Ninety-Five Reasons for Becoming or Remaining Catholic
Ninety-Five Reasons for Becoming or Remaining Catholic
from a book by Paul Key , a former Presbyterian minister who is now a Roman Catholic priest.
from a book by Paul Key , a former Presbyterian minister who is now a Roman Catholic priest.
During the eighteen years that I was a Presbyterian pastor, so many reasons came to my attention for the Catholic Church being the best and the true Church that I had to convert in mid-career. My conscience demanded this change. Later I recognized it to be necessary to preserve my sense of pastoral integrity and to avoid spiritual death. Let me share with you the ninety-five reasons which I identified for becoming, or remaining Catholic. They demonstrate that the Catholic Church:
- Is the most accurately Biblical of all Christian groups
- Is the most intellectually honest and the most historically accurate
- Exhibits an excellent, practical environment for ministry
- Maintains the deepest, most profound spirituality
- Most truly represents the essentials of sin and salvation
- Has the most coherent doctrine concerning sex, marriage and the family
- Puts it all together in the Mass, the celebration of the Eucharist.
These reasons as a whole exhibit a compelling vision for a whole-hearted, full time commitment to the service of Christ in the Roman Catholic Church, either for single or those who are married, for clergy, religious, or laity. Furthermore, such involvement is the key not only to personal spiritual growth, but to the health and stability of the entire social order.
copyright Paul R. Key 1998
We would love for you to use any part of Fr. Paul's 95 Reasons, but please contact us and ask. Thanks!
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Biblical Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
Biblical Reasons for Becoming Catholic
Having been brought up in the Presbyterian Church, the son of a Presbyterian minister, I was profoundly aware of the importance of the Bible as the “unique and authoritative guide for faith and life.” So as a pastor, preaching every Sunday, I studied the Scriptures assiduously to discover the truth. I became very uneasy very quickly for I began to realize that fundamental pillars of the Protestant position were not supported by Scripture itself.
1. The Doctrine of the three “solas” not biblical. After my ordination into the ministry, I soon began to discover some cracks in the doctrinal structure of the Reformed Tradition. At a conference, sponsored by the most rigorous of the Presbyterian Church, I saw a large banner highlighting the three great Reformed distinctives: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fides, and Sola Gratia. I raised the question, “Where are those found in the Bible?” It seemed reasonable to assume that since the Bible was the “unique and authoritative guide,” for our tradition, these doctrines should be prominently displayed therein. But when I dug deeper, I could not find any of the three in Scripture itself. I was then horrified to find that the origin of Sola Fides was Martin Luther’s mistranslation of Romans 3:28. He had added the word “only” fully knowing that it was not in the original Greek.[1] So the first of the three great pillars of Protestantism was not even present in Scripture! Hence, the cardinal protestant doctrine of “Scripture alone” was not the correct statement of this truth.[2]
2. “Faith alone” not accurate. I had had some questions about “salvation by faith alone” and how such a doctrine related to the demands of Jesus for holiness and the moral life. Many of the teachings of Jesus seemed to demand “works” for salvation. For example, the merciful actions caring for those who suffer revealed in the vision of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, the requirement that believers forgive others in Matthew 6:12, 14-15, the active care of the neighbor manifested by the Good Samaritan, Luke 10, or the explicit teaching of Romans 2 and 2 Cor. 5:10. I have since found nearly thirty different references to the need of works for salvation in the New Testament alone. Suffice it to say that my Protestant self-assuredness was shaken. To find on the one hand that this Protestant phrase, “salvation by faith alone,” was based on an interpolation by Luther into a text of the key word, “only”, and on the other to discover so many passages that explicitly stated that our salvation was dependent upon our works made possible in a state of grace, called into question the entire manner in which protestants dealt with faith and works.
3. Protestant understanding of Sola Gratia not accurate and undercutting of the call to holiness. “Faith Alone” was always combined with Sola Fides to mean that we were saved by God’s grace alone without any cooperation with that grace by our works. But then the Lectionary led me to James:
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (2:14-17).
The typical Reformed answer to this is to say that there is no true faith if there is no evidence to prove that faith. The argument rejects any role for works in gaining our salvation, allowing only that works demonstrate saving faith. That seemed to me to be a coherent argument but it wasn’t what the passage said. In verse 21 James doesn’t say that Abraham showed that he had been justified by faith by offering Isaac on the altar. James says:
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works… You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone… For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. (Js. 2:22-24,26).
This passage said very clearly that faith and works are interdependent, not independent of each other. Here in the biblical (Catholic) position, works are not seen just as a sign of faith but as an integral part of faith. I had to pose the question to myself, “How could Luther first ignore this explicit passage, calling James “an epistle of straw” and then insert into that passage of Romans something that was not there? I knew that something smelled rotten but I had not yet discovered Nominalism. So I searched farther. In Romans 2:6 St. Paul says, “For he (God) will render to every man according to his works.” In fact, St. Paul says eight separate times in Romans 2 that salvation or damnation is dependent upon what we do, not upon “faith alone.” Furthermore, Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me “‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Additionally, the difference between the man who built his house on the sand and the man who built his house upon the rock is not a question of faith and non-faith but a question of obedience vs. disobedience. I had never ever heard a Protestant make that distinction. And finally, my reading of the vision of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25 certainly seemed to indicate to me that the difference between the saved and the lost depended not upon faith alone but upon faithful service to “the least of these my brethren.” All of the above passages of Scripture seemed to me to require a responsive cooperation with grace was a forbidden Catholic error of “works righteousness.” I am now convinced that many Protestants (and some Catholics) have huddled too long at the throne of cheap grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus in the Catholic Church is a costly grace.
To a Catholic reader these revelations must appear to be obvious; but to me, on a journey of faith from a more limited tradition to the Universal Tradition, each was a momentous discovery. Each was submitted to extensive discussion and evaluation with other Reformed friends. Each time I came away unsatisfied with the response I had received.[3]
4. Sola Scriptura unbiblical. But Sola Scriptura still remained as the most fundamental Reformational bedrock. All Protestants know how Catholics have added to the clear truth of the Gospel, both from their own tradition and from the world surrounding them. Imagine my surprise and dismay when in reading the Lectionary passages I came across:
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter (2 Thess 2:15).
There it was! Not “Scripture Alone” but the Apostolic Oral Tradition and the written tradition (Scripture) together. For years I confronted Evangelical seminarians and seminary faculty with this passage, to their confusion.
