Re-vert Story
Folks, providence recently introduced me to a really incredible young Catholic re-vert. Here are the basics of her story:
"Okay, the essential facts: I was raised by two divorced, alcoholic ex-Catholics. They despised the Church, but had it too much still in their systems not to pass on something at least of it's worldview and morality, albeit unconsciously, to their daughter -- me. I grew up loving the life of the mind and desperately needing the order and stability that my parents couldn't provide, but I also had a taste for the actor's life. So, at 18, I moved to New York (from Wisconsin -- I'm a Midwesterner, too!) and went to NYU acting school. My life quickly became even more chaotic. Finally, though, in my mid-twenties, I had a sort of crisis of conscience and decided I needed to change course, radically. I started noticing Catholic churches everywhere I walked, wanted to slip in but was somehow afraid. Then I read Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, and was hooked. I went on to Augustine, a few convert Catholic apologists, etc. I stumbled upon a journal called New Oxford Review, then upon First Things, then upon a Fr. Shall, a Fr. Keating, on from there to Chesterton, Maritain, Gilson .. and somehow eventually I found my way to Peter Kreeft. I also found myself meeting with a Dominican monk, discussing Aquinas, and then asking to go through RCIA. And I loved Aquinas by that time so much (ah, the synthesis, the order, the clarity!) that I took his own for my confirmation name."
"Okay, the essential facts: I was raised by two divorced, alcoholic ex-Catholics. They despised the Church, but had it too much still in their systems not to pass on something at least of it's worldview and morality, albeit unconsciously, to their daughter -- me. I grew up loving the life of the mind and desperately needing the order and stability that my parents couldn't provide, but I also had a taste for the actor's life. So, at 18, I moved to New York (from Wisconsin -- I'm a Midwesterner, too!) and went to NYU acting school. My life quickly became even more chaotic. Finally, though, in my mid-twenties, I had a sort of crisis of conscience and decided I needed to change course, radically. I started noticing Catholic churches everywhere I walked, wanted to slip in but was somehow afraid. Then I read Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, and was hooked. I went on to Augustine, a few convert Catholic apologists, etc. I stumbled upon a journal called New Oxford Review, then upon First Things, then upon a Fr. Shall, a Fr. Keating, on from there to Chesterton, Maritain, Gilson .. and somehow eventually I found my way to Peter Kreeft. I also found myself meeting with a Dominican monk, discussing Aquinas, and then asking to go through RCIA. And I loved Aquinas by that time so much (ah, the synthesis, the order, the clarity!) that I took his own for my confirmation name."
posted by Trent_Dougherty at Saturday, June 03, 2006
3 Comments:
That's awesome. I'd love to hear the full version. I, too, was greatly affected by Merton's Seven Story Mountain when I was living as a pagan. In fact, the experience Merton describes about being on the subway juxtaposed with the decent, normal working people trying to lead good lives actually happened to me in almost the exact same manner-- it was actually quite spooky.
Great bit! But like Frank, I want to hear the whole story, the full version. Does she have a blog, maybe a guest post on yours to tell her story?
All the best,
She's not ready for her splash yet, but I hope to facilitate that in the future.
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