Round Trip to Rome: The Travelogue of a Returning Catholic

By Cheryl H. White Ph.D. and Father Peter B. Mangum

Through the generous use of personal anecdotes and the perspective of a historian, Round Trip to Rome: the Travelogue of a Returning Catholic recounts the story of one scholars twenty-year journey through Protestantism before returning to Roman Catholicism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512716740

Cheryl H. White Ph.D.

Cheryl H. White, PhD, is an associate professor of history at Louisiana State University at Shreveport. She has authored numerous academic works, including a recent biography of Confederate General and Episcopal Bishop Leonidas Polk, as well as several local histories. She is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on topics related to her primary areas of interest, Christian church history and the history of medieval and early-modern Europe.

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Copyright © 2015 Cheryl H. White, Ph.D.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-1676-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1675-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1674-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015917323

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/23/2015

CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter One         Finding Rome, Leaving Rome

Chapter Two         All May, None Must, But Some Should?Encounters with Unnecessary Grace

Chapter Three      Holy Water and Sanctuary Lamps

Chapter Four        The Quest for Unity Jesus Doesn’t Care About My Theology?

Chapter Five        A House Made of Straw: (Trying to Stand) In the Void of Authority

Chapter Six          Quid est Veritas? The Mortal Wound of Relativism and Searching for Terra Firma

Chapter Seven      Signal Graces

Afterword

Credit:

Kelly Phelan Powell (author photo)

Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport, Louisiana

Image 004: Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman by Sir John Millais (National Portrait Gallery, London), Public Domain.

Image 005 Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter by Pietro Perugino (Sistine Chapel) Web Gallery of Art, Public Domain.

Image 006 Quid Est Veritas by Nikolai Ge, (Kyiv National Museum of Russian Art), Public Domain.

Image 007 St. Francis Preaching to the Birds by Giotto di Bondone (San Francesco Upper Church Assisi, Italy) Web Gallery of Art, Public Domain.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

DEDICATION

This book is lovingly dedicated to the memory of

Rev. William L. Updegraff, O.P. (1927 – 1985)

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Fr. Bill, we have so much to talk about when next we meet! (Photo by Holy Ghost Church, Hammond, Louisiana)

FOREWORD

There is no journey fathomable quite like that of the genuine journey of an attentive, sincere soul. Vacations and even business trips can be marked by the enjoyment and fascination of the history or beauty of the destination. The spiritual journey has the supernatural as its goal, the Divine!

What makes this author’s journey particularly unique and dramatic is her quest for spiritual integrity that saw her swim the Tiber and back! You will read of her round-trip journey involving the passions of a pilgrim’s heart as well as the intellectual rigors of honest scholarship that left her incredibly knowledgeable and articulate about the world of historical Anglicanism and global efforts at Anglican unity, one of the greatest gifts God has given her (she is quick to acknowledge). Yet at the same time, this left her increasingly homesick, often confused, and yearning for the comfort and rock-solid consistency of the Roman Catholicism she left behind, in a way that goes far beyond nostalgia.

As a shepherd of souls privileged to accompany many a person along a multiplicity of paths into full union of the Catholic Church, Professor White’s round-trip journey gave me insight into one person’s longing for Truth. Her insights are so fresh and relevant since she was keeping a travelogue as she was traveling. As she has demonstrated in her narrative, Truth may appear to exist elsewhere yet is later discerned to be fully found where it was originally encountered. The incense is not always more fragrant in another church.

The contours of her journey - emotional and intellectual, honest and risky - include the familiar stumbling blocks of papal infallibility, Marian dogmas, authority, Eucharistic theology and the like, which, though once appearing insurmountable, became easily traversed, providing us with this unique defense of the faith. Not unfamiliar with such a trek, this well-equipped pilgrim set out with curiosity, agility and willingness to find meaningful answers in the teachings of the Church only to experience that the closer to the Light she got, the lighter her load as her transfigured heart adopted a demeanor of submission, obedience, and humility, that permits the heart to accept that the mind alone just can’t figure out all the answers. The final leg of the journey saw her home and, with the simplicity of a child, content to live in mystery.