So by now I had found that all three of the great Reformed distinctives, Sola Fides, Sola Gratia, and Sola Scriptura were not only not contained in Scripture but that the exact opposite to each of these Protestant doctrines appeared explicitly in Scripture.[4]
I began to become a bit uneasy. First, my tradition was not holding together very well. Secondly, being Presbyterian minister is an attractive, fairly comfortable, very independent kind of position. That comfort and that independence were being threatened. Thirdly, if my studies continued in the direction they seemed to be going, I might have to admit to my very gracious but very pro-Catholic wife that she might be right. So I remained mute and continued my studies.
While I had failed to find scriptural foundations for the three great Reformed “distinctives,” I did find a great deal in the Sacred Scriptures to support the Catholic understanding of the Sacraments.
5. The sacraments as means of entering into a personal relationship with Christ. One of the most precious elements in evangelical Protestantism is that of insisting that believers enter into a “personal relationship” with Christ. This is both biblically accurate as well as mentioned twice in the Catechism (cf. ##299 and 2558). Articles 355 and 356, among many others speak of Friendship with God.[5] For Protestants this language communicates the importance of having personal faith and commitment with Jesus. The following observation is something that is generally lost to Catholicism today but still exists in the Liturgy. Every sacrament involves (or originally involved) the faithful taking a solemn vow or promise directly and personally with God before receiving the sacrament. If correctly understood, this requires an informed and personal assent to the standards or demands of Jesus before receiving the sacramental graces endowed by the sacrament. Understood in this manner, the sacraments of the Catholic Church demand that the faithful establish a clear-cut personal commitment in faith and obedience to God that is much more specific and deeper than anything I know required by Protestant Churches. As we will see later, this intimate, personal acquaintance with Jesus and His Word is further developed in the spiritual practices of the Catholic Church, especially in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
6. The Sacraments are not creations either of the post-Constantinian Church or of the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages but all have an explicitly biblical foundation. As I continued my biblical studies I increasingly found foundations for all seven sacraments, something that both Luther and Calvin denied. Again I found St. Thomas’s explanation for this to be most accurate, especially as he made a distinction between “institution” and “promulgation” of the sacraments based on John 14:26.[6]
7. Scripture teaches the sacraments as imparting a spiritual reality, not just being symbolic of it. My first question concerning Catholic beliefs and the sacraments pertained to the “real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, indeed, in all the Sacraments. Is Jesus really manifested and imparted through the sacraments by the Holy Spirit, or are the sacraments only external “signs and seals” of a spiritual reality which is imparted invisibly and previously by faith? Are the Baptists right in asserting that these actions are only ordinances of our Lord but not sacraments? Within the Reformed tradition there are two routes one can follow. The first, that of Calvin in Geneva, affirms Christ’s real presence in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Calvin attempted to defend the reality of the sacraments while not using Aristotelian metaphysics. The second tradition, which is dominant in the 20th Century Reformed Church, is that of Zwingli in Zurich. A more thoroughgoing rationalist than Calvin, Zwingli rejected sacramental reality altogether. His beliefs are present throughout the Reformed Tradition as well as that of the Evangelical and Baptist free churches. But Scripture seems to describe these actions as powerful sacraments. This I found to be true in 1 Cor. 11, John 6 (Eucharist), Acts 8 (Confirmation) and 1 Peter 3 (Baptism). So in this very important area of sacramental theology, I began to find the Catholic Church Biblically accurate whereas in Protestantism, I found evasive explanations unrepresentative of the Biblical texts.
8. Scripture teaches the real presence, not just a symbolic presence of Christ in the Eucharist. For example, in relation to the Eucharist, St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died (vv. 27-30, my emphasis).
This seemed to me to be contradictory. How could a practice that is only an “empty symbol” cause such results? If it were only a symbol, representing benefits given invisibly by God by faith or some other “spiritual” means, how could its misuse cause illness and death? That would be possible only if the power of God were mediated by means of the Lord’s Supper itself. From this point on I became intentionally more sacramental. And the observation was not lost on my consciousness that only the very liturgical churches, like the Catholics, the Orthodox, and the Episcopalian churches treated the Eucharist with a respect appropriate to this power. In addition, in the other key text which treats the reality of the Eucharist, John 6, Jesus used vocabulary that is very literal when describing eating his flesh and drinking his blood. When many of his disciples “drew back” and no longer went about with him, Jesus did not say to them, “I’m sorry fellows, you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean to be so literal.” Rather, Jesus affirmed his words and explained those who had drawn back as unbelievers (Jn 6:61-67).
9. Baptism not just a symbolic act but effects regeneration. In a relationship to the sacrament of baptism, I experienced the same kind of growth. For most Protestants baptism is the external sign and seal of the interior cleansing that Jesus gives when persons are regenerated by faith, but it is not itself regenerative. So I was disturbed when I found passages like 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this (Noah’s salvation in the Ark), now saves you…” and Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” In the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended upon him immediately after baptism, not before, which should have done had his baptism been only a visible sign of a previously bestowed, invisible grace. Furthermore, biblical scholars are almost united in affirming that John 3:5 is a reference to baptism (“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”). In Romans 6, it is baptism which the believer becomes part of the Church, the Body of Christ! Traditionally Presbyterians did agree with this, but most evangelical, charismatic, and fundamentalist Protestants did not. It seemed to me that Scripture described baptism as actually doing something, being regenerative, ordinarily necessary for salvation. So the Catholic position on baptism also seemed to me to be more accurately biblical that either the Protestant or the Presbyterian position. It was becoming more difficult to have theological discussions at home with my wife. We found that if we did Bible reading for devotions, devotions would degenerate into theological arguments. So we began doing separate but equal silent devotions.
10. Confirmation not just a rite of passage but bestowal of the Holy Spirit for strengthening. I found the same type of arguments to be true in the case of confirmation. The Presbyterian Church of which I was a member did not consider confirmation either to be a sacrament or to confer real power. It was more of a rite of passage, accomplished primarily by attending a class, more than by just taking vows, and being received publicly into the church as an adult member. All of these are validly part of the preparation for confirmation or are a result of confirmation. But, after having to go back to Catholic sources for the origins of this sacrament, I found that it was based upon the laying on of hands at the time of adult baptism. When infant baptism was practiced in the Latin (Roman) Church, the laying on of hands was withheld until the child had reached the age of reason and could make his own profession of faith, thereby allowing him to fulfill the admonitions concerning the Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11. Then, in imitation of the Apostolic practice, hands were laid on the person for the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit after the profession of faith. When I returned to Acts 8 for the laying on of hands was indeed the means of transferring the power of the Holy Spirit:
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power, that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8: 18-19).
