When a Pastor Becomes Catholic - Ken Hensley

[Music] [Applause] whenever someone who's coming from a non-catholic background becomes Catholic there is a ripple effect you know a a pebble has been tossed into the pond and uh the ripples move out from that and there's an effect on their families why did my son become Catholic what Dad is becoming Catholic you know the ripples go out to friendships the ripples go out in all directions th this is particularly true and Powerful when a non-catholic pastor when when ordained clergy become Catholic um the ripple effect is powerful and it's powerful for a number of reasons number one this is someone who was one of our leaders this was someone who preached to us and taught us you know whether it's in the Baptist Church or Presbyterian Lutheran Nazarene Church of Christ Pentecostal whatever it is and this is someone who was our leader and who taught us this is someone who had gone to Seminary and had Advanced degrees Maybe maybe in Bible or theology pastoral care this is someone who knew a lot and knows more than we do a lot of people will feel and so the Ripple effects are very powerful um the Ripple effects in that case are also powerful because people know that a that an ordained Pastor who becomes Catholic is going to have to resign his job to do this and so he's going to have to he's going to have to be convicted to the point where he's willing to walk out on his career walk out on his income his livelihood uh walk out on his on his sense of identity um this person may have been a pastor for 20 years and his entire identity has been bound up in in that I am a shepherd of God's people what do I do I pray I study scripture I teach I provide counseling to to those who are having problems this is what I do this is what I was trained to do you know some of them went to Bible college for their un undergraduate degree and then went to Seminary for a graduate degree some of them got doctorates in Theology and have been doing this for a long time now when I resigned my Ministry I'd only been a pastor for 11 years I was 42 years old at the time and uh you know it was hard in in all of these ways um but I work with men all the time who have been pastors for 15 years 20 25 even 30 and some of them to walk from their Ministry entails a great deal of sacrifice and is very hard and because of that the the the effect of their version is very powerful back to the image of a stone being dropped into the pond the the ripples going out it's more like a major earthquake under the ocean you know where the where tsunami goes out in all directions and there are examples of that that I that I could name I'm sure there's some people that are in your mind pastors that have converted and have wound up having a tremendous um effect on many more I work with a lot of pastors that are on some kind of a journey some stage of a journey toward the Catholic Church in fact there are over 90 names on my list now of people that I'm praying for um these are all clergy these are ordained non-catholic clergy some of them just beginning to become curious about the Catholic Church some of them a great deal a great way along the path the journey toward the Catholic Church some distance along and when they're looking forward toward the possibility of becoming Catholic often all they can see is dark Darkness I mean they see light in the sense that they're falling in love with what they're learning about the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith but when they think about their own lives and the Fallout all they see is Darkness I'm going to lose my job I'm going to lose many friendships I'm going to have um Partners in Ministry in the denomination that I've been ordained in that are going to think I'm either insane or think I've been taking captive by the devil and I'm on my way to hell um I'm going to lose friendships I'm going to lose my income I'm going to lose my sense of identity um here I am a senior pastor I'm well regarded I jump on airplanes and I fly to pastoral conferences and now I'm going to be walking up and down the streets with a with a resume trying to find a job you know anywhere um they see only Darkness but there's a flip side of the whole thing and that is they bring often so much grace and power gifting and Beauty into the church with them because their training has been different different their experience has been different and they're able to come into the Catholic church and often bring a great deal of knowledge because in order to convince themselves of the truth of the Catholic faith when they knew that they were going to be giving up so much to become Catholic they've had to study like Mad Men they've had to read a lot and think through a lot because they weren't going to resign unless they were sure and so they will tend often to come into the church with a great deal of knowledge about Catholicism about Catholic teaching and theology but also about the case for for the Catholic Church being true so they come in with a great deal of knowledge of apologetics they also come in with a great deal of love and and excitement for the church because again the process of becoming Catholic was something that was very difficult and so for them for non-catholic clergy becoming Catholic it is like a treasure has been found in a field and he went and sold everything he had to buy that field and so once he's once he's got the field and he digs up that treasure box you know he's showing it to everyone he's just like look at this look at this treasure look at what I have and the inspiration that this brings my my experience is the inspiration this brings to uh Garden variety Catholics if you will or you know people who've been Catholic a long time and therefore as it is with us in every area of life you tend to take for granted the thing you have the thing you have become used to Catholics that have become used to what they have or just haven't thought about it in a long time and don't have lost a sense of what a treasure it is here comes this uh Here Comes This Pastor into the church you know who's holding up the treasure box and saying you know look at what we have here's the here look at these Ro rubies look at these emeralds look at the gold and silver deons you know look at the diamonds look at this treasure and um it it can really Inspire it brings inspiration into the church so they bring their gifting bring their knowledge bring their knowledge of apologetics their ability and their desire to make the case for the church and to bring their sense of excitement and love in the Treasure uh so all this to Simply say that non-catholic clergy converting there's a a great ripple effect a tremendous ripple effect often in the lives of the people who just watch it who see it happen it's [Music] wonderful [Music] B

Channel: The Coming Home Network International

Views: 7,979

Keywords: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, faith, religion, spirituality, prayer, baptist to Catholic, baptist pastor becomes Catholic, protestant pastor becoming Catholic, Evangelical to Catholic, Evangelical pastor becomes Catholic, Vocation support, bivocational, leaving ministry, former pastor, EWTN, The Journey Home, Marcus Grodi, JonMarc Grodi, On the Journey with Matt Ken and Kenny, Conversion stories, Catholic Convert, how to become Catholic, RCIA, OCIA, Joining the Catholic Church, Catholicism

Id: 2qEcPUuyye8

Length: 8min 43sec (523 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2024