Welcome home, Father Jeffrey Steele and family!

What I became aware of was that it was almost impossible to say 'the Church teaching is' within the Anglican church because there are so many various opinions on matters of sacraments, liturgy, morality, scripture etc. What I did not want to experience anymore was proclaiming the teaching of the Church only to end up defending myself rather than the Anglican church defending me. This has become an ever-increasing impossibility that is no secret to the entire Anglican world. My preaching would always be seen as a matter of personal opinion rather than having the authority of the Magisterium that backs up what I teach publicly. Of course there is dissent in the Catholic Church but it is always that, dissent towards what Mother Church proclaims as authoritatively true. It is the truth of Mother Church that I embrace as my own deep personal faith.

A wonderful post by Anglican priest Jeffrey Steele who is converting to Roman Catholicism with his wife and their six children. I've been reading about this at Father Dwight Longenecker's blog, who is full of fellow feeling as he, too, converted from Anglicanism.

Do go and bid the Steeles welcome home and pray for their smooth passage to the Church. Grab hold and keep on swimmin' Steeles ... we're cheering alongside of you!

What I mean is, sometimes crossing the Tiber looks like an easier swim than it really is. I told my Catholic bishop that I sometimes feel like the Tiber has stretched as wide as the Atlantic and I've been cast into the middle and told to swim. He said, 'yes, Jeffrey but there are devices out there to keep you above water, grab onto them and do not fear.'