11. Priests being delegated the authority for forgiving sins by Jesus making the Sacrament of Penance explicitly biblical (Mt 16:18-19; Mt 18:18; Jn 20:22-23; CCC 1441-1442). The Reformed churches teach that no man, only God, can forgive sins. But what about Matthew 16:19? Is not Jesus explicitly delegating this power to the Apostles here?
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Mt. 16:19).
John, also, records that Jesus explicitly delegated the power to forgive sins:
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).
When the first passage is seen in the light of its Old Testament antecedents in Isaiah 22:19-22, it becomes clear that Scripture is talking not just about Peter, but about an office in the church which is to be exercised in the manner of a father who is head of the covenant people.
12. The Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders and Marriage also biblical means of receiving the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. St. Thomas argues that extreme unction is one of the sacraments that Jesus instituted but did not himself publish. The Apostles, rather, published this teaching of Jesus after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is clear that Jesus sends out the twelve with authority over unclean spirits to heal (Mk 6:13, Mt 10:1, Lk 9:1-6). This sacrament is clearly referred to in James 5:14, which also makes it known that oil is the material used to anoint the sick.
Concerning Holy Orders, Trent observes that the New Testament refers to priests and deacons (1 Tim 3:8-10, Acts 3:6) as well as evangelists (Acts 21:8). St. Paul reminds Timothy of the power conferred when Paul ordained him (2 Tim 1:6-7). To this we could add Tit 1:5-9 where St. Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders (priests or bishops). Trent also recognizes the Pauline lists of different offices (1 Cor 12:28-29, Eph 4:11), the existence of elders who were overseers (Acts 20:17, 28), and a hierarchy among them. Trent taught that Jesus instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper. Vatican II, in adopting the triple function of prophet, priest, and king, and in recognizing the bishops as successors to the Apostles implies that this commission was given by Jesus in passages such as the Great Commission of Mt 28:19-20.
Concerning marriage, I observed that it is the one sacrament in which the Greek word which came to designate sacrament, musterion (mystery), is actually applied to this practice (Eph 5:32). Jerome chose the Latin, sacramentum to express the Greek, musterion, when he produced the Vulgate. Also as foundational to this sacrament are Mt 19:4 and Mk 10:8-9.
After discovering that the three “Solas” were not in Scripture, after finding an explicit biblical foundation for the sacraments that really were “means of grace,” not just signs of it, I then also found that the Catholic teaching about the authority of Church teaching (the authority of the Magisterium) was also explicitly biblical.
13. The role of Peter, the Petrine Office and Magisterial Authority which expresses the mind of the Church and leads us to truth is also explicitly biblical. The development of the sacraments is often attacked by Protestants as an unbiblical and illegitimate assertion by the Church. For them the source of truth is Scripture alone. But what, according to Scripture is the pillar and bulwark of the truth?” Before my studies I would have confidently (and ignorantly) answered, “the Bible.” Any Protestant will immediately answer, “the Scriptures or the Bible.” But then what does one do with 1 Timothy 3:14-15? Almost incidentally, in the process of giving instructions to Timothy, St. Paul describes the authority of the Church in this manner:
I hope to come to you soon; but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how to behave in the household of God; which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Tim 3:14-15).
This passage clearly states that the Church, not the Scripture, is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” It affirms the role of the Church in protecting the truth and in interpreting Sacred Scripture. My friend, Marcus Grodi, helped me see the logical, biblically based development of the Petrine office. His research not only exposed the pre-Christian model for church structure which assumed the office of the High Priest, but also demonstrated the extensive biblical foundations for Jesus’ commissioning of Peter , Peter’s role in the infant church, the testimony of St. Paul’s epistles as well as the testimony of the early church. This pre-eminence of Peter is very evident once it has been pulled together. It seems to me that some recalcitrant spirit in Protestantism simply resisted such research and reflection.[7]
With the above passages dealing with both the Apostolic a Petrine authority, one can clearly see the truth expressed by the Second Vatican Council:
It is clear, therefore, that in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected an associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls (Dei Verbum [DV], 10c).
So once again I found the Catholic position on grace an works, on the nature of faith, on the sacraments of the Church, as well as on the authority of the Church, the Papacy an the Petrine Office to be the most in line with the scriptural record. While I was aware that my study was taking me in a profoundly Catholic direction, my congregation was delighted with the increasing depth an spirituality of practices that I was introducing as “biblical discoveries.” But internally I was experiencing greater an greater tension between my theology and the Presbyterian positions. And talking with my wife was not becoming easier. It was becoming embarrassing.
There are a number of additional reasons for being Catholic that relate specifically to the Biblical witness. Let me summarize them here. I had been brought up to think that Catholic really feared the use of Scripture and hence were generally ignorant of it. What a shock to find the high positions actually given to it in the liturgy and for personal spiritual growth.
14. The very high position of respect and authority given to Sacred Scripture in the Catholic Church. My prejudices concerning Catholic scorn and ignorance for the Scriptures were confronted by the very prominent position given to the Bible in Catholic liturgy. I remember when I first went to Mass and Catholics carried in the Bible in the introductory procession to start the Mass. The Bible was actually elevated in the hands of the deacon, over his head and was reverenced more than I had ever done as a Protestant. Then, in the Mass, there were three readings, usually coordinated from the Old Testament, the Epistles and the Gospel. Furthermore, the congregation had little devotional actions which related to the hearing and understanding of the Word of God, which we did not do, and at the Gospel reading the entire congregation always stood out of respect for the New Testament testimony to Jesus. We did not do that. I thought this was very consistent with the Protestant belief concerning the importance of the Word of God but when I proposed doing it in our Church, I was told that doing such a practice was “Catholic” and inappropriate for us. I began to wonder if my Presbyterian faith was more based on being anti-Catholic than it was on respect and dependence for the Word of God.
Later, in my studies, I read the official Catholic document from the Second Vatican Council on the authority of the Word of God in the Church, Dei Verbum. I was absolutely shocked. In addition to providing an excellent theological statement on the nature of divine revelation, it documented in detail the high esteem that Sacred Scripture should have in the lives of Catholics. A few examples: The attitude the Church should take toward Scripture is “veneration.” The text equates the importance of the Sacred Scripture with that of the Holy Eucharist, partaking of the bread of life an offering it to the faithful “from the one table of the Word of God and the Body of Christ” (DV, 21). They are, taken together with sacred Tradition, as the “supreme rule of faith.” Access to sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian Faithful” (DV, 22). The Sacred Scripture is the “rejuvenating force that keeps theology alive” and the “study of the sacred page” ought to be the very soul of sacred theology” (DV, 24). And, finally concerning its importance for the faithful, “the sacred Synod forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful… to learn “the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’” (DV, 25a). I was then overwhelmed. Having found the position of “sola scriptura” to be inaccurately presented and interpreted in Protestantism, I then found a stronger, more intellectually accurate position on the importance of Sacred Scripture in Catholicism; the Church that I thought ignored and scorned God’s precious word. Not only was Scripture truly given a more respectful and authoritative position in the Catholic Church, its use was more comprehensive.
