Taking a trip down memory lane, I flipped through the inaugural issue of This Rock. Much has changed since January 1990, and much has not. The most evident change in the magazine has been in its appearance. In those ancient days I wrote part of it, edited all of it, and—no doubt to the chagrin of graphic arts professionals—laid out its pages. Cover stories began on the cover (a technique we revisited with the April 2003 issue), and the covers had a monochrome background and typography that seemed to say, “This publication is produced on the cheap.”
In the “Quick Questions” column, the same kinds of things were asked then as are asked now: Why do some smart people, such as C. S. Lewis, not become Catholics? Where does the Bible condemn astrology? How can you prove Peter ever was in Rome? How do you answer the charge that apologetics is divisive? (My tongue-in-cheek but unpublished response to the last question: “Maybe it is, but what’s it to you, buddy?”)
The first issue demonstrated—though few of our readers ever learned about this—that one must exercise caution in deciding which conversion stories to run. The cover story began this way: “In the fall of 1985 I was a rather complaisant Evangelical Protestant. If not quite fat, dumb, and happy—well, at least I was happy. Or so I thought.” Over the course of several thousand words the writer explained, often eloquently, what brought him to the Catholic Church. He ended by saying, “That is an inescapable conclusion, which is why I find myself compelled to say that I will be where Peter is.”
And he was “where Peter is”—for a short while. A few months after his conversion story appeared, he unconverted. It was awkward enough that this happened to us once, but it was even more awkward when it happened to us again. The May 1990 cover story was by another new convert, and he too “unpoped.” Those were the first two conversion stories we had published, and our batting average was zero. I am pleased to report that, since then, we have had an uninterrupted string of converts who stayed converted.
That first issue included an advertisement for Catholic Answers’ “Go Forth and Teach” conference. The touted speakers included Deal Hudson, who went on to edit Crisis magazine; Scott Hahn, who just then was beginning to produce his popular tapes; Fr. Mitch Pacwa, who was beginning his sojourn at EWTN; Patrick Madrid, who later would found Envoy; and Mark Brumley, now the president of Ignatius Press. Quite an ensemble to be associated with a new magazine!
In the editorial for that issue I said, “Our desire is to mirror the Rock that is Peter, which rests upon the Rock which is Christ, and to explain clearly and accurately the Catholic faith.” For the most part, I think This Rock has been successful in this—even if we mislaid a couple of converts along the way.