I love apologetics. I love studying ways to defend the faith. So does everyone else. Why?
Also, I love studying and reading about other converts. But, why?
It’s the mark of a child to keep asking “why?” but this is a good question. Why are we so attracted to converts? We love the life-long Catholics, but there is a special power, it seems, in the testimony of the convert. Indeed, in Church history and in our time, there are many who end up converting through the inspiration of converts. Countless souls by the Apostles, numerous academics by Augustine, and many moderns from voices like Gibbons, Chesterton and Fulweiler.
There’s got to be a reason why, though. Why these people did not study their own way to the faith, just magically wake up and go to Church, or some other more expected approach. Those who convert never expect it at all and are always amped with zeal by their joyful surprise. It’s not just an epidemic, though. It seems to be a recurring idea present in every generation. I wanted to figure out why though.
Then, for whatever reason, I got to thinking of the argument between the Lost Boys and Rufio, on the movie Hook, about the real identity of this lawyer. After the young boy looks deeper into the contours of the face of the lawyer, he realizes Peter Pan is still the same person, though he’s not what they’d expected. He’s older, smarter, more responsible and all the while he still has his wit and charisma.
The argument begins as to whether or not the lawyer is a mere lawyer or really is who he says he is. And the little lost boy, Pockets, speaks an incredible bit of wisdom:
“Wait! If Tink believes, maybe he is” with Tinkerbell soon yelling “Give ’em a chance!”
An identical thing happens when we meet our conversion heroes in books, blogs or the Bible. We realize they are just like us. While reading their story, we start believing that the story is actually about us, and have to remind ourselves that it’s not. It’s moving, and it makes the conversion story one of two things: more attractive, or more daunting.
When it’s more attractive, we are like the lost boys, running from one side of the playing field to the other with zeal. For others, it takes a bit more conviction. Some of us are Rufios at heart.
When it’s daunting, we’re more like a mix of Rufio and Captain Hook. Rufio because we need more time, more faith; Hook, because well, we literally don’t want what we’ve discovered to be true because if it is, it might be the end of everything we know. I recall the hilarious scene with Hook and Smee, where Hook realizes he might be outmatched, and that everything he has done to that point was a waste. He wants suicide.
“Don’t try to stop me Smee, don’t you dare try to stop me Smee… try to stop me. Smee, you better get up off your…”
Though I had a rather quick conversion, I was a lot like Captain Hook: I desperately did not want to be Catholic and I searched for months for anyone to tell me a good reason to not be Catholic.
The truth is in the words of Pockets though: “If Tink believes, maybe he is.”
Do you see what happened there? Not only is the bit of a conversion hero about self-identity, it’s also about the credibility of the convert. Take Scott Hahn for example. He was passionate convert. He was well educated, devoutly skeptical, and passionate about Jesus. These were what gave Scott a certain sense of credibility in Rome Sweet Home, where we didn’t just meet a guy who became Catholic; we met Dr. Scott Hahn, the former Presbyterian minister, and observed his work and zeal for truth.
When Pockets references Tinkerbell, it was like he was saying, “We trust her on other matters, why not this one?” This is the thing about converts that pushes non-believers to the edge. Former Atheists love C.S. Lewis and Fulweiler, and former evangelicals identify with Steve Ray because these figures communicate the same struggles and the same concerns as skeptics. This is why converts are so effective; their story and their credibility urge our inner still and small voice to shout “Give ‘em a chance!”
After we look deeper into the contours on the face of This Man, we realizes Jesus is who He says He is, though he’s not what we expected.
Well, Shaun, from one convert to another, I think you hit it head on. Do you see Tinkerbelle as the Holy Spirit? Seriously, I have a real need and desire to keep contact with other converts. That is one of the reasons that I “follow”” you. However, I really FOLLOW Jesus. I love him and his church so much. God bless.
Tinkerbell as the Holy Spirit? We’ve elevated this to a whole other level of awesome. lol. Thanks for the encouraging comment. I’m glad to have friends like you Dcn.
What a great article!!! Thank you and congrats!!!