15. More comprehensive use of Sacred Scripture in preaching. The first source that enlightened my awareness of the use of Scripture in the Catholic Church was my Protestant professor of worship who recommended the new of the new ecumenical (Vatican) lectionary to guide our preaching. He pointed out that even such an excellent pulpiteer as Billy Graham would only preach on about twenty percent of the texts of the New Testament. He showed us that the Catholic Church had a great solicitude to read, to listen to, to study, and to preach a much more comprehensive selection of Scripture than any Protestant Church.[8] As I later came to realize, this usage was based on a historical method that was more accurate and more pastorally useful than the historical critical method currently in vogue in most main-line Protestant schools.
16. Catholic principles for interpreting the Scriptures as most philosophically and historically accurate. The Catholic Church affirms both the “historical” method as well as the “historical-critical” method for interpreting the Scriptures.[9] But the “historical-critical” method must be used within carefully established parameters. I had known that the inherent skepticism and presumption of doubt inherent in the historical-critical method of Scriptural studies led to a number of negative consequences for the faith community. It was not until studies at the Franciscan University of Steubenville that I even heard of the “historical” method, that is, the “four senses” of Scripture (the literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. See the CCC, 115-119). It was this method that St. Augustine affirmed so strongly in his Confessions in that it allowed him to move beyond a rigid literalism.
I now judged that the Catholic faith,… could be maintained without being ashamed of it. This was especially the case after I had heard various passages in the Old Testament explained most frequently by way of allegory, by which same passages I was killed when I had taken them literally. Hence when many passages in those books were explained spiritually, I now blamed my own despair… (bk. 5, chpt. 14).
I often heard Ambrose speaking in his sermons to the people as though he most earnestly commended it as a rule that “the letter kills, but the spirit quickens (bk.6, chpt4, cf. 2 Cor 3:6).
I later discovered that the Scottish Presbyterian biblical scholar, William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible, Galatians, chpt 4, explained the various senses of Scripture that had been applied by the rabbis. So there had always been various levels for interpreting the sacred texts. Why had this background not been taught to me in seminary? Why had I not even been exposed to it, even if it could be refuted or discarded? Why had I had to come to the Catholic Church, the Church which I had always been taught was so unbiblical, in order to discover the principles that had governed the interpretation of Scripture for thousands of years?[10]
The Catholic Church also had the best position for criticizing the historical-critical approach. An uncritical, indiscriminate embracing of the historical-critical method of scriptural analysis may be one of the most destructive elements in twentieth century Christianity. Catholic biblical scholarship provides an excellent foundation to evaluate this issue. The Catholic Church also has a very high quality of technical, advanced Bible study. This depth and precision is a major reason for becoming Catholic. At this time in history it is difficult to establish a balance between the older historical method and the newer historical-critical methods. The historical-critical method can provide for a rigorous evaluation of the literal sense of the passages. Especially in the Catholic tradition, one can then combine this scientific linguistic study with the resources of the Fathers of the Church as well as the spiritual senses in the text. While I am convinced that much of modern bible study has adopted too much of the historical-critical methods too uncritically, the teaching magisterium of the Church has established guidelines for the use of this method which are mindful of its methodological and philosophical presuppositions.[11] We will see later in Chapter Two how the profound appreciation for the history of philosophy provides such a superior position for evaluating this recent approach to biblical studies.
These three positions, giving Sacred Scripture greater respect than in Protestantism, its more comprehensive use, better principles for interpreting it, and the way the study of the history of philosophy informed the critique of modern biblical scholarship; these prompted a serious paradigm shift in my thinking. This shift was accelerated by continued studies in which I found that Catholic practices that I had formerly ridiculed as demonstrating ignorance of Scripture really represented a more comprehensive appreciation of the content of the Word of God than that held by Protestants.
17. Many Catholic practices and traditions really based in Scripture. The second source of this awareness of the Biblical foundations of the Catholic Church was my wife, Patricia. As we discussed, argued and even fought over many practices of the Catholic Church, I learned from my very well-trained wife that many Catholic practices, which I had been taught were human inventions, really had their roots in Sacred Scripture. Several examples would be kneeling as a position for prayer, the celebrations of the “novena” being a form of prayer taken from the nine days before Pentecost, the emphasis on our sacrifice and our sufferings being positive an being able to be “offered up” to be united with the sufferings of Christ (Col 1:24, Rom 8:17, 1 Pet 4:12-19). This was thoroughly embarrassing! Let me briefly share a few more examples. For me, the discovery of these was like Chinese water torture. Drop after drop of truth revealed the weakness of my Protestant position.
18. Calling priests “Father.” Catholics are often criticized for calling priests “Father,” whereas Jesus says, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matt 23:9). To make this accusation reveals ignorance, ignorance of the cultural situation of the Matthew reference and ignorance of St. Paul’s description of himself as the “spiritual father” of believers in Corinth (1 Cor. 4:15 and Phil. 10). Jesus is criticizing the arrogance of the Pharisees as they arrogated titles such as teacher and father unto themselves, not meaning to apply it to all areas of life. St. Paul illustrates his understanding of spiritual leaders taking the role of “spiritual fathers.” “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became you father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15).[12] This is precisely the reason that Catholics call priests father. Most Protestants implicitly recognize what Jesus is doing for I do not know of any Protestant family where the children are not encouraged to call their daddy, “Father.”
