AP reporter becomes practicing Catholic after covering scandal
October 07, 2011
In a recent interview with GetReligion, AP religion reporter Tom Breen discussed how an assignment to cover the clerical abuse scandal led him to become a practicing Catholic.
“I was baptized a Catholic, but never really in any tradition other than a vague understanding of Christianity coupled with a sort of tribal pull toward the Catholic Church,” he said. “My mother died when I was very young, and my father had enough bad experiences with church growing up in an Irish neighborhood in Chicago that he wasn’t particularly driven to make sure my brother and I were raised as active members of the faith.”
“I quickly realized that I didn’t know anything about Catholicism, and so to avoid embarrassing myself and the paper I resolved to learn what I could.” he added. “I eventually became a devout Catholic, going through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and becoming a weekly churchgoer.”
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Posted by: AgnesDay -
Oct. 08, 2011 11:27 AM ET USA
I guess this is my answer to my earlier question about Catholic journalists. If God doesn't have any, he can make some.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 08, 2011 12:07 AM ET USA
If I knew Tom Breen's address, I would send him my congratulations.
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Posted by: tasha1996 -
Oct. 07, 2011 8:26 PM ET USA
Romans 5:20 "Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more"
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Posted by: Don Vicente -
Oct. 07, 2011 3:40 PM ET USA
Deo gratias. Interestingly enough, this is the mirror-image of another journalist, William Lobdell, who left RCIA on Good Friday after deciding he couldn't join the Church after covering sexual abuse. Lobdell is now an atheist (on good days, maybe a Deist) and wrote a book about it 2 yrs ago. God alone knows why Breen completed RCIA and Lobdell dropped out. Grace is mysterious. Pray for Lobdell.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 07, 2011 1:02 PM ET USA
What a wonderful way to start the day.
