Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism

In my review of “The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross,” by Scott Hahn, I wrote the following:Scott Hahn, author of nearly 40 books, including “The Fourth Cup,” became a Christ-follower in high school through the ministry of YoungLife. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and was an ordained Presbyterian pastor. Until…he wasn’t.After a multi-year study of the Scriptures and more, this confirmed Calvinist converted to Catholicism in 1986. A Catholic theologian since 1990, he teaches at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic university in Steubenville, Ohio, and is the founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.It took his wife, the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, four more years of discernment before she became Catholic. In 1993, Kimberly Hahn co-authored a book with her husband, "Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism."In my review of “Evangelical Exodus: Evangelical Seminarians and Their Paths to Rome,” I wrote this:In the very intriguing book, “Evangelical Exodus,” the author of the chapter, “Moved and Sustained by the Blessed Virgin,” quotes from Peter Kreeft’s lecture on ecumenism. Kraft says, “Baptists are learning to love Mary and pray the Rosary, and Catholics are asking, ‘Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?’”I was raised in a Baptist church in Seattle, graduated from a Free Methodist-affiliated college (SPU), and received a master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), part of the Evangelical Free Church denomination. I served five years in the Midwest district office and camp of the Baptist General Conference (now called Converge). I have been a tithing member of an Evangelical Covenant Church and a non-denominational megachurch, so I thought I was somewhat ecumenical. But pro-Catholic? Not so much.ROME SWEET HOME. OK, now with that background—here is my review of “Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism,” by Scott and Kimberly Hahn.Just in time for Lent 2024, I read “Rome Sweet Home.” It looks like I’m averaging one Catholic author per year—which is pretty good for an old Baptist. So…what’s the deal?My neighbor, a Lutheran who became Catholic, loaned me this book (and then I bought my own copy). It's a poignant and personal story from Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Written in 1993, much has happened since Scott Hahn (an “anti-Catholic” by his own admission) became Catholic. His wife, Kimberly, shares her story of deep reluctance, regret at her husband’s conversion, and then ultimately her joy—in also becoming Catholic four years later.Each chapter begins with Scott’s journey, followed by Kimberly’s commentary. (It’s the perfect storytelling approach for this husband and wife.) If you’re an evangelical Christian, you’ll recognize many familiar names and organizations:Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, YoungLife, “Screwtape Letters,” Paul Little’s book, “Know Why You Believe” (Little was one of my seminary profs), Dr. John Gerstner, Martin Luther, Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, Continental Singers, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, Peter Gillquist, Elmbrook Church, Dr. Jerry Kirk, Cardinal Bernardin, Pope John Paul II, and others.(And by the way, if you're an "evangelical," you should read the “Wall Street Journal” article from Jan. 11, 2024, "How ‘Evangelical’ Are Iowa’s Evangelicals? The adulteration of a theological term into a secular political and demographic label.")Scott Hahn affirms the Lord’s grace in helping “this bumbling biblical detective (the ‘Columbo of Theology’) crack the case of Catholicism—by coming home.” He adds, “In truth, the journey began as a detective story, but soon it became more like a horror story, until it finally ended up as a great romance story—when Christ unveiled his Bride, the Church. (By the way, it would help to keep these three story types in mind as you read.)”The stories are amazing: The God-orchestrated last-minute visit by Scott with a high school friend. (Spoiler alert: eight feet of rope.) And God’s just-in-time doctor’s proximity to Kimberly, resulting in an emergency hospital visit.Scott was consumed (consumed!) with nagging questions:• “Why is our church so pastor-centered?”• “Why is our worship service so sermon-centered?”• “And why aren’t my sermons really designed to prepare God’s people to receive communion?” (The church where he pastored took communion only four times per year.)He writes: “…I was pastoring a Presbyterian church that had split off from a splinter group (the Orthodox Presbyterian Church), which had in turn separated from another division (the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A.), all in this century! (We didn’t call ourselves the split P’s for nothing!)”If you’re Protestant, you must confess that you have some angst when you read that Jesus said to Peter, “…upon this rock I will build my church.” And that today there are now an estimated 47,000 denominations worldwide. (The Hahns estimated just 25,000 in 1993 when the book was published.) How does the proliferation of denominations and “split P’s” align with Jesus’ prayer that Christ-followers would be of one mind and unified?This book is not a dusty lecture on Catholic theology and Protestant/Catholic issues—nor are the fundamental differences treated lightly. (Other books and resources are recommended for more study.) Gratefully, the book is respectful of the A-to-Z nuances of Christian doctrine. As Scott Hahn (aka “Columbo”) pursued his detective work, both he and Kimberly were able to find humor in their journeys. On the deep divide of doctrines about Mary (the mother of Jesus), Kimberly shares this story:“I once read about a man in Rome who was repairing the ceiling of a beautiful chapel one day when he observed an American woman enter the church and begin to pray. He thought he’d have a little fun, so he called down quietly, ‘This is Jesus.’ But the woman did not respond.“So he called out a little louder, ‘This is Jesus.’ Still no response.“Finally, the man called loudly, ‘This is Jesus!’“The woman looked up and yelled, ‘Be quiet, I’m talking to your mother!’”NEXT STEP. If you’re Protestant and you’ve never read a thoughtful book about Catholicism, you’ll appreciate “Rome Sweet Home.” If you’re Catholic, you’ll find much to love about this former Presbyterian pastor who is now a Professor of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. He yearns for even more commitment from his Catholic colleagues. (Note: If you’re an atheist or an agnostic, I’d suggest you read former atheist Lee Strobel’s latest book, “Is God Real?”)I'll sum up with this from Scott Hahn:“What has impressed us most from our time in Steubenville is precisely the way it combines the evangelical and the Catholic. I am talking about the way in which the Catholic Faith unites what other religions tend to separate: personal piety and liturgical ritual; evangelistic outreach and social action; spiritual fervor and intellectual rigor; academic freedom and dynamic orthodoxy; enthusiastic worship and reverent contemplation; powerful preaching and sacramental devotion; Scripture and Tradition; body and soul; the individual and the corporate.”

