Conversion Story of Brian Bookheimer
I was very blessed to be raised in a wonderful Christian home where my parents provided me with their good example and an education that helped me to grow up to love God and my neighbor, and have a good knowledge of Scripture.
My parents were initially members of the Presbyterian church, but left when I was around the age of twelve to join a fundamentalist evangelical church. This church had one of the largest Christian schools in central Ohio, and it wasn’t long before my parents enrolled my brother and I there. The school did a tremendous job providing me with a good education and teaching me about the Bible and the essentials of the Christian faith. Unfortunately, as a result of my upbringing, the Catholic Church was something that was far from my experience, and when it was brought up at church or school, was definitely in a critical manner.
Occasionally, though, doctrinal issues would arise that would get me thinking more deeply about my faith. For example, I had been baptized as an infant in the Presbyterian Church. Later, when our family became members of the evangelical church, it did not recognize this baptism and required that I be “re-baptized”. Yet, the apostle Paul writes that there is “one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). This incident early in my life really made me begin to contemplate whether or not Infant Baptism was valid.My pastor at the church where I grew up could give a pretty convincing explanation on why Infant Baptism was not valid. Yet, my church would also promote books and feature films of Francis Schaeffer, the famous Swiss theologian. Francis Schaeffer, on the other hand, stated that the validity of Infant Baptism was very clear both from Scripture and through the practice of the early church, concluding that it was a tremendous blessing that we could give our children.
Since Baptism is such a foundational doctrine in Christianity, these varying opinions were troublesome to me. I thought that there had to be some conclusive way of determining whether or not Infant Baptism was valid.
Various points of the salvation plan taught at our church also caused me to think at times. There just seemed to be too many instances in Scripture, for example, that seemed to contradict the notion of “once saved, always saved”.
Other than occasional instances, though, where doctrinal issues would get me thinking, I really didn’t spend much time thinking about the Catholic Church while growing up. That changed, though, when I met my wife, who was raised in a Catholic home. While we were dating, some of the differences in our beliefs became a stumbling block. As we started to get more serious and contemplate marriage, I realized that I needed to understand these differences better and resolve them one way or the other.
It is important to point out that although we had different Christian upbringings, we had a lot of common ground and shared the same beliefs on most things, particularly our relationship with the Lord. It was due to my love for her and this sharing of most of our core Christian beliefs that made it worth the effort to attempt to understand the teachings where we differed.
I first began to contemplate the Eucharist as part of Christian worship while reading a book titled, Ancient Churches Revealed, published by Biblical Archaeology Review. I’ve always had a strong interest in archeology, particularly Biblical archaeology. This book was a summary of the historical and archaeological findings from ancient churches beginning with the simple structures of the early centuries to the large basilicas erected during the Constantinian and Byzantine era’s. While reading this book, I found it striking that in the early Church, the historical and archaeological evidence supported the fact that the altar was the central part of the church, not the pulpit, and the Eucharist was the central part of the early Christian worship service. These types of findings got me thinking as a Protestant, especially since I was then a member of an evangelical church, which did not even have an altar, and also only had communion a few times a year.
Having a keen interest in history, findings such as these deepened my curiosity to learn more about the beliefs and liturgical practices of the early church. I eagerly began to read a lot of the writings from this era, and was amazed by the amount of material that existed from this period.
I was also impressed with the personal backgrounds of these writers who were so highly regarded within the early church. Many of the writings from this period came from individuals such as Ignatius, Clement, and Polycarp, who were actual disciples of the apostles. Because these men lived with the apostles, were ordained by them, and succeeded them, their testimony regarding Scripture and the teaching of the apostles should be seriously considered.
