By
Scott and Kimberly Hahn
I
actually read this book back during Lent, so a couple of months ago
at this point. I had been saying I would read it for several months
before that, ever since my wife read it late last year. Not only did
things she said about it intrigue me, but I've been familiar with Dr.
Scott Hahn for many years as a great Catholic convert, theologian, and apologist.
I'd only read a couple of books by him, however. Then, a couple of
months ago, a friend approached me for help in dealing with a barrage
of half-baked attacks from her sister, a convert from
Catholicism to Baptist fundamentalism. Not really having delved into
apologetics that much in recent years, her questions inspired me to
deeper reading on a number of matters I'd gotten a bit rusty on –
and I took up this book as well.
Here
we have a deeply personal story, written in alternating chapters from
the perspective of Scott Hahn and his wife, Kimberly, of what began
as his
but ultimately became their
conversion from Presbyterianism to Catholicism. Making the journey
much more rocky for them was the fact that they had met and married
while in Presbyterian seminary – Scott was training to become a
minister, Kimberly was herself the daughter of a minister and
envisioned herself as the spouse, partner, and helpmate
of an ordained Presbyterian minister. Which worked out well … for
a short time. Scott was ordained and they began their career and a
family. But then Scott's theological and Biblical studies
increasingly convinced him that just about everything he had ever
known about the Catholic Church and its teachings were not true, but
rather that it is
the most Biblical of all churches. Objection after objection fell
before his willingness to put aside his preconceived notions and to
follow the Biblical evidence where it leads, especially with regard
to his own specialty of study, Covenant Theology. He was at last
convicted of the Truth and must
become Catholic. Which he did … on Holy Saturday, 29 March 1986.
My jaw dropped at that point in my reading and I exclaimed, “Wow!”
– because that was the very same evening, a thousand miles away,
that I
was accepted into the Catholic Church!
But
at that point in their story, Kimberly was experiencing a sense of
utter desolation verging on despair. Her dreams were shattered;
their very livelihood was endangered as Scott could not simply become
a Catholic priest (although it eventually became apparent that he did
indeed have a promising future in Catholic academia and apologetics).
At one point she told Scott that she wished she would just die so
Scott would be free to marry a nice Catholic girl and be happy –
because her misery was grinding them both down. Nonetheless, she had
acquiesced to Scott's desire that their children be raised Catholic,
and through their catechesis she ultimately was realized the Truth of
Catholicism as well, and joined her children and husband in the one,
holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.
Cheers!, and Thanks for reading.
+ + +
Note: This post was originally written as the first part of a catch-all "Quick Hits" post which I intended to give a paragraph or so to several things I read over the past couple of months but never sat down to blog. Well, by the time I was finished – Friday evening and most of Saturday later! – it ran to seven and a half single-spaced pages for five items. So I decided to break it down and post the items individually, in the order I finished reading them (I think), staggering their release via Blogger's wonderful Scheduling function that I only rarely avail myself of. – kgh
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