I thought I would highlight several of the comments that readers have made on this blog lately.
Nino said this about my post about St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a Chinese layman and drug addict who was martyred in 1900:
This also reminds me of St. Andrew Wouters, one of the martyrs of Gorkum (who’s feast is also celebrated on July 9 together with the Martyrs of China). St. Andrew was a diocesan priest who led a scandalous life. He was a womanizer and fathered several children. When he was offered freedom in exchange of his faith, he made the famous reply, “Fornicator I always was; heretic I never was.”
Lynda shared her own experience as a convert in a comment to a post called “An Evangelical Lay-Centered Church:”
The RCIA Team emphasized that conversion of heart comes before the teaching of Catholic doctrine. I am now on the RCIA Team and the RCIA materials all stress conversion first. Sometimes I have to defend that position when some of the sponsors question why we don’t start out with “Catholic dogma and doctrine” but people need to know Jesus first or nothing makes sense. I continue to hear the message of conversion of heart from the pulpit and thank God
And finally, Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ, tells a Jesuit joke.
