Called To Communion’s Ten Year Anniversary
Mar 6th, 2019 | By Bryan Cross | Category: Blog PostsCalled To Communion’s first essay was posted on Ash Wednesday in 2009. So today on this Ash Wednesday we give thanks to God for ten years, and ask for His continued grace for sanctity and gifts for service.
Over these ten years we each have taken on other responsibilities, especially in our local parishes, our vocational responsibilities, and our growing families. So our publishing output has slowed. But we have continued to pray for unity among all Christians. And on this anniversary especially we are grateful for the opportunities we have been given through CTC, and for you, our readers, for your many contributions, encouragement, and participation. As we enter into Lent, may we each continue to pray with faith, without losing hope, that for the glory of God the Father, Christ the Good Shepherd, by the Holy Spirit will heal our schisms, and “never cease to gather a people” to Himself.
Even though the article output is low, I have greatly benefited from many of the articles here. I recently finished the book “Politicizing the Bible”, which I got after your review of it and I haven’t seen on other Catholic blogs. May you still continue for many more.
Thanks Bryan and the team of contributors…. Though most of the articles here are way beyond my league but I still enjoy reading it.
Thank you Bryan and all contributors here. Long-time lurker here. I have thought about Catholicism almost every day for almost a decade, please pray for me as I haven’t returned to the church yet.
I wanted to write a note of thanks too. This Easter will be my 5th year anniversary of my confirmation and full communion in the Catholic Church. In a nutshell, my relationship with Christ has been deepened and I’ve received so much grace. The articles and discussion threads played a big part in my conversion and I come back to them when new questions come up. So much is discussed carefully, clearly, and with charity here. thanks for your efforts
Congrats!
I too would like to express my gratitude to the founders and contributors of CtC for their efforts and dedication to charitable dialogue. I’ve been an avid reader of both articles and comments for a number of years, and like the poster JP commented above, have passed hardly a day in the last 10+ years that the Catholic question was not on my mind – the thought has had an unshakable persistence.
Only recently have I come to the place where I have made known to my family and my session (in which I have been a long-standing elder) of the inward journey I have gone through. As I now more openly interact (with an array of Catholic books and attendance at Mass) I realize how formative the content here at CtC has been in my thinking. I have probably already crossed the threshold of knowledge to the act of faith and I am eager to pursue entry into the Church but find I must slow down and bring my family into my journey. Please pray for my family that the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith would be unveiled for them. I realize that it might not be the same pathway of intellectually oriented pursuit it was for me so I am in much need of humility and wisdom.
Blessings,
Sam
Thanks to all of you who write here. A reader above noted it would shortly be his fifth anniversary of reception into the Catholic Church. For me that fifth anniversary will come in July, and for which I owe a lot to the resources and dialogue on CtC. God bless.
Thanks to Brian and all the contributors here. Happy anniversary.
CtC has changed my life! A year ago I was a young, committed Reformed Protestant struggling with Church History, and now I’m near Confirmation in the Catholic Church.
I’m so appreciative of all of the work the authors have done, and have frequently found myself going through archives looking for answers on questions or topics that still troubled me. I hope that CtC remains on the internet for the foreseeable future, and that God uses it to draw others close to Him and His Church!
Thanks guys,
I wouldn’t have been a Catholic for the last circa 1.5 years if I hadn’t stumbled upon Called to Communion. And I’d likely have continued on to be a Presbyterian minister. I owe the guys here a lot as a result, and am willing to help write articles to boost up the posting frequency if needed. :)
Hi Bryan,
So, I hope you aren’t thinking the journey is over. Because, for many out there, today is day one.
Don’t just park CtC and turn off the switch. The need is as great as ever. If burnout has set in, why
not recruit some capable folks to manage the blog and devise a post rotation?
Thanks to you all for your comments, and thanks be to God for the blessings He has given to us through Christ. I was reading today in St. Bonaventure about the virtue of silence. Sometimes silence is good. It is the world that thinks we must keep speaking, keep posting, keep things “fresh,” loving novelty, and dreading “dead air.” But the truth, no matter how old, is always fresh. And noble principal truths need not be cluttered or eclipsed with trivia. So we are content to write as needed by questions or struggles, or as moved by the Holy Spirit who works within us all in ways we cannot fathom. May Christ continue to heal our divisions, and bring all Christians into the full measure of the unity He has established in His Body, the Church.
An update to my prior post (#6). I entered RCIA in 2019 but due to the pandemic shutdown was not received at the Easter vigil, but instead was received into the church on this past June 13, at the mass of Corpus Christi. My wife attended RCIA with me to support me, and praise Jesus! also entered the Church in the same day. The end of a long journey and the beginning of a new one. I am astounded daily at the depth and abundance of the resources of the Catholic faith.
My thanks again to Bryan Cross and the many other contributors to CTC, as well as the numerous visitors who provided untold numbers of comments and arguments. I am grateful to all!
PAX
Sam
Congratulations Sam. Thank you for sharing this news. May Christ bless you and nourish you in the bosom of Holy Mother Church.
In the peace of Christ,
– Bryan