EXCELLENT apologetics were the key factor in the conversion of former Anglican Michael Daniel almost 25 years ago.
The 45-year-old school teacher spoke to The Record recently about his conversion to Catholicism, which occurred over the space of several years.
Mr Daniel, a native of Melbourne whose family has migrated to WA, was raised in an Anglican family and says his first experience of Catholicism came through reading history books during primary school.
“It was at that point that I really came in contact with British history and the whole anti-Catholic ethos and tradition of the way in which history was taught,” he explains.
“I got the message that the Catholics were the enemy, the Anglicans were the best because they had preserved things like bishops, priests and deacons, and they also had, we believed, valid sacraments.”
His schooling also impressed on his mind the belief that the Anglican Church was simply a “branch” of the Catholic Church.
“Essentially, the Catholic Church was made up of the Anglicans, the Orthodox, and the Roman Catholics,” he says.
“But the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics had erred, we had maintained the truth, so we were reformed but Catholic, that was considered the great strength of the Anglican Church.”
But the literature that Mr Daniel was reading didn’t seem to correlate with the beliefs and views of his godfather, a practising Catholic.
So to establish the truth once and for all, Mr Daniel took to reading Catholic literature.
“I snuck into St Francis’ on Lonsdale St, which I knew had lots of pamphlet racks, and I quickly grabbed three or four pamphlets and left,” he says.
“I chose the most controversial topics, there was one on Papal infallibility. I took them home and started to read them and I thought, ‘They actually make sense, and the arguments are more reasonable than some of the things I believe in’. So I kept reading.”
It was at that time that Mr Daniel began to feel that God was calling him to become Catholic. He continued to read Catholic material, and even started to pray the Rosary.
There were also several developments within the Anglican Church that left him feeling a little uneasy.
“The Melbourne Anglican Archdiocese in 1986 ordained women to the diaconate,” he says. “You could see when that was done it was only going to be a matter of time before they were to be ordained to the priesthood.
“Even within the Anglican Church there was disunity over this issue… what I was seeing more and more in the Anglican Church was confusion and chaos.”
By this time Mr Daniel was attending what he describes as “Anglo-Catholic” liturgies, after taking up a friend’s invitation.
But he felt there was a contradiction between the Anglican Church’s 39 Articles of Faith and the practices of the Anglo-Catholics. “The 39 Articles basically reinforced anti-Catholic teachings,” Mr Daniel says.
“The Mass was described as a blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit, relics, purgatory, and pardons were considered to be papist inventions.
“But all these practices that the 39 articles condemned were practised in my Anglo-Catholic church.”
In January 1989, Mr Daniel made a phone call to a Catholic priest to arrange for instruction in the faith, setting the wheels in motion for his entrance into the Catholic Church at Easter that year.
Mr Daniel says it was his primarily reading, rather than discussion with Catholics, that convinced him to convert. But his Catholic godfather did play a role.
“He knew a lot about his faith and he never pushed me… but he was willing to discuss Catholic beliefs with me,” he says.
“I generally found that talking to Catholics, most Catholics didn’t know what the Catholic faith was all about, at least the few I knew.”
While it didn’t affect the end result, reflecting on his conversion, Mr Daniel says there is a great value in being able to know and defend one’s faith.
“Opportunities do come up,” he says. “Don’t ever underestimate your ability to convince people.”
His conversion complete, Mr Daniel recalls feeling a sense of stability after grappling with a number of contested Anglican beliefs.
“I can remember, when I’d made the decision to become a Catholic, I rang a priest and I said to him ‘This is like being on a tempest-tossed ship and all of a sudden coming to calm water’,” he says.
“You don’t have to ask ‘Is the Mass a sacrifice?’ Does the Eucharist really become Jesus’ Body and Blood? You can just accept these things.”
But converting to Catholicism wasn’t received favourably by all, particularly coming from an Anglican background.
“Some friends stopped talking to me as a consequence,” he says.
“My parents were quite upset. My mother was more understanding and came to my reception because she’d converted from the Presbyterian religion to the Anglican religion, so she’d been through it. My father took it very badly, but I think he’s reconciled himself to it now.”
Almost 25 years later, Mr Daniel says he couldn’t be happier with his decision to covert. “I have absolutely no regrets about my decision,” he says. “My Catholicism is integral to my identity and I can honestly say that I enjoy being a Catholic.”