The only thing that “bothers” me about converts is that they are so CERTAIN about their newly-found faith and are so on fire. The didn’t have to go through all the changes that cradle Catholics had to go through along with doubts and bad experiences. Everything is wonderful for them. Those of us born Catholic have been in the trenches when things didn’t make sense a lot of the time. It seems that converts feel they are much holier than us born Catholic.
Kathy, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I think I heard it called “convert-envy” once. I think what you said is very true in a lot of ways and converts need to be careful to not “rub in the face” of life-long Catholics.
Plus they steal all of our women… 😉
(j/k, but honestly, we Cradle Catholics ARE considered boring, because our life story tends to just be rosaries and virginity; I still kid two friends that I helped convert via answering lots of their faith questions about how they ran off with the last two single Catholics girls we knew!)
Reminds me of The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.
I can tell you Kathy, as a recent convert, that for me that isn’t at all true. I have had to struggle with my decision to become Catholic from time to time, especially when I see so much scandal. But the certainty comes not from anything within me – far from it – but from the sustaining faith that Christ is the Head, and we are His Bride. That alone.
That can be a danger from converts. We* can be like the smoker who just quit and then wants to go about telling everyone else how bad smoking is and how stupid they are to do it. Lots of zeal but sometimes lacking prudence.
Lance
*I include myself as a convert thought I was baptized Catholic. I never went to Church growing up and went through RCIA to get confirmed.
We male converts are so attractive because, apparently, we all tend to wear beards.
Hey, I’ll put up with a lot of convert-sass, but don’t be sassing the Cradle Catholic-beard!
No sass intended. The fact that convert apologists tend to have beards has been noted before, and since both Shaun and I also are bearded converts it seemed appropriate to keep the joke going.
I chuckled at the comment though, since I do see a lot of convert guys with beards. Since I’m a thirty-something guy who’s seen at church/church-related things all the time, folks always assume that I’m either a convert or a seminarian. I want to get a shirt made that says “I’ve had this beard since before you converted…” on the front and “…but welcome home!” on the back.
I wonder if there is anything to the beard statistics? Maybe it’s something that disappears when more data are considered. Maybe it’s generational. Maybe it is a more traditional view of masculinity.
In my case, the answer is a lot simpler. In graduate school I would shave about once every other day, then once every third day, etc., because I saw shaving as a nuisance. Once it reached a certain point, though, I really could not see any point in shaving it off again. So for that matter, I’ve also had my beard since before I converted.
I am a convert to the Catholic Church (though currently without a beard). I also believe that all Catholics must convert regularly, turning from former ways to God’s Grace filled life. It’s OK to think of yourself as a “Cradle Catholic”. But you are a lot more mature and wise now, I hope, than you were when you were in the cradle. Each Lent, each time we recite the Confiteor, each time we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation we convert.
Actually converts are not appealing – they are a pain in the rear – just like the guys on Catholic Answers Radio – they think they know it all and come across as a – know it all group – with the theme song of – Oh you Catholics dont know the Faith we converts will tell you ! They are a pain !
Converts are “deliberate Catholics,” and as such tend to not fall prey to “cultural Catholicism”–a certain religious apathy, a lack of an answer to the question “why are you a Catholic.” (What a fatal answer “I guess because my parents were.” Give the Baptists this much at least: They are correct that “God has no grandchildren.”) When I think of the people who have the clearest and most convincing witness to the faith, it tends to be people like, yes, Hahn, or Ann Barnhardt; you can say a lot about Ann, but there is not once ounce of anything fuzzy or fluffy in her, she is absolutely 100% on fire for Christ and His suffering Church. What a contrast such converts are with the indifference and indifferentism we too often see from cradle Catholics.
As a “cradle Catholic”, I can see your point about indifference. But I beg you to see us as old worn out broken down branches who have been at it for a long time. You “converts” are the new shoots grafted into these old branches to bring renewal to many Catholics who have fallen away or lost their zeal for the Faith. God always know what his Church needs. Thanks be to God for providing us with many new converts!