Recovering Catholic (Paperback)

Archbishop Wynn Wagner, coadjutor of the North American Old Catholic Church and Regionary Bishop of the Southern Province, is no stranger to choosing a different path on which to follow one's faith. In his enlightening, compelling, and often humorous Recovering Catholic: How to be Catholic without being Roman Catholic, anyone who has questioned the direction of the Roman Catholic Church and has considered either changing denominations or leaving the church altogether will discover a new and satisfying path.

How often do we receive honest, straightforward direction from a cleric whose credentials support his lineage of Apostolic Succession, who calls himself a recovering Catholic, and who refuses to proselytize?

This book is not about convincing and/or alluring believers; it is about acknowledging the schism existing between the Roman Catholic and the Old Catholic churches and understanding that choices can be made freely, with our decisions rooted in knowledge, and without the guilt and threat of damnation too often heaped upon parishioners at every level of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rather than consider this book an indictment, readers must recognize it for what is was intended to achieve: protection and encouragement for everyone who has suffered the dogma. Straight or gay, divorced or married, liberal or conservative, there is a place for you in the Christian world, a place where you will not be judged, provoked, humiliated, or even banned. This book is about finding your path and following it to a joyful and fulfilling life.

About the author

Wynn Wagner passed a good part of his youth in the Roman Catholic Church, only to flee the church after clergy abuse. A graduate of St. Alban Seminary, he earned his advanced degree from St. Wolbodo Seminary and is now an archbishop in the Old Catholic Church. His work is focused on reminding men and women everywhere that there is life after Rome and it can be rich, spiritual, and far more fulfilling.

by Eric Jones

I have a few issues when it comes to faith that I’m forever attempting to clear up. I feel that it’s a lifelong process of understanding what kind of Christian to be. How literal do I take the Bible? How often do I go to church? Those kinds of things. I feel that the answer to this question, ultimately, is to be a better Christian tomorrow than I was yesterday. Thanks to Archbishop Wynn Wagner’s book, “Recovering Catholic”, I’m a little closer. Unlike most books about religion, which tend to assault you with the author’s particular translation of the Bible, (which is naturally adversarial. Nobody likes to be talked at.) Wagner engages in an open and trusting dialogue with the reader that feels safe and genuinely light hearted.

Although his chief concerns are over the differences between Roman Catholicism and Old Catholicism, this is really a larger issue for the author than for the reader since the scope of the book encompasses a much wider view of all religion. And that is a vastly more interesting topic, which Wagner seems to admit by purposefully engaging the reader in larger discussions with each chapter.

Wagner uses a contemporary voice reminiscent of the voice in Sarah Vowell’s books, and that makes his work much more readable than most religious books. As a general rule, I tend to avoid conversation with those who are strict about religion because the conversation takes on such a heavy load that it’s impossible to carry. It becomes like driving down a road full of pot holes in a truck loaded with nitroglycerin. Wagner takes you from one topic to the next with relative ease, discussing with a profound love the works of Siddhartha Gautama, Galileo Galilei, and yes, Jesus Christ. The levity that he brings to the dialogue makes issues like child abuse manageable for those who get queasy and uncomfortable. It allows for a higher consideration to occur.

There is a lot of insight in “Recovering Catholic”, not the least of which is that Roman Catholicism and Catholicism are two different sects. (Hey , that’s news to me.) But the more important thing that you’ll get is a wider researched, wider nuanced view of the questions that we ask ourselves as Christians. What does it mean that the Bible has been translated so often that today’s version is really only a shadow of the original? What does it mean to be Episcopalian or Baptist or Mormon? Is there really on one right choice? Does religion really work like a game show where you try to guess the right door and behind one is eternal salvation and behind all the others is a lake of fire? It doesn’t help that there are so many doors. Wagner engages these questions with a sense of comic timing and an eye towards contemporary reality that’s refreshing. And that the book is so short makes it easy to go back through and engage in each point more thoroughly.

“Recovering Catholic” is really about how we deal with religion from day to day as human beings. It doesn’t come from a soap box, but from flat on the Earth. It’s an enlightening little book that will hold you firm to your convictions, or make you question everything. And I think Wagner would be happy with that, so long as you’re willing to listen.