Richard Lane: A Lutheran Who Became A Catholic - The Journey Home (7-28-2008)

good evening and welcome to the journey home my name is Marcus Grodi your host for this weekly program which I have the great privilege of introducing to you men and women who because of their love for crisis sometimes they didn't know Christ before they had the conversion but in our case our guest and I did they were discovered the Catholic Church by the grace of God and so that's what the journey home is about but it's about you and it's about encouraging a new faith and appreciating the faith that sometimes we take for granted you're an important part of this program let me begin before I even introduce our guest tonight Richard Lane former Lutheran before we go to his story though I want to remind you that you need to call us with your questions one 800 two two one nine four six Oh outside North America you can call us 205 two seven one twenty nine eighty or you can send us an email at journey home at EWTN com ewtn.com sorry Richard welcome to the journey home Thank You Marcus it's a pleasure and an honor it's great to have you here even though you're from that state up north thank you you know what I'm talking about right yes yes because I'm from that state down south that's correct we I won't hold that against you okay he's from Michigan I'm from Ohio that's another story Richard it's great to have you on the program thank you fact I'm excited about you telling your story not just because of what the spirits done in your life but because of what the spirits doing right now yes in your life and how you're being used as a vessel offering yourself as a vessel in fact that idea of offering yourself has a lot to do with the name of your apostolate right that's correct that is correct korban ministries qo r ba n meaning dedicated to God and that's what we dedicated our lives to my wife and I dedicated everything that we have to him because our lives are not our own all right and your website it is Catholic evangelist dotnet all right I wanted to make sure you had that audience because as you hear the story you may want to go to that website to find out more about Richard and what he's doing and is speaking and but let's let's back off a little bit I always invite the guests to take a big step backwards and start at the beginning and give us a little summary of your spirit jury well I was born and raised in Detroit Michigan and was raised in a Lutheran Church and we went to outer Drive Faith Lutheran Church in Detroit Michigan and it was a wonderful wonderful church growing up we were our youth group was very close-knit I couldn't wait for the rite of passage because all the youth got to sit in the front and on the side together and so that was kind of the rite of passage as a youth and we had a great time we were all very close doing a lot of things going to events and skate parties and things of that nature so I would ii he just mentioned all the fun stuff yes didn't mention memorizing the Shorter Catechism I really wasn't trying to do that at that particular but I went to to Lutheran school all the way from kindergarten through the tenth grade and I remember growing up in the in the in elementary school we used to celebrate October 31st every day every year because as you well know I believe it was 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the wall and we would celebrate that day every year so continue to go to this great Lutheran Lutheran Church and I remembered as a young man you can always tell it was communion sunday because they would have the the candles on the high altar lid and as a young man I would always feel like I was missing something when we didn't have communion on that Sunday and it would be a long time after that that I would remember so at about 15 14 15 years old I I got to the point where I told my mother I said I'm tired of going to this boring Church I don't want to go to church anymore and she said boy you're gonna go to somebody's Church and so I said okay so my best friend Maurice Wilson went to a church in Detroit a Baptist Church called greater grace so I went to church with him and my job been going to this nice Lutheran Church and we walk into greater grace and there's all these keyboards piano players drums and cymbal and people are standing on their feet jumping and shouting and I was like wow but I loved it and so I began to go with Maurice for a little while I leave Detroit well actually I left the the Lutheran school because I I wasn't learning Scripture I wasn't I hated memorizing things I just couldn't do it and I didn't want to go to the school I rode to school with my religion teacher I still got an F in the class but I left that school and went to another another high school and graduated from Highland Park High School in Detroit and I went into the Army in 1984 and I remembered that voice in the back of my head boy you better go to somebody's church so I said I'm gonna go to they only had Protestant Baptist and and Catholic services so I went to the Baptist and Protestant services and I didn't really care for them and I went to the Catholic Mass and I was like wow this seems like it's its home and we said one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church when I was in the Lutheran Church I didn't know it was the small C I didn't know the difference it sounds like well they must be sister brother cousin so I started going to the Catholic Mass and in 1984 that started my 19 years journey as a pretend Catholic but I just I remember growing up and my mother would take me to church every Sunday my mother is a retired educator for the Highland Park School System and my father was an NFL Hall of Fame cornerback dick night train' Lane and my mother raised me and she took me to church every Sunday I didn't want to go oh some Sundays but she