Friday, June 6, 2025

The Office of Peter and My Journey into the Catholic Church by Father Glenn Baaten

 As an Ordinariate priest, I find it both meaningful and providential that our North American jurisdiction is named the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. For those of us who are former Anglicans and Episcopalians, our journey into the fullness of the Catholic Church has come through a profound acknowledgment of the visible unity of the Church, found in the office of the Pope.

For many Protestants—particularly within the Anglican Communion—recognizing not only the validity but the necessity of the Papal office represents a significant theological and ecclesial hurdle. Yet for me, the Papacy became the keystone in my transition from Protestantism into communion with the Catholic Church.

In my own vocational journey as an ordained minister—first as a Presbyterian pastor, then as an Anglican priest—I experienced a deep yearning for historical and apostolic continuity. I often felt this longing most acutely in what I came to call the “ethos of rupture,” a mindset still prevalent in many Protestant denominations today. The split of the 16th-century Reformation continues to echo in the fragmentation and individualism within Protestant ecclesial life. The prevailing attitude seems to be: If I disagree with my church, I’ll leave and start another. Division, splintering, and ecclesial rupture have become normative.

Amidst this context, I was searching for the continuity of faith and practice that stretched back to the Church Jesus Himself founded. This led me to ask a critical question: Which Christian communion could I, in good conscience and through prayerful discernment, join to find that apostolic foundation? Would it be Catholicism, with its roots in the Christian West, or Orthodoxy, preserving the legacy of the Christian East?

Throughout my years of ministry in both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Anglican Church in North America, I dedicated myself to studying the early Church: the writings of the Church Fathers, the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and the works of great theologians—both Eastern and Western. I read deeply from St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Orthodox thinkers, and Catholic scholars. But no voice spoke more clearly to my heart than that of St. John Paul II.

His encyclicals Veritatis Splendor and Ut Unum Sint were especially transformative for me. Through them, I encountered not only the depth of his theological insight but also the tenderness of his pastoral heart. He became a spiritual mentor to me—both as theologian and as Pope.

What began as admiration for John Paul II led me to a deeper reflection on the Papacy itself. I began to ask: Is the office of St. Peter scriptural? Is it present in the earliest days of the Church? Is there an unbroken line of Popes from Peter to today? To each of these questions, I discovered the answer is unequivocally yes.

Unlike our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters, the Catholic Church possesses visible unity in the person of the Pope—the Vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter, the rock upon which Christ built His Church. It was ultimately the Petrine office that led me to leave Protestantism and embrace full communion with the Catholic Church. I had found the Barque of Peter—and I climbed aboard.

Upon reception into the Church, I willingly laid down my Anglican orders. Though I had loved my pastoral ministry, being united with Christ’s true Church was the deepest joy of all. I was finally home.

Two years later, I received a grace I had not anticipated. The Ordinariate reached out to ask if I would consider ordination as a Catholic priest, to serve both as a pastor in an Ordinariate parish in Southern California, as well as a Chaplin of Santiago Retreat Center, within the Diocese of Orange. My response was immediate and wholehearted: Yes!

Today, I am honored to serve Christ’s Church as a priest within the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter—the very name of the jurisdiction I serve is at the center of my journey home!

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