19. The distinction between venial and mortal sins. (Jn. 23:9; 1 Jn. 5:16-17; CCC 1852-1861). I found that one of the most emotionally intense of the common critiques of the Catholic Church regarded the distinction between mortal and venial sins. All Protestants that I knew, and especially evangelicals, stress that any sin is sin and that Catholics are really being “soft” on sin when they assert that some sin is more serious than others. Again, I was embarrassed to find that Jesus, St. John and St. Paul indicate that some sins are greater or lesser than others. Jesus affirms this truth when he is before Pilate (Jn. 23:9). St. John makes an explicit distinction between sin that is mortal (deadly) and that which is not (1 Jn. 5:16-17). St. Paul identifies certain sins that cause persons not to inherit the Kingdom of God, making such sinners deserving of death (Rom 1:28-32); I Cor. 6:9-11; Gal 5:16-21). This issue is dealt with clearly in the Catechism.[13]
20. The Catholic understanding of the Communion of Saints more comprehensive and more spiritual. While I knew that all Christians affirmed belief in the “communion of saints” in the Apostles’ Creed, I really had no idea of what it meant. There certainly is a rational, this worldly level of understanding of this doctrine. We all affirm the need for good heroes. The stories of their exploits inspire and guide. Additionally, Calvin accented the economic aspect of being part of the Church when he stressed sharing (communion) among believers. This was certainly present in the early Church (Acts 2:44), and Calvin recalled the importance of this same sharing among believers today. These approaches fit comfortably into my secular, rationalistic mindset.
But there is a more spiritual aspect to this doctrine that I was missing. The architecture of the chapel of the Dominican house of studies in Dubuque, Iowa, pushed me further. Surrounding worshippers on four sides were statues of twenty-four Dominican saints. Many were martyrs or confessors of the Church. My wife amazed me by knowing the identity of each by its particular symbolism. I realized what a powerful resource it would be to have read all their lives and to have all that in one’s memory during Mass and daily office. Furthermore, I recalled the words of James, “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects (Js. 5:16c). Moreover, these saints are not present just in our memories. They are really, spiritually present with us in our worship, especially in the Eucharist. The greater depth and vitality of the Catholic understanding of that doctrine came alive for me. Additionally, while the Bible does not mention explicitly the veneration and invocation of saints, there is scriptural warrant for the practice. There is veneration offered angels (Jos. 5:14; Dan. 8:17l Tob. 12:16). Judas Maccabaeus saw in a vision how two deceased men interceded with God for the Jews (2 Macc. 15:11-16). Jeremiah himself wrote that Moses and Samuel made intercession for the Jews apparently after their deaths (Jer. 15:1). Protestant scholar William Barclay recognizes that in later Jewish literature the idea of heavenly intermediaries bringing the prayers of the faithful to God is very common. In Revelation 5:8 the incense in the golden bowls of the elders is the prayers of God’s faithful people.[14]
Furthermore, I wanted this fellowship with the saints of the Church to be part of my children’s faith. I must confess that even after I had discovered the lives of the saints, it was difficult to use this treasure deeply and powerfully within my own family as long as my identity was Protestant. It was necessary for me to become Catholic to obtain the benefits that come from acting like a Catholic. And moreover, I wanted to be able to teach and to share the exploits of the saints to my congregation. Not to do so seemed irresponsible. I would occasionally use Mother Theresa or St. Maria Goretti in sermons. This would always provoke some criticism. Furthermore, in pastoral work I found yet another powerful use of the lives of the saints. When I would share a difficult pastoral problem with my wife, she could always make references to a saint recognized by the Catholic Church who had overcome that problem. Then I would have to decide if I could use that story as an inspiration. Or I could give that person a book detailing that saint’s life. Of course as a Presbyterian minister I should do no such thing! Moreover, to go further to the supernatural level of asking their prayer intercessions for the persons I was guiding was utterly unthinkable. I was not a happy father or a cheerful pastor.
At this point I found myself naturally drawn into the supernatural role of the communion of saints as we pray to them and they intercede for us. They were present to participate with us in prayer. Beyond a material or rational level, the saints provide help in time of need. This seemed to be a direct incarnation of Hebrews 12:1-2!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Would I not wish to have these righteous men intercede for those with whom I was working? I was inspired. And I had been left out. Very few of these stories about the lives of the saints had been told to me during my childhood. Moreover, we had never received their help in prayer.
Patricia was very gentle with me. Only about twice a year would she suggest that I could be so much more effective in the Catholic Church because I would have so many more pastoral tools, like the lives of the saints, available to me. Twice a year is not too often to make a gentle comment, but after all, after eighteen years, that is thirty-six interventions.
The Protestant objection to using the saints in this way is based on the desire to avoid the error of worshipping them in the place of God and to avoid praying to them instead of going directly to God. If that were so important, I thought that I should be able to find that prohibition in Scripture. But I could not find such a prohibition anywhere. It seemed strange to me to reject such an important resource without an explicit Biblical prohibition. And if there had been times of overemphasis on the saints, it seemed to me that the responsible course of action would be to work to correct the abuse rather than rejecting the resource altogether. This led to research on the related topic of “prayers for the dead.”
21. Prayers for the dead most appropriate logically and scripturally. A Protestant pastor must always deal with requests for prayer for the deceased at funerals. After all, if we can prayer for our loved ones while living, why not after they have passed away? I learned quickly that not praying such prayers was one of the distinctives on which Presbyterian practice rested. We did not do that. Only Catholics did such a foolish thing. So again I went searching in the Scriptures to see where the prohibition for such an obviously incorrect practice could be. Again I found that no such prohibition existed and that prayers for the deceased are recognized in a positive way in 2 Maccabees 12:42-46.
“And they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be blotted out… He also took up a collection …to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorable, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.”
Additionally, St. Augustine records that he prayed for his mother, Monica, after her death with many tears and intercessions (Confessions, bk. 9, chpt. 13). Additional historical study showed that the early Christian community had prayed for the dead (The Acts of Paul and Thecla, second century) and archeological work has demonstrated graffiti in the catacombs, where the earliest Christians recorded prayers for the dead.[15] This further convinced me that such a practice was ancient, authentic and desirable. It is also logical since God is timeless, He can apply prayers at any point in history, including after a person has died. But in a Presbyterian setting I always risked criticism and rejection if I did so. In addition, I discovered that to pursue such study of the Early Church Fathers and of the history of the Church brought suspicion upon oneself in evangelical circles, for the simple reason that such study often resulted in a “softness” toward Catholic doctrine or outright conversion. I had no interest at this point in converting, but this study did raise the very fundamental issue of the Canon of Scripture.
22. The Deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament always used in the early Church. Why did Protestants reject the Deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament? I could find two reasons. The first was that St. Jerome had been aware that the Jewish scholars had refused to recognize these books as part of the Hebrew Bible, a decision taken at a Council in Jamnia in A.D. 90. But why should a Christian scholar accept Jewish authority for determining the Canon of Scripture in the Christian era? A second was that these books contained explicit references to doctrines that the Reformers wished to reject. But, these books had been used by the Christian Church from its early beginnings. Karl Keating has an incisive critique of Luther and Calvin’s inadequate attempts to come up with criteria for the canon.[16] It was the Church itself that determined the Canon of Scripture based on what the Church considered to be the authentic record of the Apostles. I had a hard time rejecting these books and the doctrines that they contained, and the delightful story of Tobit was most helpful in marriage counseling. But one did not need the Deutero-canonical books of Scripture to be aware that Protestants were ignoring Mary.