drugged me kicking and screaming but I just felt that there was another calling well I'm wondering I was also brought up Lutheran and you were Missouri Synod Lutheran which is even that's correct little more conservative yes Lutheran than my background though my particular Lutheran Church was conservative and I'm wondering as you look back you're talking about when you didn't realize at that point what you were missing but when you look back was there sense in which the Lutheran liturgy made it has a smooth transition to that Catholic liturgy that you experience in the services oh yes because very similar mm-hmm I'm wondering if it also in some ways made it too easy because you slipped over into the Catholic without appreciating that there were some differences yes and that's exactly what happened on that 19 year journey and it didn't really hit me until recently my mother my mother my stepfather is still still Lutheran and and we talk every week or sometimes every other day but every Sunday we talk about the liturgy and she was telling me one Sunday about how powerful the Gospel reading was I was like that's the same Gospel reading that we had and so we realized that we were almost on the exact same liturgical calendar but yes it was very easy for me to understand the liturgy from beginning to end except for this the liturgy of the sack you know the the communion I didn't understand that but it was very easy to to learn and just kind of smooth fall right into it so while you're in the service you start attending the Catholic yes did you become Catholic no I did not become Catholic while I was in the service but I had gotten to the point where about three years into my army career I had actually changed my dog tags from Lutheran to Catholic so I leave the I I get to was that because there really wasn't a specific Lutheran service you were going to the Catholic versus the other two that's correct there was no other I just was not comfortable with the other two services there was no really challenge for you to go through a class to learn this new faith there's no challenge that need to do that they never assumed you were coming so you were already one of us that's right they welcomed me with open arms so in about 1988 I get to the Oakland army base in Oakland California and so about 1990 I find this wonderful Church in the middle of Oakland California its Our Lady of Lourdes and we had a wonderful Irish Catholic priest by the name of father Seamus Genovese father Seamus I'm certain is still there and he's just a wonderful priest and the body of Christ at that Paris really just welcomed me with open arms and just loved on us it was just such a wonderful experience now mind you this is California so I had my priorities straight I'm a huge football fan so I could go to Mass from 9 o'clock and we're out by 9 55 and then I get to watch the ten o'clock game so I'm all will now feel lazy that's perfect so I love this so I start they asked me to sing in the choir and they asked me an elector so I said certainly so I'm singing in the choir and I'm lecturing and I'm just doing everything nobody asked me if I was Catholic they just kind of assumed I was Catholic so fast forward to about 1998 I moved to st. Louis Missouri and in 2000 I find this awesome church Saint Alphonsus Liguori Rock Church Marcus I thought I had gone back to that Baptist Church if you close your eyes and you're at church at the Rock Church you'd swear you were in a Baptist Church it's just absolutely wonderful and I was like this is a Catholic Church and if anybody's ever been to an african-american Catholic Church they know what we're talking about the liturgy is just absolutely wonderful we praise the Lord and so I said wow I think I'm home I finally found a home church so I began to being more involved in the church and I we have what's called sign me up Sunday and which is in September so you sign up for your your ministries that you want so here I am I'm signing up to become a lector a Eucharistic minister get in a choir and everything else they asked me for my Catholic card they asked me if I was Catholic and I said well hail Mary full of grace isn't that the secret password to get in they said no are you Catholic where were you baptized Catholic I was like that's not a big thing they said no salvation is very serious thing and so I said well I guess the Lord really wants me to get serious with this so our CI eight classes begin in September and so I was a month late for our CI a and I got there in October so I had this very hard Director of Religious Education a very hard D re and she said nope you're a month late so you're not going to be able to go through this year you can come to that formations classes yes she said you can come to the informational classes once a night but you're not going to be able to go through this year and so my heart you run away from this person I almost did I almost did but I said okay fine it just extended my normal the normal RCIA class an added year for me and so I get into finally get into our CIA did I mention that I fell in love with my Catholic thanks so much I'm married that D re yes she we married after our Sahay after I became Catholic obviously but yes she is is I had prayed for so long for God to send me a spiritual woman someone that I could learn from because I was Catholic at this time and I'm fast-forwarding a little bit in April 19th of 2003 is when I became Catholic and after that I began praying for a very spiritual woman to God just send me a woman that I would not be afraid to get down on my knees with and pray at night someone I could learn my faith from because at that point I had been in my Bible I was learning it I was reading the Catechism and I just said Lauren I don't know who you're gonna send my blessing the answer to my prayers was literally sitting