Selected Catholic tracts available in this
series
Introductory
Catholic Tract
Jesus said that he was the only way to the
Father, and the only way in which men can be saved. Yet a scandal we have today
is that many Christian churches claim to teach in Jesus’ name but often
disagree amongst each other. Catholics believe that the fullness of truth is in
the original church and that denominations that have split off from it have
lost some of the truth he left us. Protestants and Pentecostals on the other
hand claim that the Catholic church does not teach or seems to have lost sight
of fundamental and essential truths and practices. Protestants have often
joined the Catholic church because they have found vital doctrine in the
Catholic faith that they have missed. Catholics join Protestant denominations
because vital issues that they have not accepted or understood as part of
Catholic faith have now become clear to them and they want to cross over to a
denomination that makes the basics clearer and move vivid. Yet
there is no right doctrine that Protestants and Pentecostals teach that has not
come to them through the Catholic Church.
The solution to the problem is of course that
we must know and live fully all that Christ has taught. Christ commands
his disciples in Mt 28:19-20 to teach all he has given them. Throughout the
history of the church the problem has been that aspects of Christ’s doctrine
are lost, and the temptation is for people who notice that something is
downplayed to start their own dissident group, disregarding Lk 10:16 where we
are told that those listening to the authority of the church are listening to
Christ himself. And because everything is in the Catholic faith, though
sometimes obscured, we must all stay Catholic or return to it if we have left
the Catholic faith(see James 5:19), but draw out all the treasures of our faith
and live them to the full.
Many years ago in Primrose, where I grew
up, I encountered a saintly old lady who had left a mainline Pentecostal.
church and had become a Catholic after receiving a vision that this was her
true spiritual home. Fully aware that the lively services, the conversions and
healings she had been accustomed to were no longer to be found in her new
spiritual home, she had made up her mind to put up with the more sober style of
worship of the Catholic church. But she
prayed night and day for a spiritual renewal in the Catholic church where all
that she had experienced of value as a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission
would be introduced into the Catholic church. She was overjoyed when her prayer
for renewal in the Catholic church started to be answered after the Second
Vatican Council. We are indeed blessed now to have a pope who calls continually
for evangelisation and renewal in the power of the Spirit
Much Protestant theology depends on the
notion that Scripture is the sole source of truth. Yet in Jn 21:25 we read not
everything is in Scripture. In 1 Tim 3: 15 we read that the Church is the
pillar of faith, not the Bible. In 1 Cor 11:2 we are urged to hold on to all
the traditions we have been taught.
Christ prayed at the last Supper that his
disciples would remain united as he and the Father are(John 17:11). Yet
everywhere today we have the spectacle of a divided Christianity. This has arisen because people have been
dissatisfied with what the original church taught and have started break away
movements. Yet Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would be with the Church,
guiding into all truth (John 16:13). And so those have joined denominations
that have broken away from the Catholic Church or were born in them have had to
ask themselves why they are in churches that split off from the original universal
Church, ie the Catholic Church. They have also have had to ask themselves why
their beliefs differ from those of the original Church which was promised the
guidance of the Spirit to remain in the truth and whose leader was given the
“keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:18-19). Far from condoning dissident
groups of Christians, they are strongly condemned in Scripture. The
understanding is that the church is to be one under Peter and the apostles and
those who isolate themselves are suspect. 2 Peter 2 : 1 warns of false teachers
spreading bad doctrine. Christ himself warns about false prophets leading
people astray. even while performing miracles.
For these reasons for centuries the
Catholic Church has received a steady stream of very prominent converts from
other religions or no religion at all. In the last century, John Henry Newman
(later Cardinal Newman) in England led a strong movement of clergy and laity
into the Catholic Church. The movement of ministers from Protestant
denominations has been so substantial that the Church has made special
provisions for them to join the priesthood, with their wives and families In the USA a number of Protestant ministers
have converted to the Catholic Church. Some had been virulently anti-Catholic
and had even been instrumental in drawing Catholics to other denominations.
Some of them have called their experience “coming home” because they regard the
Catholic Church as the source of all
Christian truth and that other denominations have broken away from it. A
ministry known as the Coming Home Network International headed by Marcus Grodi
has been established to assist former Protestant clergy, and has published a
number of books and produced several videos.
In addition many Catholics who have given
up the Catholic faith and joined fundamentalist or neo-Pentecostal groups have
returned to Catholicism.
Why is it that Protestant ministers, some
of them eminent theologians, have gone over to the Catholic Church? Was it
because of some row that had with their own denomination and they wanted to
join the ministry of the Catholic Church? That is not the case at all. What has
happened is that these were men of great integrity who left the ministry in
their own denominations after reflection and came to the Catholic Church and
joined it usually as ordinary lay folk, giving up all the prestige and
authority that they had as highly successful pastors.
