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    Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 6:04 PM [General]

    I decided to re-embrace Christianity, but which denomination?  I tried several churches, but in the end I went back to my roots and studied Catholicism.  Once I began to learn more about this ancient faith I was able to shake off some of my preconceptions and biases.  I even enrolled in the RCIA.  I went halfway through the program when I found out I could not be confirmed in the Catholic Church.  You see, my wife had been previously married when she was still in college, and it turned out to be a disastrous, traumatic event in her life.  TO make a long story short, she married someone from South America, convinced her to come back there with him, and literally kept her hostage there. She was physically and mentally abused before you was able to escape to the US embassy and get help to get back home.  The marriage was divorced (it onnly lasted 6 months) but in order for me to join the church, She had to go through a church annulment.  This event is still quite painful for her, and I she did not want to join the church in the first place.  I felt this was a great injustice and I would not force her to go through such a procedure.  I was quite angry with the Catholic church over this, because they ask us to accept their authority on faith, but when I asked them to accept what I had explained happened to my wife, they refused and insist on a tribunal to prove there was no marriage.  After giving this several days, I decided to leave the RCIA and attend an Episcopal Church instead.  I really liked going to Saint Paul Episcopal Church, but after attending for about 8 months I could not keep going.  You see, the Episcopal Church is going in a direction I could not reconcile.  I could not accept a gay clergy member in a non celibate relationship with another person.  The Episcopal Church is heading in the direction of a schism with the Anglican Communion, so why join at such a time?  Besides, I realized that my beliefs were more Catholic than protestant, so I decided to return to the Catholic Church and accept that I will not be able to receive communion there.
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