right behind me in church my mother always told me you find a good woman in church and the Lord answered my prayers and it's she's just been a blessing to me so much but once I started going through RCIA it's like the heavens just opened up with all of this knowledge that I had learned that I had seen well it's like why do we sign ourselves in certain ways what do certain things mean in the liturgy is it from the Bible learning certain things about the papacy and where where is that in the Bible things like that that's the knowledge the meat that I had been looking for seeking for all of my life but then I realized what had called me from a little boy up until then to become Catholic and it was when I learned about the Eucharist that what we have what I was going to be able to hold in my hand after I became Catholic was the true body blood soul and divinity of our Lord not a representation of it and I'm beginning to get teary-eyed right now what I think about it but it's not a representation it is our true Lord in in our presence that's what we have and I said what I can go and receive him every Sunday they said no you can go receive him every day if you want to I said I can actually go and be in front of the Blessed Sacrament be in front of our Lord and Savior and actually talk to him I said yes that's what you have and so that's what I that's what called me to the Catholic Church all of these years from just a young man so some people only need about nine months of an RCIA but you need a year-and-a-half right a little hard-headed well and also from the time you thought about the Catholic Church at the time we really came in was 19 years yes I have a very unsuccessful farm but it's got a long long hole you know ROI and planting that and a lot of seeds planted and weeds yes they need to get out of the way yes so you came in and then after coming into the church and we made later especially because questions from the audience might have some questions about the differences in the Catholic and Lutheran upbringing in the Baptist but the Eucharist was the main issue did you marry your wife get married soon after that we I was baptized in 2003 and we began we didn't begin dating until about 2005 toward the middle of 2005 so we had known each other my I had sponsored someone the year after I became Catholic and then shortly thereafter my daughter came into the Catholic Church as well and and then we got my wife and I got married in 2006 sorry you know I was thinking of one one subject that I think is a quite a bit different in your experience I mean the Eucharist is once you understand the significant difference between the way a Lutheran would celebrate though very similar wouldn't understand it and a Baptist or Presbyterian but confession right I mean there's even Lutheran Church even though Luther kind of wanted to keep it he went to confession today his days but most Lutheran's I remember could don't go into confession though we did it in the in liturgy and Baptists urgent to make confessions yes what about your own transition to that wonderful sacrament that's one thing mind you I wasn't too good of a student when I was coming up the Lutheran Church so but I'd never heard the word Eucharist growing up and I never heard about confession growing up now in my in the recent months recent year I've really gone back and looked at a lot of the teachings of Martin Luther especially when it related my wife and I were somewhere and and I actually looked at a Lutheran book and saw that they actually can go to the pastor to be able to talk about transgressions and things of that nature but you will they will not receive absolution and so the first time that I went to confession I was I was very hesitant I was very scared and then I found to have remembered back to my my wonderful kind of cases that you mean I can actually go to confession and he can't tell anybody else when I confess to him and the best thing about it is a lot of priests have a wonderful grace that they forget very quickly what they've heard and the first time that I went to confession it's like the Lord lifted off the whole world off of my shoulders the priest was absolutely wonderful he locked me through it I stumbled and everything don't worry and he just walked me through it and then just to hear the words of Absolution and knowing that everything was I thought I was washed clean once again it's like what we called in peewee football it's called a do-over you know wonderful ball again we call that in golf yes very true true no you are now a Catholic evangelist did you have any clue you'd be ending up in that direction Lord no when did when did that start that idea kind of dropped into your mind or hit you with a sledgehammer I mean shortly after a couple of years about two years after I became Catholic we were working on an evangelization project at Saint Alphonsus Rock Church where we were asked I was asked to go out on the street corners and pass out some Bibles and so I said certainly because in the inner city you'd have a lot of people a lot of other the Protestants are out there on the Baptist's around in the street corners and they're asking people for donations for certain ministries and we had thought well why isn't someone just out passing out blessings handing out blessings to others so they asked me to go out and pass out Bibles so I'm a convert to the faith you know I'm gonna go out I'm gonna convert everybody I'm gonna be the next san agustin and they next st. Francis of Assisi I'm gonna be st. Richard Lane and just convert the whole world and so I go out in the street corners in my short pants cutoff t-shirt tattoos and everything else and I'm passing out Bibles and I never realized the graces that God would give me in doing that because I saw the face of Christ in the poor the needy and the suffering