{"id":11,"date":"2011-01-19T11:35:07","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T11:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/01\/welcome-to-the-catholic-corner-of-beliefnet-and-to-catholic-by-choice.html"},"modified":"2011-01-19T11:35:07","modified_gmt":"2011-01-19T11:35:07","slug":"welcome-to-the-catholic-corner-of-beliefnet-and-to-catholic-by-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/01\/welcome-to-the-catholic-corner-of-beliefnet-and-to-catholic-by-choice.html","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the Catholic Corner of Beliefnet and to “Catholic by Choice”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nAs a Christian in full communion with the Catholic Church by choice, I welcome the opportunity to enter into a robust dialogue with other Christians. I also welcome the opportunity for interreligious dialogue with other religious believers. Finally, I welcome the interchange with those in our day who are called seekers. This kind of dialogue and interchange is what is so unique about participation in Beliefnet.\n<\/div>\n

\"cathbychoice.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

With this column I am pleased to introduce the “Catholic Corner” of Beliefnet. As a Christian in full
\ncommunion with the Catholic Church by choice, I welcome the opportunity to enter into a robust dialogue with other Christians. I also welcome the
\nopportunity for interreligious dialogue with other religious believers. Finally, I welcome the interchange with those in our day who are called
\nseekers. This kind of dialogue and interchange is what is so unique about participation in Beliefnet. <\/p>\n

I am convinced that
\nthose who follow Jesus Christ in the Third Millennium are living in a new missionary
\nage. The Culture in the contemporary West is not unlike the cultures that
\nChristians in the first few centuries encountered. Our task is the same, to
\npresent the fullness of the Gospel message as the answer to every human longing
\nand the path to a new life. We do so out of the greatest motivation, love. We
\nwant to give away freely what has been given to us freely, the love of God made
\nfully manifest in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

In a homily (sermon)
\nwhich he delivered right before he was be chosen to succeed the late John Paul
\nII in the Chair of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI (then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger)
\nreferred to Western Culture as being  under the influence of a
\n“Dictatorship of Relativism”. Relativism is an ideology which claims
\nthere are no objective truths which can be known and by which we can guide and
\ngovern our life. Rather, everything is “relative”. The echo of this
\nerror resounds every time we hear the notion that there is “your
\ntruth” and “my truth”. In short, to the proponents of
\nrelativism, there is no objective truth. <\/p>\n

The Christian claim is
\nquite different than the emptiness of relativism. It contends that there is
\ntruth – and that it can be known. In fact, the Christian claim is that Jesus
\nChrist, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnate Word of God, is
\nHimself, in the words recorded in the Gospel of St John, the “Way, the Truth<\/b>
\nand the Life” (John 14:6). Further, that Jesus Christ is the path to the
\nFather and in His Sacred humanity He is the true revelation of who each one of
\nus can become, by grace, as we respond to His invitations.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Christian
\nclaim is that by being baptized in to His Body, which is the Church, we are
\nmade new and capacitated to live differently.  Our choices truly matter.
\nIn a very real sense, we do not just make choices, our choices make us. St.
\nPaul told the Christians in Corinth, “whoever is in Christ is a new
\ncreation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.”
\n(2 Cor. 5:17) That transformation in Christ is an ongoing process and our
\nchoices, our exercise of freedom, is at the heart of the journey.<\/p>\n

For the Catholic
\nChristian, to belong to Jesus Christ is to belong to His Body.
\nParticipation in the Church is not an optional extra, but the place where we
\nlive our lives “in Christ” for the sake of the world. The early
\nChristians would never have even considered such a thing as a churchless
\nChristianity. Here are a few expressions which confirm this truth of the essential
\nnature of participation in the Church from early Christian leaders:<\/p>\n