Impossible to put this book down. Read it in one and a half day. Well written, easy to read and understand. Personal and very informative.A must read for all who are interested in Catholicism.

A motivational and inspiring account by a husband & wife couple who started off as rabid anti-Catholics who, through intellectual honesty and open-mindedness as well as spiritual inspiration and open hearts, made the faith journey to the staunch Catholic apologetics that they are now. Chockfull of quote worthy, highlight-worthy passages. A worthy companion piece to the works of Karl Keating and Patrick Madrid in providing the spiritual ammunition to defend one's Catholic faith against the non-stop and misguided accusations of so-called "Bible Christians." Dominus Vobiscum.--p. 5: "Please understand, my ardent anti-Catholicism sprang from a zeal for God and a charitable desire to help Catholics be Christians. And it was the Catholics who could outdrink and outswear me before I became a Christian, so I knew how much help they needed." Haha.--p. 10: "Kimberly means 'warrior maiden' in Gaelic." Och aye, lass, ye learn something new every day!--p. 16: "For one thing, I learned that many so-called Bible Christians prefer to base their beliefs on feelings, without praying and thinking through Scripture."--p. 21: "On September 31," say what?!?! Typo??--p. 28: "So I resorted to an old family saying: 'Even a blind hog can find an acorn.' I mean, after two thousand years, the Catholic Church was bound to get something right." I thought it was a blind squirrel, but eh, why nitpick?"Sometimes we would get together on Friday nights, meeting at Howard Johnson’s or some local pub for pizza and beer in order to talk theology until three in the morning," well, at least they weren't the militant teetotaller holier-than-thou temperance types!p. 30: "In fact, I discovered that nowhere did Saint Paul ever teach that we were justified by faith alone! Sola fide was unscriptural!" But so many "Bible Christians" are too closed-minded to ever acknowledge this fact.--p. 32: "In James 2: 24, the Bible teaches that 'a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.' Besides, Saint Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13: 2, '. . . if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.'"--p. 41: "We gradually became convinced that Martin Luther let his theological convictions contradict the very Scripture that he supposedly chose to obey rather than the Catholic Church."--p. 44: "I had already shown my parishioners that the one and only place where Christ used the word 'covenant' was when he instituted the Eucharist, or communion, as we called it. Yet we only took communion four times a year."p. 45: "Next I took my parishioners through the Gospel of John, and, much to my shock, I discovered that the Gospel was loaded with sacramental imagery."--p. 52: "'Yeah, 2 Thessalonians 2: 15”' I said weakly. 'What does that say again?' 'Paul tells the Thessalonians, "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter."'"--p. 53: "'**you really can’t demonstrate sola scriptura from Scripture. The Bible doesn’t expressly declare that it is the Christian’s only authority.** In other words, Scott, sola scriptura is essentially the historic confession of the Reformers, over and against the Catholic claim that it is Scripture plus the Church and Tradition. For us, then, it is a theological presupposition, our starting point rather than a proven conclusion.'" [emphasis added] WOW!!--p. 99: "After finishing one particularly exciting session—on 'A Biblical Explanation of Indulgences'—an older parishioner named Joe announced, 'Yep, sometimes it takes an immigrant to explain it for the natives.'" Haha, true enough, kinda like with patriotism, i.e. naturalised citizens schooling native-born ones.--p. 175: "We appreciated our evangelical tradition, where people sing and pray wholeheartedly. So, one of the elements of worship our family has most appreciated at Franciscan University is the way people participate. As Scott says, 'If the Eucharist doesn’t make you want to sing, what would?'" And as more than one of my priests and fellow Catholic lay members has said, "When you sing, you pray twice."--p. 179: "Let’s face it, many of these non-Catholics put us to shame. With Bible in hand, plus lots of zeal, they do far more with less than many Catholics who have the fullness of Faith in the Church but who are famished and fast asleep. We share with them so much of the truth about Christ in Scripture; but what they lack is nothing less than the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist. To state it simply, they study the menu while we enjoy the Meal!"

After 25 years I read this again, and cried all night reading. 25 years ago, the conversion journey, including shocking theological discoveries was moving and needed. This time around the trauma, sadness on both sides, and difficulty of a mixed faith marriage (that I'm now in) came through on a flood of tears all night reading. It has been lonely and difficult - more than conversion. Reading their story and 7 years of mixed faith is incredibly supportive. I'm not alone! And it's real! Marriage and life shaking real! I bought several more and have them away to my protestant family and friends (I converted to Catholic 25 years ago). It shows the surprising theology of the 2000 year old Catholic Church that Jesus Christ set up. And it's not a denomination! And how painful it is for our spouse to be against us /it. Real, affects everything, pain. Yet it shows that it can be done, that marriage is bigger, and it gave me hope as well. Their mixed faith marriage was 7 years. Mine has been 5 years so far. God worked a great miracle for all of us through their mixed marriage. God is great! I can't thank them enough for their openness and honesty in theology and the real marriage challenges that happen. And it shows how prejudiced against Catholic people are, just like I've found over and over. Both sides. Scott never wanted to be Catholic, and Kimberly couldn't belive it was happening. It is a riveting and honest read. With hope for Truth. Thank you to both of them.