I saw the face of Christ in my ministering to gangbangers dope dealers prostitutes what society would call the lowest of the low and to be able to I thought that I was going to do them a favor ministering to them but listening to them and their stories really opened up my eyes and my ears and so the next week they asked me to go out and do it again and I asked the Director of Religious Education I said I feel like I'm being called to say something I was hoping she'd just tell me to sit down shut up and pass out the Bible but she said let the spirit lead you and so and I had kind of argue I've been arguing with God and he happy and I had this type of relationship and so I said okay Lord I'm gonna go out here on the street corner and I'm gonna make a fool out of myself just to prove to you that I can't do this I started with a Hail Mary I said an our Father and then I began to proclaim what the Our Father meant to me I began to talk about how good Jesus had been in my life because I knew that there would be no way that anyone could challenge that that's that's a fact that can't be disputed or denied and so it was just a it was something that just opened me up to a whole new level and a whole new thought process and so in early 2003 that's when a Catholic evangelist was born now shortly thereafter my wife came out on the streets with me she still comes out with me and we pass out Bibles and crosses now shortly after this I have to go to our Archbishop because I didn't want to want it to get back to our Archbishop that there was some crazy black man in the street corners claiming he's a Catholic evangelist passing out Bibles so I didn't want to get in trouble so I went to our beloved Archbishop Archbishop Raymond Albert and I was hoping that he would say young man I need you to sit in the pews be quiet just pass out the Bibles and leave the preaching to us but he said no he looked at me and he said go go and make disciples and he laid his hands on me and blessed me as a Catholic evangelist he system now go and make disciples and bring them the good news the good news and so with that coming from him I was like well I guess there's no stopping me now and the Lord has just continued to bless us with everything that we've done and we continue to be able to travel not only the city and travel the country but to be able to witness as a Catholic evangelist not only in Catholic churches but I've been invited to speak and Baptist non and interdenominational churches as a Catholic evangelist when I do that people look at me like I have two heads and it's a Catholic evangelist isn't that an oxymoron and I say no why should it be an oxymoron but it's a wonderful way for us to do ecumenical work to be able to let people know that we are Christian first and foremost and that we love our Lord and that we serve our Lord and that we don't worship Mary that we don't worship idols and that and explain to them why we do certain things I used I was uncomfortable with the word apologist because I was like I don't I'm Catholic I'm proud to be Catholic I'm not gonna apologize to anyone from being Catholic but it's being a defender of our faith it's being a defender so to be able to go out and and people look at you and they're Baptists and they say wow you guys really don't worship Mary you guys really don't worship the Saints oh wow I guess you guys really do love Jesus you do believe Jesus has risen has has come off the cross yes we do in fact I'm gonna take a moment and I'm gonna read a scripture and have you talk about this in relationship to what you do but also maybe a word of challenge to the people out there that think that's somebody else's job it's first Peter 3 beginning in verse 15 always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and reverence and keep your conscience clear so that when you are abused those who revile you revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame yes and that's the whole picture yes of what it means to be a Catholic evangelist not just using a sledgehammer yes exactly exactly we don't go out I am NOT the judge jury and executioner God is the only one that can judge that's he is the only one my job as a Catholic evangelist my job as a Catholic Christian is to go out and proclaim the good news is to go out and tell them Jesus loves you Jesus loves you and he's reaching and waiting for you to come to him he's got his hand out it's I go into a lot of Baptists and internet AMA National churches and they always say you've got to be washed in the blood of Jesus you've got to have a close personal intimate relationship well if you go to the nearest Catholic Church Jesus is present he's right there waiting for each and every one of us to come and when we can hold him in our hands when we can consume his body in his blood it doesn't get much more intimate and personal than that but we have to experience a conversion a daily conversion st. Paul tells us to be able to die to our flesh and to be able to live in the Holy Spirit so we're not to judge anyone else I'm not supposed to go on the street say well if you're not Catholic you're not you're gonna go to to the nether world or you're not gonna get into heaven no that's not my judge my job my job is to just merely plant the seeds to be able to plant the seeds of knowledge and let the Holy Spirit do the come you know you just mentioned the need for conversion which is absolutely true but I was thinking that some people might be hearing when they think of the kind of conversion experience they see happen they think well this is something that happens to them that I can't make happen to me but I would love to have a conversion so I I mean talk to them about the fact that conversion is a choice exactly exactly it is a physical choice that we make just like God gave us gave us free will free will to love him or