23. Embracing the considerable role of Mary in both the Sacred Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition. Preaching from the Lectionary, it only took me until my first Christmas in the ministry to come across a passage dealing with Mary that I had never seen. It was the Magnificat. Luke 1:48 records Mary saying that “all generations will call me blessed.” It was immediately clear to me that Protestants did not participate in that Scriptural guideline. It took a long time and the help of Professor Scott Hahn to help me realize the multiple references to Mary in the Sacred Scriptures.[17] I have slowly grown in appreciation for Mary as the Mother of God, for Mary as the Queen Mother, and in the many other roles attributed to her.
24. The Understanding of the four beasts in Daniel 7. The understanding of the prophecy of Daniel concerning the foundation of the Church at Rome only makes in a Catholic environment. See Daniel 7. The fourth beast represents the Roman Empire out of which comes the Christian Church in Rome. This is one of the explanations for the early Popes remaining in Rome to be martyred instead of fleeing.[18]
25. Greater biblical accuracy in supporting devotional practices an more perceptive principles for studying Scripture in the Catholic Church than in Protestant churches. In summary, my resistance to the Catholic Church, based on respect for the position of the Bible had been replaced by an openness to the claims of the Catholic Church. The principle of sola scriptura which I had received from Protestantism had become by a more accurate understanding of prima scriptura. As I became aware that the Catholic Church was much more accurately biblical in its beliefs and practices than the Protestant churches which claimed to be “Bible” churches, logic then demanded that I pay more attention to other Catholic positions. By the mid-nineteen eighties I was aware that I was no longer really a Presbyterian, or a Protestant, neither in theology nor in practice. But the people were excited in my church and we were looking forward to a building program. I put myself into a holding pattern, preoccupied with the practical concerns of Church building. However, my intellectual search for truth and practical pastoral concerns continued to lead me into more reasons for being Catholic. On the home front I was trying to ignore the implications of my study, while my wife became more and more interested in Marian appearances.
26. Many other examples of where the Catholic Church is biblically more accurate than Protestants. The possibility of going to hell after making a profession of faith in Jesus (security of salvation – see Chapter 5), that the belief in purgatory while not explicitly referenced in Scripture is consistent with it (2 Macc. 12:43-46; Mt. 12:32; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 1 Pet. 3:19; 1 Jn. 5:17; Rev. 21:27), and the role of Peter and the Papacy (many references).[19] I discovered that throughout the centuries, Catholic faithful meditated profoundly over Scripture, often much more profoundly than busy, married Protestant divines. They reached a great depth of understanding of the entire message of Scripture which we would do well to study. So I found Catholic reflections on Scripture to be more accurate than many of my favorite Protestant authorities.
In conclusion, I found the Roman Catholic Church to have a general biblical accuracy to which I had both been ignorant an blind, making it more biblically accurate than any of the protestant denominations. In particular, I found that the Sacraments were founded upon the teachings of Jesus explicitly stated in Scripture, that Catholics had superior depth and wisdom in their study of Scripture, and that Catholics had many spiritual practices and devotions that were explicitly consistent with those same Scriptures. But there were more reasons for becoming Catholic than just the biblically related ones.
1. The Doctrine of the three “solas” not biblical. After my ordination into the ministry, I soon began to discover some cracks in the doctrinal structure of the Reformed Tradition. At a conference, sponsored by the most rigorous of the Presbyterian Church, I saw a large banner highlighting the three great Reformed distinctives: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fides, and Sola Gratia. I raised the question, “Where are those found in the Bible?” It seemed reasonable to assume that since the Bible was the “unique and authoritative guide,” for our tradition, these doctrines should be prominently displayed therein. But when I dug deeper, I could not find any of the three in Scripture itself. I was then horrified to find that the origin of Sola Fides was Martin Luther’s mistranslation of Romans 3:28. He had added the word “only” fully knowing that it was not in the original Greek.[1] So the first of the three great pillars of Protestantism was not even present in Scripture! Hence, the cardinal protestant doctrine of “Scripture alone” was not the correct statement of this truth.[2]
2. “Faith alone” not accurate. I had had some questions about “salvation by faith alone” and how such a doctrine related to the demands of Jesus for holiness and the moral life. Many of the teachings of Jesus seemed to demand “works” for salvation. For example, the merciful actions caring for those who suffer revealed in the vision of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, the requirement that believers forgive others in Matthew 6:12, 14-15, the active care of the neighbor manifested by the Good Samaritan, Luke 10, or the explicit teaching of Romans 2 and 2 Cor. 5:10. I have since found nearly thirty different references to the need of works for salvation in the New Testament alone. Suffice it to say that my Protestant self-assuredness was shaken. To find on the one hand that this Protestant phrase, “salvation by faith alone,” was based on an interpolation by Luther into a text of the key word, “only”, and on the other to discover so many passages that explicitly stated that our salvation was dependent upon our works made possible in a state of grace, called into question the entire manner in which protestants dealt with faith and works.
3. Protestant understanding of Sola Gratia not accurate and undercutting of the call to holiness. “Faith Alone” was always combined with Sola Fides to mean that we were saved by God’s grace alone without any cooperation with that grace by our works. But then the Lectionary led me to James:
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (2:14-17).
The typical Reformed answer to this is to say that there is no true faith if there is no evidence to prove that faith. The argument rejects any role for works in gaining our salvation, allowing only that works demonstrate saving faith. That seemed to me to be a coherent argument but it wasn’t what the passage said. In verse 21 James doesn’t say that Abraham showed that he had been justified by faith by offering Isaac on the altar. James says:
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works… You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone… For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. (Js. 2:22-24,26).
