Last week I shared some of my Protestant Christian upbringing, and my desire to share with you more of the spiritual riches of the Catholic Christian Faith. We begin with prayer. As a child I was taught to pray by saying grace at meals, memorizing the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”), by how we prayed at church, by reading prayers, and just speaking my own words to God. I don’t remember any teaching in either my Christian home or at Christian colleges, on how to pray, kinds of prayer, stages of prayer, or growth in prayer. That’s sad. Because from the Jewish tradition before us, and after 2000 years of Christian experience, Christianity has a vast knowledge and experience of prayer. St. Teresa of Jesus (AD 1515-1582), of Avila, Spain, is a Doctor of the Church and outstanding teacher of prayer. She describes prayer as “nothing less than an intimate sharing between friends.” Prayer is friendship with God. Sharing between us and God – Father, Son and Holy Sp
I, Dibby, would like to further introduce the Christian community of California City with more of the riches and depths of the Catholic Faith. But I know well the blocks in some quarters to hearing something that is from the Catholic Christian Faith. So I think it’s time for a bit of my own personal testimony. We all like stories, and testimonies of what the Lord has done in our lives, right? So here goes. I grew up in a Christian home, parents and grandparents Presbyterian and Evangelical ministers, missionaries and teachers in England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, and the USA. My BA degree in Religious Studies came from a good Evangelical school (Westmont College, Santa Barbara), with course work at two other Presbyterian schools. I especially took classes on “Reformation” Theology, so knew where the “errors” of Roman Catholicism lay. My English minister father had always been quite clear on that score also. Along the way, I had traveled a