free will to turn away from him you have that choice for that daily conversion that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in everyone's life not just the good Christians not just the good people that are out there trying to to save the world especially the bad people especially those people that have sinned that have fallen away due to someone else's sin God wants us to come back he wants us the Holy Spirit wants us to have a daily conversion whether it's just somebody hitting you upside the head or just that quiet time in front of the Blessed Sacrament and feeling the presence of God the tugging at the Holy Spirit at your at your your heart saying I want you to come to me more often I want you to go to confession I want you to learn more about the church that we have I want you to read more about the Catechism I want you to read more about the Bible read more of my word bibl e basic instructions before leaving Earth it's the greatest love story ever written you know one of the reasons we've had from the beginning of the journey on is this picture behind us Rembrandt's wonderful return of the Sun because it's a reminder that that Suns conversion began a long way before we experienced the joys of it yeah II had to turn and choose and so that's what we have to do ourselves you know we have to make those choices yes and respond to God's grace and then trust you know trust that he's pulling us and guiding us and and that he's back in his home just like that father and that son let's take a break we'll come back in a moment again that website for Richard is Catholic evangelist one word dotnet we'll see in a bit welcome back to the journey home our guest tonight is Richard Lane thank you Richard for sharing your story oh thank you for also in your work you're doing as evangelist I mean every Catholic is called to be an evangelist yes it's very true Matthew 28:19 that's right go ye therefore and make committees right it's not the great suggestion that's right all right thank you we had to have an email ready this first email comes from David hello Marcus and Richard I am constant watcher of the program and it in part has led me to discern that I now wish to be in the Catholic Church well welcome home David said I have no problems with Church doctrine dogma or practice now that I have decided to become Catholic I'm scared of not only losing people I care about but being shunned by them do you Richard have any advice for me and others on trying to get through this time and help me take a step further on my journey home hey god bless you David thanks for writing David I know exactly how you feel and being scared is a good thing the first thing that comes to my mind is James chapter 1 verse 2 where it says consider to joy my brothers and sisters when you encounter various trials and I was scared the same as you are I had no idea what my friends would think especially my family but I'm here to let you know that God has continued to bless me with the with moving me into a new position with friends that he wanted me to be associated with and I'm such a blessed young man because my family has not deserted me matter of fact my family has continued to rally around me and continue to support me my parents all of my family so continue to rely on the Holy Spirit rely on watching what Jesus has for you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus everything else will work itself out brother and welcome home and we'll keep praying for you David wait everyone watching this show to be praying for David as he discerns this you know conversion especially when you're aided by the wonderful graces of the sacraments of the Eucharist and the confession isn't really a change of mine but it's certainly a change of heart and sometimes we look backwards in our lives and we see relationships that needed is right yes definitely I can think back on my relationship with my biological father who was a very much of a huge celebrity one of the greatest cornerbacks when the greatest football players ever play the game but my father was not there when I needed him at certain times in my life as a young man growing up and my mother had to play the role of mother and father and I thank God every day that he sent a st. Joseph in my life in the form of my stepfather who really taught me about what it is to be a true man and there was a time in my life where I actually disowned my biological father and I said I'm not Nightrain lanes son because I didn't understand and I was so filled with with animosity and with hate because he was not a good father he wasn't there for me and it wasn't until several years later that I really understood why he was not a good father and I understood that he did not know how to be a father he himself at three months old was thrown away in a garbage can he himself was the son of a prostitute he didn't know who his biological father was he was raised around around hustlers around not good people I'll put it that way so he never had a good male role model in his life and it took me a long time well into my mid 30s for me to hear those three words from my father I love you and had I not laid down my own pride and gone back to my father and made amends with him I would have lost out on the greatest blessing because just the last thing I remember hearing my father ever say before he died was I love you boy and that's my making amends with my earthly father but what about our Heavenly Father how much more does he want to say those same words to us but we turn our backs on him and that's what we've dedicated our lives to that's what I've dedicated my life to is to telling people no matter how many times we turn our backs on our Lord he will never turn our backs on it turn his back on us you're telling me over dinner telling us over dinner about people challenging you on why