I dag tidlig leste jeg litt mer på «Pray Tell» bloggen – jeg leser den bl.a. for å få en kontrast de mer konservative nettstedene jeg også besøker, og det er noen dyktige folk som skriver om liturgi der. En benediktiner med svært norske (+svenske og tyske) aner forteller om sin oppvekst, og svarer på spørsmål om sin konversjon fra luthersk til katolsk tro:
When people hear that I was raised Lutheran, they sometimes become curious and ask three questions: 1) From which Lutheran synod? 2) When did you convert? and 3) Why?
I’ll attempt to formulate my thoughts here in response to these recurring questions in hopes that this exercise might help me to reflect on my personal religious wanderings while also creating a means for sharing these thoughts.
My home parish, Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar, Minnesota, was originally part of the Synoden for den Norsk Evangelisk Lutherske Kirke i America (the Norwegian ethnic synod which was affiliated with the state church in Norway). Today, Vinje is part of the larger ELCA. My grandfather (mother’s father) was a pastor of the Synoden and preached in both Norwegian and English. I also have an uncle who is an ELCA pastor, and my mother’s cousin is a retired ELCA bishop. On my father’s side, my grandmother was Augustana Synod (the Swedish ethnic church which is now ELCA), and my grandfather was baptized and confirmed Missouri Synod (German ethnic). However, my dad was raised in the Norwegian church because my Swedish grandmother and German grandfather joined a Norwegian congregation.
Det er nesten utrolig det går an å ha en så norsk oppvekst i USA! Han går så videre og forteller hvorfor han konverte (et ord han absolutt ikke liker å bruke) til Den katolske Kirke – det ser ut til å være mest musikken som gjorde det.
I kommentarene til dette innlegget, er det en helt ting, også den kirkekritikken som er typsik for denne bloggen:
… It appears that the forthcoming Assisi interfaith gathering on the 25th anniversary of the original event will be a repudiation by Pope Ratzinger of the earlier event. Not only will the interfaith prayer aspect disappear, but the ecumenical dimension will also be removed. Instead Benedict XVI will pray in St Peter’s the night before with the catholic faithful. And other christian churches are invited to do something similar. The image of filletting comes to mind. …
… I agree. Why even bother with Assisi. Better to call it off than to treat it so ungenerously and with such a legalistic attitude. Pope Benedict appears to be genuflecting again to the neo Ultramontanist harpies and the SSPX crowd. …