This passage said very clearly that faith and works are interdependent, not independent of each other. Here in the biblical (Catholic) position, works are not seen just as a sign of faith but as an integral part of faith. I had to pose the question to myself, “How could Luther first ignore this explicit passage, calling James “an epistle of straw” and then insert into that passage of Romans something that was not there? I knew that something smelled rotten but I had not yet discovered Nominalism. So I searched farther. In Romans 2:6 St. Paul says, “For he (God) will render to every man according to his works.” In fact, St. Paul says eight separate times in Romans 2 that salvation or damnation is dependent upon what we do, not upon “faith alone.” Furthermore, Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me “‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Additionally, the difference between the man who built his house on the sand and the man who built his house upon the rock is not a question of faith and non-faith but a question of obedience vs. disobedience. I had never ever heard a Protestant make that distinction. And finally, my reading of the vision of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25 certainly seemed to indicate to me that the difference between the saved and the lost depended not upon faith alone but upon faithful service to “the least of these my brethren.” All of the above passages of Scripture seemed to me to require a responsive cooperation with grace was a forbidden Catholic error of “works righteousness.” I am now convinced that many Protestants (and some Catholics) have huddled too long at the throne of cheap grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus in the Catholic Church is a costly grace.
To a Catholic reader these revelations must appear to be obvious; but to me, on a journey of faith from a more limited tradition to the Universal Tradition, each was a momentous discovery. Each was submitted to extensive discussion and evaluation with other Reformed friends. Each time I came away unsatisfied with the response I had received.[3]
4. Sola Scriptura unbiblical. But Sola Scriptura still remained as the most fundamental Reformational bedrock. All Protestants know how Catholics have added to the clear truth of the Gospel, both from their own tradition and from the world surrounding them. Imagine my surprise and dismay when in reading the Lectionary passages I came across:
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter (2 Thess 2:15).
There it was! Not “Scripture Alone” but the Apostolic Oral Tradition and the written tradition (Scripture) together. For years I confronted Evangelical seminarians and seminary faculty with this passage, to their confusion.
So by now I had found that all three of the great Reformed distinctives, Sola Fides, Sola Gratia, and Sola Scriptura were not only not contained in Scripture but that the exact opposite to each of these Protestant doctrines appeared explicitly in Scripture.[4]
I began to become a bit uneasy. First, my tradition was not holding together very well. Secondly, being Presbyterian minister is an attractive, fairly comfortable, very independent kind of position. That comfort and that independence were being threatened. Thirdly, if my studies continued in the direction they seemed to be going, I might have to admit to my very gracious but very pro-Catholic wife that she might be right. So I remained mute and continued my studies.
While I had failed to find scriptural foundations for the three great Reformed “distinctives,” I did find a great deal in the Sacred Scriptures to support the Catholic understanding of the Sacraments.
5. The sacraments as means of entering into a personal relationship with Christ. One of the most precious elements in evangelical Protestantism is that of insisting that believers enter into a “personal relationship” with Christ. This is both biblically accurate as well as mentioned twice in the Catechism (cf. ##299 and 2558). Articles 355 and 356, among many others speak of Friendship with God.[5] For Protestants this language communicates the importance of having personal faith and commitment with Jesus. The following observation is something that is generally lost to Catholicism today but still exists in the Liturgy. Every sacrament involves (or originally involved) the faithful taking a solemn vow or promise directly and personally with God before receiving the sacrament. If correctly understood, this requires an informed and personal assent to the standards or demands of Jesus before receiving the sacramental graces endowed by the sacrament. Understood in this manner, the sacraments of the Catholic Church demand that the faithful establish a clear-cut personal commitment in faith and obedience to God that is much more specific and deeper than anything I know required by Protestant Churches. As we will see later, this intimate, personal acquaintance with Jesus and His Word is further developed in the spiritual practices of the Catholic Church, especially in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
6. The Sacraments are not creations either of the post-Constantinian Church or of the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages but all have an explicitly biblical foundation. As I continued my biblical studies I increasingly found foundations for all seven sacraments, something that both Luther and Calvin denied. Again I found St. Thomas’s explanation for this to be most accurate, especially as he made a distinction between “institution” and “promulgation” of the sacraments based on John 14:26.[6]
7. Scripture teaches the sacraments as imparting a spiritual reality, not just being symbolic of it. My first question concerning Catholic beliefs and the sacraments pertained to the “real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, indeed, in all the Sacraments. Is Jesus really manifested and imparted through the sacraments by the Holy Spirit, or are the sacraments only external “signs and seals” of a spiritual reality which is imparted invisibly and previously by faith? Are the Baptists right in asserting that these actions are only ordinances of our Lord but not sacraments? Within the Reformed tradition there are two routes one can follow. The first, that of Calvin in Geneva, affirms Christ’s real presence in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Calvin attempted to defend the reality of the sacraments while not using Aristotelian metaphysics. The second tradition, which is dominant in the 20th Century Reformed Church, is that of Zwingli in Zurich. A more thoroughgoing rationalist than Calvin, Zwingli rejected sacramental reality altogether. His beliefs are present throughout the Reformed Tradition as well as that of the Evangelical and Baptist free churches. But Scripture seems to describe these actions as powerful sacraments. This I found to be true in 1 Cor. 11, John 6 (Eucharist), Acts 8 (Confirmation) and 1 Peter 3 (Baptism). So in this very important area of sacramental theology, I began to find the Catholic Church Biblically accurate whereas in Protestantism, I found evasive explanations unrepresentative of the Biblical texts.
8. Scripture teaches the real presence, not just a symbolic presence of Christ in the Eucharist. For example, in relation to the Eucharist, St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died (vv. 27-30, my emphasis).
This seemed to me to be contradictory. How could a practice that is only an “empty symbol” cause such results? If it were only a symbol, representing benefits given invisibly by God by faith or some other “spiritual” means, how could its misuse cause illness and death? That would be possible only if the power of God were mediated by means of the Lord’s Supper itself. From this point on I became intentionally more sacramental. And the observation was not lost on my consciousness that only the very liturgical churches, like the Catholics, the Orthodox, and the Episcopalian churches treated the Eucharist with a respect appropriate to this power. In addition, in the other key text which treats the reality of the Eucharist, John 6, Jesus used vocabulary that is very literal when describing eating his flesh and drinking his blood. When many of his disciples “drew back” and no longer went about with him, Jesus did not say to them, “I’m sorry fellows, you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean to be so literal.” Rather, Jesus affirmed his words and explained those who had drawn back as unbelievers (Jn 6:61-67).
9. Baptism not just a symbolic act but effects regeneration. In a relationship to the sacrament of baptism, I experienced the same kind of growth. For most Protestants baptism is the external sign and seal of the interior cleansing that Jesus gives when persons are regenerated by faith, but it is not itself regenerative. So I was disturbed when I found passages like 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this (Noah’s salvation in the Ark), now saves you…” and Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” In the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended upon him immediately after baptism, not before, which should have done had his baptism been only a visible sign of a previously bestowed, invisible grace. Furthermore, biblical scholars are almost united in affirming that John 3:5 is a reference to baptism (“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”). In Romans 6, it is baptism which the believer becomes part of the Church, the Body of Christ! Traditionally Presbyterians did agree with this, but most evangelical, charismatic, and fundamentalist Protestants did not. It seemed to me that Scripture described baptism as actually doing something, being regenerative, ordinarily necessary for salvation. So the Catholic position on baptism also seemed to me to be more accurately biblical that either the Protestant or the Presbyterian position. It was becoming more difficult to have theological discussions at home with my wife. We found that if we did Bible reading for devotions, devotions would degenerate into theological arguments. So we began doing separate but equal silent devotions.