It was a very costly decision: they lost
their friends and even their families wanted nothing further to do with them.
Kris Franklin found half of her family
could not cope with her becoming Catholic, and family members did not contact
her for a year after conversion (also mentioned in “Journey’s Home”, listed
below) They came because they felt that this was where the Holy Spirit was
leading them. Dr Paul Thigpen was asked by his wife, Leisa: “You’ll never be
happy outside the Catholic Church, will you?”. He replied: “It’s becoming a
matter of conscience. I feel as if I’d be disobeying God if I didn’t” (“Journey
Home”: see below). They came often after years of agonizing about doubts they
had about Protestant positions on doctrinal issues. Some have written books and
produced videos explaining their conversion to Catholicism.
Why is it that former Catholics have
returned in large numbers from fundamentalist churches? Perhaps we ought to
start by asking why they left in the first place. Many left because they did
not understand the Catholic faith and were swept off their feet by quotations
from Scripture that seemed to contradict what they had been taught. Others
found that Catholic worship services were not inspiring and that they were not
gaining spiritual benefit from them. They came back because they felt that
something was missing in Protestant belief and worship. They also discovered
that valuable spiritual truths that they thought were only to be found in
Protestant churches had originally come from the Catholic church and were still
present in it.
One of the most disturbing things about anti-Catholic polemic is that much of it completely misrepresents what Catholics believe. David Palm writes in his testimony that “we were taught the Catholic Church had usurped the Bible by adding layers of ‘human tradition’ to it and that the Church deceives millions by teaching them that they are saved by good works”(“Journeys Home”: see below) Not only does it not state accurately what Catholicism believes in: some have no scruples about resorting to outright falsehoods to the extent of spreading malicious lies about the Catholic church. Ignorant Catholics have been caught up in this propaganda: fortunately some have returned to the Catholic Church.
Much anti-Catholic propaganda is also
based upon Scripture being quoted out of context or being misinterpreted. The
text in which Christ forbids his followers to call any man “father” is taken as
a condemnation of the Catholic practice of calling priests “father”; yet St
Paul often applies the title to himself ( 1 Cor 4:14-15), while St John
addresses his letters to “fathers” in the Christian community (1 Jn 1:12).. At
the same time many Protestant teachings simply are not biblical at all. A
typical Protestant teaching, for example, is that Scripture alone (Sola
Scriptura) is the source of truth: yet you will find nothing that supports this
statement anywhere in Scripture. Fundamentalists claim to base their faith
wholly on Scripture; but most of the time they ignore the work of scholars who
have spent a lifetime trying to understand the real meaning of what Scripture
tells us.
What is it that ex-Catholics and ardent
Protestant ministers have found missing in their churches? A. They have found
that Scripture accurately reflects what the Catholic Church has always taught
while many Protestant doctrines misrepresent what the Bible teaches or give
only a very limited version of it. B. They have found enormous spiritual power
in the Catholic sacraments, especially the Eucharist and the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. C. They have found that Catholic beliefs and practices have
been present in the Church since the earliest times and that Protestantism
(particularly fundamentalism) has lost these. D. They have found Catholics
share the same beliefs the world over: there is a fixed standard of truth that
comes from the Holy Spirit. E. They have found the Catholic church very
different from the show (and sometimes sham) that often characterises
fundamentalist worship services. They
have found a sober and rational faith rather than a highly emotional cauldron
of doubtful miracles and revelations.
Karl Cooper writes: ”In the Catholic
Church I have found a warm welcome, unconditional love which reflects the
unconditional grace of God, and a steady involvement with a liturgical
tradition that has grown organically from its beginnings in the apostolic
age”(“Journeys Home”: see below)
Having said this we have to acknowledge
that Catholic churches have not always been places in which people have felt
the saving power of the Cross of Christ or have been empowered and renewed by
the Spirit. They are not all places in which you are likely to hear stories of
conversions and healings. But there is no doubt that this is happening and that renewal and evangelisation are
priorities of the Church’s leaders.
So we invite people who have left to
consider returning to their spiritual mother. We invite those who are involved
in other denominations to look seriously at what Catholics believe and why they
adhere to these beliefs We invite Catholics who are thinking of leaving to
re-examine their faith and see whether they thoroughly understand what
Catholics actually believe.
To assist those who want to understand the Catholic faith we have prepared a number of tracts explaining what the Catholic church teaches and the basis for this in Scripture.
Quotations from “Journeys Home”, edited by Marcus
C Grodi, Queenship Publishing Company, Santa Barbara, Ca 1997
introductory
page Selected Catholic
tracts available in this series