you're wearing a cross with Jesus still on it right and and of course you've described you know that it's partially to remind us of what he has done for us on the cross and I was thinking as you were saying that that conversion involves first of all before conversion you hear the words of Jesus on the cross God for Father forgive them for they know that what they do is and all you hear is as Jesus talking to those people that's Jesus talking to those people and then conversion happens you realize well that's Jesus talking to me exactly but then you realize that those words are to be ours about others exactly exactly when people and you will feel some if you reach out there and you become a true evangelist you will feel that you will feel that animosity but that's a good thing it's a wonderful thing because in the Beatitudes it says blessed are you when you were persecuted because of me and that's a wonderful thing because Jesus laid his life down for all of us we should be able to lay our lives down for him all right let's take our first caller this evening hello what's your name this is Jackie from Illinois hello Jackie what's your question for us tonight hi my name is Jackie I'm a cradle Catholic coming home stronger than ever thanks to EWTN and relevant radio Richard do you believe in the Magisterium all of the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Catechism of the Catholic Church I'll let you go and try to listen from here all right thank you for your questions that is an excellent question Jackie yes 100% we believe in the Magisterial teachings of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Catechism that's what we have those are the truths that we have in this faith in our Holy Roman Catholic faith and it is founded it's found in the Bible and it can be found all of the elements can be found in our catechism as well yeah I mean ever it really is a unique thing that sets us apart from our separated brethren is that living Authority guided by the Holy Spirit that we really can trust him yes and to make sure that it isn't just us to try and decide what this verse means or what the exceptions mean together exactly or do you have a better slant on it let's figure this out or some guy in the past no it's we trust the spirit still guiding the church and exactly that very confident all right no the email Judy in Maryland Marcus and Richard my question to your spirit-filled guests is please recommend some steps that our parish evangelization group can take within our parish and/or diocese to share our faith with others and make disciples in this Pauline year let's pray to st. Paul and ask his intercession for your apostolate thank you Judy for fine email thank you so much Judy the first thing one thing that we always try to teach people and get people to understand is number one we have to understand who we are and whose we are we have to understand that who we are as children of God and whose we are that we belong to him so once we evangelize ourselves and understand our faith then we can better go out and share that faith the good news with others I always tell people it's not about going on the street corners and preaching on the street corners as a Catholic evangelist but you can do that through your family you can do that when you're out at dinner in public just by making the sign of the Cross praying before you you eat your meal because people are going to look at you and they're gonna say that's one of those Catholics right there but it's certain things such as that that you can go out but also we encourage people to reach out into their on parish families there's people that are hurting all over the world that there's people that need us right in our own parish communities so begin an evangelization effort within our own parish communities to be able to just talk with each other support each other and then if the Holy Spirit Guides you out into the streets then so be it maybe talk a bit about how maybe no place to start is recognizing that an evangelist if you're Catholic evangelist is not something you become but it really is yes it's and different people have different callings in their lives some may be Eucharistic ministers some baby Vincentians to be able to go out and visit the the least lost in the most abandoned to be able to take our Eucharistic Lord as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist some may be like my wife as a as a catechist she loves to be able to teach so if you're teaching a akattak if you're a catechist you're teaching catechism that is an excellent an excellent way to start but always remember to take Christ with you all right let's take our next caller Mary from Arizona well Mary what's your question for us I'd like to first thank my mother who connected me up with EWTN and she's Dorothy in Minnesota and secondly I'd like to ask the gentleman how he would suggest we better connect in American Catholic Church we better connect with the african-american culture and community both by introducing our Eucharist to them as well as receiving the riches of their culture all right thank you that is an outstanding question and that's something that's very much on my heart as well out of 38 million African Americans in this country only 2.8 million are Roman Catholics and one side of the coin it says we've got a lot of work to do and they said it's a bad thing but I say it's a good thing because that means that we've got a lot of people that we can go out and reach out to one thing that you can do is just reach out to someone else there might be a an african-american Catholic parish in your area you can go and visit but also invite them to come to you one of the things that I always say no one invited me to become Catholic but until someone actually extended the invitation we've got to be able to go to others if we