Rome Sweet Home?

In recent years, a trickle of members — even ministers — in confessional Reformed and Presbyterian as well as Lutheran churches have converted to Roman Catholicism. Graduates of solid seminaries, they nevertheless wrestled with the Reformation for a while only to conclude that Rome is “home.” Reviewing recently the testimonies on a parachurch website that seeks to draw evangelicals and confessional Protestants to Rome, the recurring response of fellow travelers was “welcome home.”

Having engaged recently in conversations with two friends who have been drawn to Rome, I have wrestled myself with the question, Why? What’s up?

I know there are some who have a superficial knowledge of (and concern for) theological issues. They may be attracted to the cultural resources: a long and deeply thought-out moral theology that at least in its official positions is pro-life in a fuller sense than single-issue politics. They’re tired of bandwagons and bellicose leaders who appoint themselves spokespersons for the whole church. Thoughtful, if untheological, many younger Christians are drawn to the more mature character of Roman Catholic reflection on these issues. With cultural refinement and upward mobility, the evangelical churches of their youth can seem, well, tacky or at least shallow in comparison with the tradition in which Dante, Michelangelo, and Raphael were shaped.

But why would people who seriously embraced Reformation theology be drawn to Rome? It’s uncharitable and unwise to presume to know all of the factors in any case, much less to make that a rule for all the others. However, I have a few speculations.  Continue at Michael Horton