An Episcopal priest continue the journey…(via Pontifications)

When considering becoming a Roman Catholic the first thing that most people would obviously take into consideration would be the Pope. I realized that people who have a high view of the Pope are almost always Catholic. The reason for this I believe is that there is an explicit dislike for the Papacy within all Protestant bodies which I believe is a lingering effect of the Reformation. On the other hand, I realized that I, and most other Anglo-Catholics that I know, have an affinity for the Pope. And many of us view him as a necessary and positive influence upon the Church. So I wondered why so many Protestant bodies seemed to detest the Pope. Was there something wrong with what he teaches? To answer this question for myself I read three of Pope Benedict’s books that he had written before his election and found that I was in complete agreement with everything he had written. I also read many encyclicals from previous Popes and found that I was in agreement with them as well. That is not to say that I have understood completely everything I have read nor do I understand fully the Catholic faith in its entirety. But on the whole I have discovered that I agree with and can submit to everything that the Catholic Church teaches. Therefore I came to the conclusion that there was nothing to stop me from becoming Catholic. After all, being a Protestant means that you are protesting against something – that is what the Reformation was all about; but I found that there was nothing that I could protest against with regards to the Pope or the Catholic Church.