultz" - who may be turning the lights off in purgatory:

Dutch Schultz - Cold blooded killer/Catholic convert. This literally deathbed conversion caused quite the uproar.


Born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, he has to be one of the least likely converts. His parents were both German Jews who attempted to raise their son in their faith but instead he became the notorious gangster known as Public Enemy #1 Dutch Schultz.

In 1935, while plotting criminal activity Schultz was gunned down in the rear of a bar. He was rushed to a hospital where he registered as a Jew. But early the next morning, he unexpectedly called for a Catholic priest. Father Cornelius McInerney was told by Schultz that he wanted to die a Catholic. Father McInerney baptized him, and gave him the last rites of the Catholic Church. That night, Schultz died and he was later buried in a Catholic cemetery.

There were reportedly several protests concerning the Church’s acceptance of Schultz. Newspapers opined against it and people were outraged. They’d obviously forgotten the story about the thief on the cross next to Jesus.

Makes you wonder where that came from.

Thousands that way, dozens this way...

...and the trade seems to be pretty much even in terms of quantity for quality.

Apparently, Lutherans are able to take advantage of the ordinariate established for Anglicans.

This article describes the "Lutheran Landslide," which doesn't seem to be much of a "landslide, except insofar as we are talking about a movement of a small number of people from a much smaller base population.

Nonetheless, the intellectual caliber of a number of those people is impressive:

What first began with prominent Lutherans, such as Richard John Neuhaus (1990) and Robert Wilken (1994), coming into the Catholic Church, has become more of a landslide that could culminate in a larger body of Lutherans coming into the collectively.


In 2000, former Canadian Lutheran Bishop Joseph Jacobson came into the Church.

“No other Church really can duplicate what Jesus gave,” Jacobson told the Western Catholic Reporter in 2006.

In 2003, Leonard Klein, a prominent Lutheran and the former editor of Lutheran Forum and Forum Letter came into the Church. Today, both Jacobson and Klein are Catholic priests.

Over the past several years, an increasing number of Lutheran theologians have joined the Church’s ranks, some of whom now teach at Catholic colleges and universities. They include, but are not limited to: Paul Quist (2005), Richard Ballard (2006), Paul Abbe (2006), Thomas McMichael, Mickey Mattox, David Fagerberg, Bruce Marshall, Reinhard Hutter, Philip Max Johnson, and most recently, Dr. Michael Root (2010).

Robert Wilken, for example, is the author of "The Spirit of Early Christian Thought," which is not only a vitally important book on the history of the doctrines that most Christians swear allegiance to - and don't understand - but also a profoundly moving spiritual book on why those ideas mattered and still matter.

The article also advises:

Now, it appears that a larger Lutheran body will be joining the Church. Father Christopher Phillips, writing at the Anglo-Catholic blog, reports that the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (ALCC) clergy and parishes will be entering into the U.S. ordinariate being created for those Anglicans desiring to enter the Church.


According to the blog, the ALCC sent a letter to Walter Cardinal Kasper, on May 13, 2009, stating that it “desires to undo the mistakes of Father Martin Luther, and return to the One, Holy, and True Catholic Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Blessed Saint Peter.” That letter was sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Surprisingly, in October 2010, the ALCC received a letter from the secretary of the CDF, informing them that Archbishop Donald Wuerl had been appointed as an episcopal delegate to assist with the implementation of Angelicanorum coetibus. The ALCC responded that they would like to be included as part of the reunification.

The ALCC appears to have around 23 churches in the eastern United States.  It describes itself as a "small but rapidly growing church."  Its website also reports:

The Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church is a True Particular Church in accordance with the terms of the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium 26 http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V2CHURCH.HTM ; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 312, 830-833, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P29.HTM. The Bishops and all other clergy of the ALCC are ordained in the historic Apostolic Succession through several lineages including the Duarte-Costa lineage of the Rebiban (or Vatican) Succession among others. For information about the specific Lineages of the historic Apostolic Succession held by this Church, please contact the Metropolitan Archbishop. The Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church is a member of the Augustana Evangelical Catholic Communion http://www.geocities.com/littledogs2424/ALCC.html and the Sudanese Council of Churches USA.

The ALCC's FAQ states this about its history:

An Evangelical Catholic Lutheran is first of all a Christian. An Evangelical Catholic Lutheran also believes that Lutheranism is not at all Protestant. Lutherans believe that Lutherans are Western Catholics who were involuntarily expelled from the Roman Catholic Church and are conscience-bound to return to the Catholic Church as soon as circumstances permit. Lutherans consider Lutheranism to be “Protestant” only to the degree that it has accepted Calvinist (Presbyterian) influence through the centuries. Evangelical Catholics reject the doctrines and principles of Calvinism. This is nothing new. Whether they have been known as Gneiso-Lutherans, Old Lutherans, Romanizing Lutherans, Lutherans, or Evangelical Catholic Lutherans, they have been an integral part of Lutheranism since the time of Martin Luther. The ALCC is at the most Roman Catholic edge of this very special and continuing Lutheran tradition.


Unlike other Lutheran churches, the ALCC has roots in Anglicanism as well as Evangelical Catholic Lutheranism. This is reflected in our Church’s name, its coat of arms (the Church of England’s St. George’s Cross and the Luther Rose.)

Fascinating.