What a risk this historical and personal journey back to familiar territory proved to be! The author does not avoid contemporary and controversial topics, but meets them head-on in a way that actually incorporates them into her deep search for the kind of stability and comfort that only a return to Roman Catholicism could provide. Faced with challenges from friends, colleagues, and fellow professionals all along this journey, she trusted that our longing for God guides us and gives us strength to find His longing for us in the very Church He founded on Peter. The point of this book is not to focus on the one making the journey, nor the journey itself, but to uncover the presence of divine love within each of us. It is divine love that draws us to look within ourselves and then reorients us within His family. After all, as St. Augustine might say today: The descent into oneself is the ascent to God! And it is the same journey into love that awaits us all.

Although I cannot recommend this journey to anyone - to leave the family of the Church, to take oneself out of communion - I can express the joy of a father who, after a 20 year absence, welcomes his child home!

Father Peter B. Mangum

Rector, Cathedral of St. John Berchmans

Shreveport, Louisiana

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks first to God, the Author of my life!

There are many people who contributed to this work, and my greatest fear is that I will neglect to mention someone who supported me, guided me, and directly or indirectly made this happen. My husband Paul is my steady rock of support no matter what – he never once asked me why, but only how he could help.

I am grateful to all of the wonderful friends I have in The Episcopal Church, who welcomed me and let me live among them while I was away from my true home of Roman Catholicism. I give thanks for all of you, particularly in my previous home parishes of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Shreveport, and all of those many parishes throughout the Diocese of Western Louisiana, the Diocese of Dallas, the Diocese of West Texas, and others scattered across the country who invited me to be among you and teach.

To Fr. Peter Mangum, Rector of the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, I owe a profound debt. I made an appointment to see him in the summer of 2014, led by my heart to see what steps were necessary should I decide to return home to Rome after twenty years away. His kindness and patience with me went far beyond what I thought I deserved or had the right to expect, and after that day, he regularly checked in with me to answer questions and offer guidance. He met tough questions with direct but compassionate honesty. As the chief editor of this book and author of its Foreword, he has contributed his keen eye and fierce intellect to all drafts of this manuscript. I am grateful to say that he is both my priest and a friend.

My friend Donald Little read and re-read these pages over the course of the past year, offering his suggestions, critiques, and encouragement from the perspective of a fellow Protestant traveler. To him I give full credit for the title of this book, for Round Trip to Rome! was his spontaneous, enthusiastic, and supportive response to my decision to return home last year. I also credit him with much of the strengthening of the narrative, for he always challenged me to expand the width and depth of my story. I should also point out that Don deserves credit for adding a crucial word to the title of Chapter Six. Upon seeing the original title, The Wound of Relativism, Don pointed out to me that relativism is a mortal wound. He is correct. I fear I now owe him free coffee for the next five years or so.

For my adopted family at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas (Episcopal), especially Guyanne, Caroline, Carol, Katie, Susan (and a host of others!)…please know that your love and support sustained me. On this side of the veil and the next, in the communion of saints, God’s mysterious unity is manifested among those who truly gather in His name. I love you with all my heart. I cannot possibly express how much. Also, Fr. Joe Hermerding of the Church of the Incarnation suffered through a very early draft of this book and offered great suggestions and insights on themes. Fr. Joe will hopefully note that Blessed John Henry Newman benefitted from a little more exposure in the final work!

I first came to know Fr. Terry Johnston (a self-styled cowboy and renegade Episcopal priest from Tennessee) because of a previous book I wrote on the life of Confederate General and Episcopal Bishop Leonidas Polk. It was our mutual interest in Polk that brought us together, and we have been friends ever since. He read a preliminary draft of this book and offered important feedback, but more importantly, over the course of the past few years he reminded me frequently of the need to support one another in our shared faith. Because of that, I found sustenance at some pretty low points and he also helped restore my broken faith in the value of true friendship. Continue to pray for me as I pray for you.

There are many more who have had less direct but equally important influence. For all of my friends and family who trudged the path of this book with me in one way or another: Dr. Helen Wise (a great best friend who has a patient ear and a sharp wit, even for a Methodist!), Mary Beth McVie, Dot Hensley, Bess Maxwell, Candace Higginbotham, Kelli Sawyer, and anyone else who listened as I reflected on the call to write this work or about the catharsis that came from it.

Because of Bishop D.