have people friends that we play golf with that we go to to work with invite someone it's just being Invitational to be able to invite someone into the worship experience all right an email from Michael I think that's Michael from Florida Richard what role did the Catholic Fathers play in your journey thank you Mike the church fathers gave us the foundation for me to be able to go back and look at the lives and times of Polycarp at the nassif of looking at st. Agustin san agustin born in north africa I have a very I can tell that he's he's very close to myself and my own journey because of the journey that he led as a young man drifting away from his mother drifting away from the church and being a worldly man and I like in my same journey to that of st. Augustine but st. Augustine had a wonderful prayer warrior praying for his return in st. Monica I had a prayer warrior and still do and my mother her name is Mary as she prayed for me to come back for so many years into the church and her prayers were answered so yes the church fathers had such a huge impact on my life you mentioned Mary a couple times given your journey from Lutheranism and then Baptist period during that time what about Mary as in devotion to Mary was that a stumbling block for you at all your journey with me it really wasn't it really was not I was introduced to our Blessed Mother in probably the mid to late 80s so I understood a little bit about our Blessed Mother but I have a huge devotion to her right now I keep my rosary with me wherever I go I wear I have a devotion to the brown scapular the green scapular she is such a huge part of my life especially with my wife and I she's the Our Lady of Guadalupe is the star of the New Evangelization we invoke her healing and she has been so good to my family and healing my daughter when my daughter was ill we prayed so hard and that's that's why we do what we do God is in a blessing beer business and we experience miracles every single day let's take this next caller Olivia from California hello what's your question for us tonight hi to Richard Lane what how did you view our blessed the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Lutheran and how did you her now do you have a relationship with her thank you yes ready to know what we're talking exactly as a Lutheran growing up as a Lutheran I don't recall us really speaking a lot about the Blessed Mother I do hear a lot more people nowadays speaking of the Blessed Mother the mother of Christ but they do not venerate her as much as we do I love our Blessed Mother so very much I just I look at it so so ironic that my own mother's name is Mary I love my Blessed Mother and then and one of the names that my daughter chose was Mary as well all right yeah I can remember myself as a Lutheran it just wasn't a part of things was so ironic you know that we would say communion of the saints again that's with a small C I guess because I don't remember as a Lutheran how I understood communion of the saints I didn't know if I I'm being a little sarcastic here but I don't know if I met thought it meant the coffee and doughnuts after you know in other words when you're having fellowship right because I surely didn't think of it as the ability to communicate right in prayer and it's one of the great things that I love about our church is the Saints to be able to understand that we have prayer warriors in heaven praying for us that we can actually learn from their lives that of Saint Benedict Saint Benedict the Moses the African so many wonderful things saying Josephine vaquita Saint Polycarp Saint Paul these lives of these people these holy men and women that have gone before us that are in heaven that are praying on our behalf it's just a wonderful thing to be able to learn you know when we look back at a question about reaching out to our black brothers and sisters what do we do because if you look back to right after the Revolution in America when the Catholic Church now could exist here to a certain extent the the witness could have been equally there from Catholic or non Catholic but it didn't work well they didn't go our direction mm-hmm what we do wrong and what can we do better to reach out to that culture well you have to understand and realize that at that particular time some 400 years ago when Africans African and African were brought to this land we were given the faith of those of the owners now mind you there were several Catholics that were involved and I'm reading a book right now which I would strongly recommend but written by Father Cyprian Davis black the history of black Catholic in America of Catholics in America it's an outstanding book that gives you a great historical overview of the history as far as Roman cap african-american Roman Catholics I had no clue that some of the oldest Roman Catholic churches had been around for over 200 years I was like wow I did not know that so we have a rich experience a rich heritage in history deeply rooted in the Catholic Church but we need to do a lot better job not just african-americans but all people of God to be able to reach out to our brothers and sisters and say and I've heard some people say well you know Catholic that's the white man's religion no it's not no it's not it's universal it's everyone's religion we need to do a much better job to be able to reach out and one of the main things is to be is to invite people one of the things that our church Saint Alphonsus Rock Church we partner with another parish in our area so we are able to go and worship with them and then other parishes are able to come and experience the Afrocentric Catholic worship but it is the same liturgical which I wanted to make sure that you made that point oh yes it is the same literally messing with the liturgy no musics different I mean in the prayers but there's crying words