EVANGELICAL , ECUMENICAL ,
FULLY CATHOLIC
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT : DR . EDUARDO ECHEVERRIA
You were born in Mexico , in 1950 , immigrated to New York City with your family in 1952 , and became a naturalized U . S . citizen in 1993 . You were raised Catholic , but only responded to the Gospel by committing your life to Christ later in life . What was the context of this commitment ?
It was at L ’ Abri Fellowship , in Huémoz sur Ollon , Switzerland , almost fifty years ago in the summer of 1970 , that I first committed my life to Christ as Lord and Savior , “ the Way , the Truth , and the Life .”
L ’ Abri Fellowship , an evangelical Protestant community where people live , study , and work , was founded by Francis A . Schaeffer , along with his wife Edith , more than a half century ago . It was at L ’ Abri that I began to understand the Christian faith as a way of life rooted in the truth about reality , about the meaning of life , and communion with God the Father , in Christ , and through the power of the Holy Spirit . It was also at L ’ Abri that I began to understand that living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ entailed the sanctification of the whole of life , including the life of culture , particularly the intellectual life .
Your walk with the Lord took you through various expressions of Christianity . Finally , in 1992 , you became fully reunited with the Catholic Church . Please tell us something about this journey .
Now , this understanding of the Christian life , which I first learned at L ’ Abri Fellowship , was deepened in the paths I took on my journey ahead into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1992 . One path was the Augustinian and Reformed , or Dutch neo-Calvinist , tradition of historic Christianity . Another path , which deepened my understanding of the historic Christian faith , especially the antiquity of the Church , of the Liturgy , of the sacramental life of grace in Christ , the Church Fathers , and the idea of doctrinal development , I found in the writings of Blessed John Henry Newman and John Paul II .
I went ahead into full communion with the Catholic Church twenty-two years after discovering Christ , by grace , when the Lord Jesus led me to re-discover his Church .
28 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2017