GilWright
13th July 2010, 07:05 PM
Hi,
My name is Gil and it's been almost 22 years since I joined the Catholic Church.
I was brought up Protestant (Baptist / Anglican) and was all set to qualify as a teacher and then as an Anglican priest. I did become a teacher (Adult Ed - Maths and Geog - but I have only taught computing, commerce, business, information systems and, of course, religion) but something got in the way of the Anglican priest part.
There I was, active lay minister, living at Moore Theological College, leading bible studies, serving on the diocesan committee for CEBS (like Scouts but for Anglicans) working as a relief branch leader all over Sydney (for CEBS), doing lots of camping (cook, chaplain, archery instructor) and studying computer science (and those anoying credits towards being a teacher) at uni in my spare time.
Previously I had attended a private (Baptist) High School (where I was baptized by a near relative who was an active Baptist minister). I followed this with confirmation in the Anglican church where I was active for many years in Sunday School (which was a missionary program for the church I attended - a way to build the church from half a dozen families to over 200 adults).
What more could a young man want?
Well, I wanted a nice young lady to share my ministry and life. The only problem was that she had (just prior to meeting me) become a Catholic. No worries. I could sort that out real quick. After all, I knew what happens to Catholics - I learned that at High School (Chix comics) - when Catholics die, they get the express trip straight to Hell - no waiting.
So I had a few chats but for some reason, faith was difficult area to discuss. She was calmly confident and none of my inuendo, slander or outright goading had any impact.
Sorry to leave you all hanging but this is being written during my daily bus commute (on an iPad) and it is time to change buses. Hopefully, ghe next installment will follow shortly.
My name is Gil and it's been almost 22 years since I joined the Catholic Church.
I was brought up Protestant (Baptist / Anglican) and was all set to qualify as a teacher and then as an Anglican priest. I did become a teacher (Adult Ed - Maths and Geog - but I have only taught computing, commerce, business, information systems and, of course, religion) but something got in the way of the Anglican priest part.
There I was, active lay minister, living at Moore Theological College, leading bible studies, serving on the diocesan committee for CEBS (like Scouts but for Anglicans) working as a relief branch leader all over Sydney (for CEBS), doing lots of camping (cook, chaplain, archery instructor) and studying computer science (and those anoying credits towards being a teacher) at uni in my spare time.
Previously I had attended a private (Baptist) High School (where I was baptized by a near relative who was an active Baptist minister). I followed this with confirmation in the Anglican church where I was active for many years in Sunday School (which was a missionary program for the church I attended - a way to build the church from half a dozen families to over 200 adults).
What more could a young man want?
Well, I wanted a nice young lady to share my ministry and life. The only problem was that she had (just prior to meeting me) become a Catholic. No worries. I could sort that out real quick. After all, I knew what happens to Catholics - I learned that at High School (Chix comics) - when Catholics die, they get the express trip straight to Hell - no waiting.
So I had a few chats but for some reason, faith was difficult area to discuss. She was calmly confident and none of my inuendo, slander or outright goading had any impact.
Sorry to leave you all hanging but this is being written during my daily bus commute (on an iPad) and it is time to change buses. Hopefully, ghe next installment will follow shortly.