Elizabeth Shaw
Chances are pretty good that if I hadn’t gone to an evangelical Bible college, I never would have become a Catholic. One class especially, systematic theology, brought to my mind so many questions that went unanswered. We would explore and analyze and argue over many Scriptures, and the professor reached a point where he would say, essentially, that it was time to agree to disagree.
I found this capitulation quite unsatisfying. If my brand of theology couldn’t answer questions with authority, who could? Surely Jesus didn’t want a church that flounders! So, I started to research.
As Marcus Grodi has often said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” That’s exactly what happened to me. I had an insatiable appetite as I read books and letters left by the earliest Church fathers. All of these authors brought me to the doors of the Catholic Church.
However, as a kid brought up in the Assemblies of God, that couldn’t be right. After all, Catholics aren’t Christians! They worship Mary! They believe that their works will save them! In sadness, I stopped asking questions because I truly believed that Jesus gave us a Church with no authority.
Fast forward a few decades when I discovered Relevant Radio. All of those buried questions came bubbling back to the surface, and I started to read again. This time I was open to believing that Jesus did give us an authoritative Church, and as I learned, I grew in faith and hope and joy.
I was received into the Church on my 48th birthday, 14 years ago. I am filled with gratitude that God used an evangelical Bible school to bring me to the joys of the sacramental life. Thanks be to God!
Shaw, 62, is retired and loves to garden, picnic and explore lakes and parks. She and her husband, James, have been married for 28 years. James entered into full communion with the Catholic Church four years after Elizabeth. They are members of Our Lady of Grace in Edina and, she shares, “We love being Catholic together!”
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