Customer Reviews

Finding Home: Stories of Roman Catholics Entering the Episcopal Church

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Converts are an interesting phenomenon. Most people do not look closely at the church they were raised in and consider whether it is the right place for them, so by their very nature converts are unusual, seekers. It is interesting to gain insight into the reasons for conversion, particularly leaving the Roman Catholic church for a Protestant church when so many Catholics grew up learning a strong prejudice against other Christian faiths than theirs, the "one true church". I enjoyed learning about the personal reasons for conversion and am happy that people still find religion worth researching, rediscovering and recommitting to.

Finding Home is the story of the journeys of several people from the Roman Catholic Church to the Episcopal Church. As an Episcopalian, I learned a great deal that I didn't know about Roman Catholicism, most of it extremely positive. There was no R.C. bashing in this book; in fact, the majority of those who made this journey did so with grief at losing the parts of their previous church which had been particularly meaningful to them. This book is well written. I recommend it highly.

This book was fairly helpful, and as a Roman Catholic(in transition) not very offensive, especially compared to many outlandish works such as Boettner's Roman Catholicism.
This book really brings up good points, and while reading it, I several times thought "Wow, I can really relate to that" since it is from the perspective of everyday former Roman Catholics.
And, Roman Catholicism is not the world's largest religion because it is nessicarily something great. It dominates where it was once the state-enforced religion. You don't find many Englishmen, Swedes, Lutherans, and especially Russians or Muslims flocking to Catholicism.
The book is keen to point out that these people were born into Roman Catholicism and taught there was nothing more, and I know that really does keep most Roman Catholics from ever thinking of stepping into a fine place like an Episcopal Church.
I'm glad I read the book.

This book describes the spiritual journeys of several people who left the Roman Catholic Church for the Episcopal Church. It seeks to teach readers about those journeys, and through that process, to provide them with some insight into why someone might become Episcopalian. The book thus teaches by example. What it does NOT do is instruct, in the sense of "you should become Episcopalian because [insert set list of reasons]." The book does NOT provide a laundry list of reasons for such a conversion, and it does not seek to justify converting to Episcopalianism on the basis of the Bible.

I think for these reasons it will be difficult for many Roman Catholics to learn much from the book. Indeed, in several of the stories the author presents, the people were disappointed that he did not simply tell them what to do or think. Instead, he encouraged them to ask questions and to reach their own decision. Let's face it: having never been encouraged to do those things in the past, many Roman Catholics will find the methodology uncomfortable and disturbing. This is not without purpose, as they would likely feel the same way about the Episcopal Church.

Therefore, the book is quite useful, very readable, and I recommend it.

This book describes a story which has been lived by so many like myself, who have found a spiritual home in The Episcopal Church and have come to cherish the great Anglican tradition. Webber has done a great service to so many who are seeking to understand our spiritual family.

Today the media tells the story of those leaving Anglicanism for the Roman Church, but the flip-side of the story is seldom heard, though there are many people entering The Episcopal Church after being raised Roman Catholic.

I think this book may be very helpful to people considering a move from Roman to Anglo Catholicism. The stories of the people who have made the change from one flock to another one should be useful to folks wondering if it will work for them. Nicely written and not demeaning of one flock or the other.

It indeed is interesting that Roman Catholics, taught grave misconceptions about the Anglican Communion, found a "home" in the latter in adulthood, and certainly any growth in the spiritual life and church involvement is a happy development to see. Unfortunately, there are several misconceptions about Anglicans which this book seems to underscore!

In several cases, the attitudes of those mentioned seemed to be "I love the liturgy - but don't want the morality or faith of Rome." Granted - the approach within the Anglican Communion is not based on "fidelity to a magisterium," but this hardly means that the commitment is less. Many of us Anglicans hold moral viewpoints (yes, even on abortion, fornication, and concubinage) which would match those of the most devout Roman, and our attitude towards divorce would be no more carefree than the RC annulment mentality.

The book is not dishonest, but certainly is very incomplete.

I am a former Roman Catholic who converted to the Episcopal Church. I must say that I was surprised that an Episcopal priest would write such a negative book about someone else's religion. The overall sense you get is that Catholicism is rule bound, boring, herd-like, to the extent that many RCs are driven to the Episcopal Church. Well, much of this may be true of many Catholic parishes, but certainly not all. There is a certain self-congratulatory smugness here about the Episcopal Church that I find extremely distasteful. Obviously if you are going to interview a bunch of people who decided to convert to your religion, you are going to get a lot of negative views about the religion they came from. The happy RCs aren't going to be much in evidence in this book. My problem with this book isn't so much in the way it was written, as in the incomplete picture it gives of RC, since it is a negative one, and the poor taste of the author. I have heard a lot of people say that Catholics are taught to look down on other denominations, but I must say that I hear a lot more complaining about the "Romans" as an Episcopalian, than I ever heard negatives said about Protestants when I was a Catholic.

I purchased this book as I was considering converting from the Roman Catholic Church but after reading this book I changed my mind. The stories are sincere but are often based simply on the persons views of the RC which may or may not be clearly indicative of the Church's real teachings. I was expecting a volume which like - Surprised By Truth Vol 1&2, gave the testimonials of former Protestants who became Catholic after providing detailled biblical reasons for their conversions. Which often entailled giving up lucrative ministries and careers in their former denominations.
I learned a few things about the EC but not enough to justify a conversion in good conscience.

This is a poorly written book on a very topical subject. Being born and raised Roman Catholic in America, I'm well aware of the personal struggles faced by Roman Catholics who are torn between institutional Catholicism as preached by the Vatican and personal Catholicism as espoused by the majority of Roman Catholic parishes in America.

This book tries to paint the Roman Catholic Church in broad brushstrokes as dogmatic and overbearing, and quite frankly I would agree that the upper echelons of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, especially under the restrictive policies of Paul VII and John Paul II, are all that and more. However, what this book fails to address--which is a typical mistake of the proverbial outsider looking in--is that the Roman Catholic Church in America has survived in direct proportion to the independence its parishes and pastors are given. The Church survives because most priests are left alone by the Vatican to address the individual needs of their parishoners. And within the context of this relationship, an inverted pyramid of power has slowly supplanted the former pyramidial hierarchy that placed the Holy See at the top. The "Vicar of Christ" has become more of a symbolic figurehead, and we as Roman Catholics--AMERICAN Catholics--will admit to as much if you back us into a corner.

Ultimately, if the message this book preaches was really all that attractive, then a pragmatism-first-Christianity-second "Catholic light" religion like Episcopalianism would be the rule rather than the exception, and Roman Catholicism wouldn't be the single largest Christian denomination on the globe. And this is coming from a complete pro-birth control, pro-choice, gay-friendly left winger who thinks priests should be allowed to marry and that women should be allowed in the priesthood, so don't start throwing the labels on me.