Looking through the early centuries of the church, one item that is readily apparent after undertaking an investigation of this sort, is the unity and consistency of the beliefs and doctrines that existed within the early church, especially in regards to a lot of the issues that separate Christians today. They truly believed that there was “one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Another is the fact that these writers from the apostolic period onwards were very protective of the “deposit of faith” that they received from the apostles, and viewed Christian doctrines and beliefs in black and white terms, very critical of anything that deviated from what was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
The early Church understood from Scripture that Jesus Christ is Truth (John 14:6). And Jesus confirms that the Church would be in unity with his Word or Truth when he declares, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16). Because the Church is united with Christ, St. Paul confidently declares the Church to be the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” (I Tim. 3:15). Since the early Christians understood that Christ and his Church are united in Truth as the Scripture says, then it could be conclusively determined whether or not teachings such as Infant Baptism were valid or not.
As I read other books, and the writings of the early Church Fathers, I learned that the structure and format of the early Christian Liturgy was very similar throughout the various regions of Christendom. The content and order of the various components of the early Church’s liturgy was very consistent with the manner of worship that exists today within the Catholic Church.
Through an examination of Scripture and the practice of the early Church, it was relatively easy to see the pattern of worship that God instructed his disciples to follow. Today, many people tend to find a church that is consistent with how they prefer to worship God. A better question that should be asked is how does God prefer me to worship him?
After approximately five years of reading, study, meditation and prayer, I came to the conclusion that in order to be the complete Christian that Christ wanted me to be, I needed to join his Church. I went through RCIA and entered the Catholic Church on Easter, 1998.
Although I look back at this as one of the major decisions of my life, it was a decision that unfortunately created a stumbling block among some family and friends. Shortly afterwards, since almost all of my friends, family, and co-workers were Protestant, I was constantly being asked the question, “Why would you become Catholic?” Unfortunately, it is very difficult to summarize years of learning and adequately answer this type of question in just a few sentences.
Since I had spent a number of years researching a wide variety of doctrinal and historical issues before making my decision to join the Catholic Church, and continued this research after my conversion, I felt that I had discovered a lot of interesting and valuable information. I could feel that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to summarize what I had been given, in order to share it with others. Unfortunately, my role as a husband and father, and as an employee, kept delaying me in starting this project.
An incident several years later, though, finally gave me the resolve to carry through with this endeavor. Our oldest two children were beginning school and my wife and I were interested in enrolling them at the local Catholic school. Unfortunately, there was a long waiting list. For the interim, we decided to enroll them at the Christian school where I had graduated. At this early of an age, I did not expect doctrinal issues to be of a concern. In addition, my parents were elated since my mother has worked there for more than 25 years and my father was president of the school board.
The school year was just about to begin when the principal, having learned from our enrollment application that I had become Catholic, met with my wife and I and made it clear that he did not think that it was a good idea to send our children here. When we explained our predicament and that this was just an interim solution, he became a little more comfortable about the situation and the school year went smoothly. This meeting with the principal, however, brought me to the realization that it would not be long before my children would soon have to address questions in regards to their faith, and I would need to assist with educated answers. I recognized that unless I summarized some of the important information that I had recently discovered from dozens of books and periodicals, I would probably soon forget a lot of it.
As a result, I began to summarize some of the key information by topic and tried to organize it in an outline form. This work was exciting and very enjoyable so I was continually expanding the scope of my project until ultimately I had a book, which I titled, Discovering Christ’s Church through the Mass.
Since many of my doctrinal questions about the Catholic faith arose while attending Mass with my wife, I structured the book around the format of the Mass. This book is somewhat unique in that it follows the format of the Catholic Liturgy, and analyzes it from a Biblical, historical, and doctrinal perspective, briefly addressing many of the beliefs that separate Christians. Therefore, it contains a mixture of discussion around the Scriptural foundations of the Liturgy, Church history, and general apologetics.
The information contained in this book really helped to deepen my relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and gain a greater appreciation for the Church that he founded. My hope was that it might be able to do the same for others. It has been a joy since publishing it to have so many people tell me how it has really helped to re-energize and deepen their faith.
Although it was a long journey and I had to cross a lot of hurdles before I entered the Catholic Church, it has brought great joy and contentment being a part of it. St. Augustine once said that, “our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ”. I can personally attest that the same can be said of his Church.
