Introducing A Simple Follower...

It has been a long journey...

Let's go back briefly to 2002. I was 17 years old, living in Managua, Nicaragua. Through the preaching of some fundamentalist Pentecostals I decided to follow Jesus.

It was one of the happiest moments in my life. I felt a new and bright future open up to me. I now had a reason to live beyond my own ambitions.

Thing is, the fundamentalist Pentecostals were so disgusted by Catholicism that I was in turn disgusted by their own rhetoric. It felt foreign to what the Spirit was telling me, be one as I and the Father are one.

I deepened into my Catholic faith, felt in love with the lives of the saints, and yearned to imitate their examples. At some point I even wanted to become a priest.


Shortly after this life changing experience, I moved to California. My desires to follow Jesus increased as time passed by. My desire to become a Roman Catholic priest however, decreased.

Another desire growing in me was one of unity, of ecumenical Christian unity. I joined an ecumenical missionary order and started to work along side protestants of different denominations.

What a beautiful experience it has been! I learn from their different traditions, and they, in turn, learn from mine.

Slowly, a shift started to take place in my mind. I went from believing that the Roman Catholic faith is the one true Christian faith, to seeing and experiencing something so obvious that it became undeniable: God is working mightily in the lives and work of some of my protestant brothers and sisters.

Simply said, they are as much part of the only flock of Christ as I was. They were simply followers of Christ.

I started to see how the long history of institutionalization of the church transformed the small group of first century radicals, living and sharing everything in common, to tribal institutions, where being part of their walls became more important than being part of Christ.

Whenever we find more important being part of an institution than being part of Christ, we know something has gone tragically wrong.

What am I now? Am I still Catholic? Am I protestant? The answer is yes!

At the same time the answer is no. I no longer believe all the tenets of the Catholic faith to be considered by the institutional church as a "true Catholic".

I still hold many Catholic beliefs, however. I believe in the Nicene Creed. I believe even in the invocation of Saints. I still pray to the Virgin Mary from time to time, and want to see my devotion to her grow. The Eucharist is still central to my Christian life. For goodness sake I still believe in purgatory!

At the same time I have grown in many traditions that are considered "protestants". I hold Holy Scriptures above tradition, without disregarding tradition as a whole. I believe in the Priesthood of All Believers as protestants do.

I believe in Open Communion, for all who want to commune with Jesus should be allowed to do so without making sure they check off a list of dogmas. I believe women should be ordained to the ministry.

So don't just call me a Catholic or a Protestant, or a weird combination of the two. If you wish to call me anything, call me A Simple Follower of Christ.

This is what I desire. This is my hope.

I want to learn and grow in both Protestant and Catholic Traditions. I want to experience fully the riches of our traditions, and submerge deeply in the streams of living water that they are!

So this a blog about the struggles that this calling will bring. A challenge to the institutions will always bring a struggle.  This is the struggle of belonging to all traditions and, at some level, be rejected by all traditions.

This blog is also about growth. How can I and we grow as followers of Christ? How can we learn and reach from the deep wells of our Christian heritage?

So come and be a simple follower with me!