and that's the that's the beauty again entrusting the Magisterium that's Koretz it's called inculturation we admit the fact that in the late 60's and 70's 80's not just messing with the mass to maybe attract african-americans but messing with the mass to try and attract all kinds of people was the wrong move you don't mess with the mass you trust the spirits guiding this mass that's right now and you trust the mass you trust the liturgy you trust the word of the Lord and everything else will work itself out it's like our next caller this is Tammy in Minnesota hello Tammy what's your questions hi Marcus thanks for taking my phone call I just wanted to say that it's so good to hear your guests journey into the Catholic faith specifically because of how he puts himself out there on the streets witness to people and my question is this how do people receive this message of you you're specifically I guess from the evangelical baptist then I mean this is the past me quite the oxymoron how I have I have to repeat this of yours thank you very much it has been received very well it's ironic and it's it's humbling where I have people all the time asking me you know when I get ready to speak they said well you were just so so Protestant lad or so Pentecostal last night I loved that I was like I was not a Pentecostal I was Lutheran I'm a Catholic this is who I am and one of the things is I'm excited about our Lord when I get a chance to talk about the blessings the wonderfulness of this faith that we have I'm excited about it and I want to encourage others to be infected by that same light that same fire the Holy Spirit because as sister Thea Bowman once said if that fire within me that light of Jesus Christ that shines in me touches or sparks a light in you and another how much more then will the world be illuminated for Jesus Christ and so we need to go forth boldly and be excited about our faith to others the problem this is the problem a lot of us Catholics don't know history very well because if you went back a hundred years there was the Catholic evangelist guild evidence guild of men and women on on soap boxes in England and all over traveling the country yes it's just that in our memory and the old gray folk like me we remember mostly people doing that were the Baptist's right the Protestants it's just the Catholics in the last 20th century kind of lost it a little bit didn't get involved with it it is our heritage some of the greatest Catholic evangelists did that and we just have to recapture our heritage that's very true and it comes evangelization and one of the things that I always and I do talks all over the country not only to laity but especially to priests to bishops priests and deacons to let them know that we are not trying to replace them the laity by going out being a Catholic evangelist I am NOT trying to replace you because no one can replace you you are ordained you are called you have received the sacrament of Holy Orders but it is up to us the laity to be able to help the priesthood to be able to help those priests the Deacons and the nuns and everyone else to help them continue to go out and bring others into the church and we've got to be excited in order to do that and again we cannot replace those blessing men that have been called to service and we're not trying to do that but they've got a hard job and we have a responsibility we have a job to do and that's to go out and to praise our Lord and to serve him well especially in this year of st. Paul we've gotta read where it says in Ephesians that the Apostles and teachers and that long list of leaders were one of their callings was to equip the Saints yes or the work of the ministry that's very true and so it isn't just their job it's us together exactly and that's why you spoke so heavily it's got to be we've got to experience a daily conversion we've got to be converted we've got to be hungry to be able to feast on not only the body of Christ but feast on the Word of God the word is just waiting there for us to break it open and for him to come into us we've got to share not only do we receive him but we've got to take him into our hearts and be able to receive his word and go out and proclaim that to everyone that he brings across our path every day I'll tell you what Richard let's say there's somebody out there watching the show tonight listening to the show that right now is where you were what would you like to say to encourage them to make the same journey home you've made the very first scripture that hit me was John chapter 14 verse 6 when Jesus said I am the way I am the truth and I am the life Jesus will continue to make a way out of no way for your life God will continue to show you the truth in the form of the Blessed Sacrament in the form of the Eucharist which is Jesus Christ God will continue to make a way out of no way just trust in him with all of your being with everything that you have trust in the Lord and go where the Holy Spirit directs you because he is not going to forsake you everything that we have here in our church is real it is real Richard what's the name of that website again Catholic evangelist net and that ministry of use Corbin ministries qo r ba n haha right Richard it's been a wonderful pleasure thank you so much it's been an honor and a pleasure and just as that one email or say we're gonna pray for God's guidance in your speaking and all other aspects of your banja lipstick ministry thank you we appreciate it so much thank you very much and thank you for joining us on this special episode of the journey home god bless you see cancer

Channel: EWTN

Views: 26,518

Rating: 4.8635392 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television, Lutheranism (Religion)

Id: 4ZpW5VgNgTU

Length: 56min 23sec (3383 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 27 2015