“Let us love the
\nLord our God; let us love His Church. Let us love Him as our Father and her as
\nour mother” (St. Augustine) “No one can have God as his Father who
\ndoes not have the Church as his Mother” (St. Cyprian) “For where the
\nChurch is, there the Spirit of God is also; and where the Spirit of God is,
\nthere the Church is, and all grace. And the Spirit is truth.” (St.
\nIrenaeus of Lyons)<\/p>\n

The Bishops of the
\nCatholic Church at the last ecumenical Church Council called Vatican II, wrote
\nthese words in a teaching document on the Church called Gaudium et Spes <\/i>(Latin
\nfor “Joy and Hope”),”The truth is that only in the mystery of
\nthe incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first
\nman, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the
\nfinal Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully
\nreveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” In other
\nwords, we discover the fullness of what it means to be a human person in Jesus
\nChrist. Through Him, we also find the way to our own authentic freedom and
\nflourishing, the salvation which is found in Him.<\/p>\n

I write this column as a
\n“revert” to the Catholic Church; one who returned home to the
\nCatholic Church – by choice. Though, as a child, I was baptized as a Catholic
\nand reared in a family which identified as Catholic, I wandered far away from
\nthe Catholic Christian faith. As a teenage hippie, I searched for truth, in many
\ndiverse places. That search led me on a very circuitous path. I was, before the
\nword became as popular as it is today, a seeker. <\/p>\n

Through my sincere
\nsearch – and through all of the questions that accompanied it – not only did I
\ncome back to faith in Jesus Christ, but I journeyed back into the heart of the
\nCatholic Church. I am therefore a Catholic by choice. I choose to stand in the
\nfull communion of the Catholic Church as a Christian. I try to live my life now
\nin the heart of the Church, for the sake of the world. I am not alone. In fact,
\nthere is a growing resurgence underway in the Catholic Church reflecting what
\nis called a “New Evangelization”. You will read about it here on the “catholic
\nCorner” of Beliefnet.<\/p>\n

In this column I will
\ndiscuss the reasons for this choice and explain the Catholic Christian faith.
\nWe will consider together what it means to be a “Catholic by Choice”.
\nWe will ask – and answer- questions about what Catholics believe and why. For
\nexample, we will consider what Catholics believe about salvation; the Bible,
\nthe Church, the Sacraments, the Resurrection of the Body; our relationship with
\nthe world – along with a host of other matters concerning the Catholic faith,
\nwhich is ever ancient and ever new.  <\/p>\n

We will do so in this
\nvirtual worldwide public square called Beliefnet – where believers of various
\nreligious traditions gather and where so many seekers come to explore. <\/p>\n

One of my favorite
\nmissionary encounters is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the book in the
\nNew Testament which records the growth of the early Christian Church. It is
\nfound in the 17th chapter. It recounts the Apostle Paul’s missionary encounter
\nin Athens, where he preached “Jesus and the Resurrection” to all who
\nwould listen. Some Athenians, who were philosophers, brought Paul to the Areopagus<\/i>, on Mars Hill, where he was
\nasked to explain the faith which he professed. <\/p>\n

We read this account,
\n“So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus<\/i>, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way
\nyou are very religious. For, as I passed along, and observed the objects of
\nyour worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’
\nWhat therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” (Acts
\n17:22, 23) <\/p>\n

Paul, formerly known as
\nSaul, became a follower of Jesus and His “Way”. This term, “the
\nWay”, was used to describe the early Christians before they were even
\ncalled Christians at Antioch. (Acts 11:26, 22:4) Paul embraced this faith after
\nseverely persecuting the early Church. From the moment of his encounter with
\nthe Risen Christ – which is recounted in three places in the Acts of the
\nApostles – he sought to tell everyone who would listen to Him the Good News.
\nThis is what the word “Gospel” means, “Good News”. <\/p>\n

It is Paul’s manner of dialogue in the Aereopagus <\/i>which will be our model. In a sense, Beliefnet is a virtual Aereopagus<\/i>, a digital Mars Hill. It is a very special “virtual” public square inviting such dialogue at the beginning of the Third Millennium, a new missionary age. Paul presents a model for the kind of interreligious dialogue which we can be engaged in this digital Mars Hill. He did not compromise his claim or alter his message. He showed respect and courtesy for his listeners as he proceeded to proclaim the fullness of the Gospel. That is the goal of “Catholic by Choice” and the operating principle for the “Catholic Corner” of Beliefnet. <\/p>\n

There is a hunger in the
\nheart of every man and woman for God and for the truth. Blaise Pascal referred
\nto it as a “God shaped vacuum” and the Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine,
\nexpressed it in his Book entitled “The Confessions” where he recounts his own
\njourney to the Catholic faith, in these words, “You have made us for
\nyourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Catholic Corner of Beliefnet. We invite our Catholic friends, all Christians, indeed all people of all faiths as well as all people of good will who are seeking life’s meaning to visit with us regularly. We have gathered several regular contributors who will offer share their insights on the Catholic Faith, Catholic Culture and the Catholic Way of living the Christian Life. <\/p>\n

In a wonderful discourse on
\nthe Kingdom of God recorded in the thirteenth chapter Gospel of St. Matthew
\nJesus tells us, “every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
\nis like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and
\nthe old.” We will reach into the treasure house of 2000 years and present
\nthe ancient, yet ever new, Catholic Christian faith. Again, welcome to the
\nCatholic Corner. You are always welcome here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a Christian in full communion with the Catholic Church by choice, I welcome the opportunity to enter into a robust dialogue with other Christians. I also welcome the opportunity for interreligious dialogue with other religious believers. Finally, I welcome the interchange with those in our day who are called seekers. 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He is a widely recognized voice in the Catholic and broader Christian community. He is a member of the Clergy of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. In his fifteenth year of service as an ordained Catholic Deacon, he is currently assigned to St Stephen Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is also authorized to serve the Liturgy of the Greek Byzantine Melkite Catholic Church. Deacon Fournier and his wife Laurine have been married for 34 years and have five grown children and six grandchildren. Deacon Fournier holds his Bachelors degree in theology and philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville (BA), his Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Theology from the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University (MTS), his Juris Doctor Law Degree Law (JD) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is a PhD candidate in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America where he is currently writing his Doctoral Dissertation. Deacon Fournier also holds two honorary Doctorates, a Doctor of Laws (L.L.D. 1994,Honoris Causa) from St. Thomas University - Given for pro-life legal contributions, and a Doctor of Divinity Degree (D.D. 2005, Honoris Causa ) from the National Clergy Council and the Methodist Episcopal Church for his contributions to authentic ecumenical efforts toward Christian unity. Attorney Fournier is a constitutional lawyer who appeared as co-counsel in cases before the United States Supreme Court on Pro-Life, Religious Freedom and Pro-family issues. He served as the first Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice for seven years. He then served as a public policy activist for the causes of life, marriage and family issues for a number of years. He has extensive experience in nonprofit and for profit leadership. He has taught at the College level and served in Academic administration. He was a Dean of Students and the Dean of Evangelization at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Deacon Fournier is, above all, a communicator. His faith informs his passion to share the fullness of life which he has found in the heart of the Catholic Church. He has written eight books on matters of faith, family and the Christian life and is widely published in the broader Christian community on matters of life, faith, family, and cultural and social issues. He hosted two daily national radio programs, Purpose for Living, and Millennial Moment. He hosted several television series on Christian family and contemporary faith issues on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). He is actively involved in preaching and teaching in the Catholic Church and the broader Christian community. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, Deacon Fournier is the John Paul II Fellow and special counsel for the National Pro-Life Center in Washington, D.C. and is the president of Third Millennium, LLC, a communications and consulting company. He views his role on Beliefnet as an opportunity to share his Catholic Christian faith in what he calls a new areopagus. The areopagus is referred to in the 17th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian New Testament. Also called Mars Hill it was there where the Apostle Paul shared the Christian faith with the early Greeks in their temple.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/author\/deaconfournier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}