10. Confirmation not just a rite of passage but bestowal of the Holy Spirit for strengthening. I found the same type of arguments to be true in the case of confirmation. The Presbyterian Church of which I was a member did not consider confirmation either to be a sacrament or to confer real power. It was more of a rite of passage, accomplished primarily by attending a class, more than by just taking vows, and being received publicly into the church as an adult member. All of these are validly part of the preparation for confirmation or are a result of confirmation. But, after having to go back to Catholic sources for the origins of this sacrament, I found that it was based upon the laying on of hands at the time of adult baptism. When infant baptism was practiced in the Latin (Roman) Church, the laying on of hands was withheld until the child had reached the age of reason and could make his own profession of faith, thereby allowing him to fulfill the admonitions concerning the Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11. Then, in imitation of the Apostolic practice, hands were laid on the person for the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit after the profession of faith. When I returned to Acts 8 for the laying on of hands was indeed the means of transferring the power of the Holy Spirit:
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power, that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8: 18-19).
11. Priests being delegated the authority for forgiving sins by Jesus making the Sacrament of Penance explicitly biblical (Mt 16:18-19; Mt 18:18; Jn 20:22-23; CCC 1441-1442). The Reformed churches teach that no man, only God, can forgive sins. But what about Matthew 16:19? Is not Jesus explicitly delegating this power to the Apostles here?
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Mt. 16:19).
John, also, records that Jesus explicitly delegated the power to forgive sins:
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).
When the first passage is seen in the light of its Old Testament antecedents in Isaiah 22:19-22, it becomes clear that Scripture is talking not just about Peter, but about an office in the church which is to be exercised in the manner of a father who is head of the covenant people.
12. The Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders and Marriage also biblical means of receiving the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. St. Thomas argues that extreme unction is one of the sacraments that Jesus instituted but did not himself publish. The Apostles, rather, published this teaching of Jesus after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is clear that Jesus sends out the twelve with authority over unclean spirits to heal (Mk 6:13, Mt 10:1, Lk 9:1-6). This sacrament is clearly referred to in James 5:14, which also makes it known that oil is the material used to anoint the sick.
Concerning Holy Orders, Trent observes that the New Testament refers to priests and deacons (1 Tim 3:8-10, Acts 3:6) as well as evangelists (Acts 21:8). St. Paul reminds Timothy of the power conferred when Paul ordained him (2 Tim 1:6-7). To this we could add Tit 1:5-9 where St. Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders (priests or bishops). Trent also recognizes the Pauline lists of different offices (1 Cor 12:28-29, Eph 4:11), the existence of elders who were overseers (Acts 20:17, 28), and a hierarchy among them. Trent taught that Jesus instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper. Vatican II, in adopting the triple function of prophet, priest, and king, and in recognizing the bishops as successors to the Apostles implies that this commission was given by Jesus in passages such as the Great Commission of Mt 28:19-20.
Concerning marriage, I observed that it is the one sacrament in which the Greek word which came to designate sacrament, musterion (mystery), is actually applied to this practice (Eph 5:32). Jerome chose the Latin, sacramentum to express the Greek, musterion, when he produced the Vulgate. Also as foundational to this sacrament are Mt 19:4 and Mk 10:8-9.
After discovering that the three “Solas” were not in Scripture, after finding an explicit biblical foundation for the sacraments that really were “means of grace,” not just signs of it, I then also found that the Catholic teaching about the authority of Church teaching (the authority of the Magisterium) was also explicitly biblical.
13. The role of Peter, the Petrine Office and Magisterial Authority which expresses the mind of the Church and leads us to truth is also explicitly biblical. The development of the sacraments is often attacked by Protestants as an unbiblical and illegitimate assertion by the Church. For them the source of truth is Scripture alone. But what, according to Scripture is the pillar and bulwark of the truth?” Before my studies I would have confidently (and ignorantly) answered, “the Bible.” Any Protestant will immediately answer, “the Scriptures or the Bible.” But then what does one do with 1 Timothy 3:14-15? Almost incidentally, in the process of giving instructions to Timothy, St. Paul describes the authority of the Church in this manner:
I hope to come to you soon; but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how to behave in the household of God; which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Tim 3:14-15).
This passage clearly states that the Church, not the Scripture, is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” It affirms the role of the Church in protecting the truth and in interpreting Sacred Scripture. My friend, Marcus Grodi, helped me see the logical, biblically based development of the Petrine office. His research not only exposed the pre-Christian model for church structure which assumed the office of the High Priest, but also demonstrated the extensive biblical foundations for Jesus’ commissioning of Peter , Peter’s role in the infant church, the testimony of St. Paul’s epistles as well as the testimony of the early church. This pre-eminence of Peter is very evident once it has been pulled together. It seems to me that some recalcitrant spirit in Protestantism simply resisted such research and reflection.[7]
With the above passages dealing with both the Apostolic a Petrine authority, one can clearly see the truth expressed by the Second Vatican Council:
It is clear, therefore, that in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected an associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls (Dei Verbum [DV], 10c).
So once again I found the Catholic position on grace an works, on the nature of faith, on the sacraments of the Church, as well as on the authority of the Church, the Papacy an the Petrine Office to be the most in line with the scriptural record. While I was aware that my study was taking me in a profoundly Catholic direction, my congregation was delighted with the increasing depth an spirituality of practices that I was introducing as “biblical discoveries.” But internally I was experiencing greater an greater tension between my theology and the Presbyterian positions. And talking with my wife was not becoming easier. It was becoming embarrassing.
There are a number of additional reasons for being Catholic that relate specifically to the Biblical witness. Let me summarize them here. I had been brought up to think that Catholic really feared the use of Scripture and hence were generally ignorant of it. What a shock to find the high positions actually given to it in the liturgy and for personal spiritual growth.
14. The very high position of respect and authority given to Sacred Scripture in the Catholic Church. My prejudices concerning Catholic scorn and ignorance for the Scriptures were confronted by the very prominent position given to the Bible in Catholic liturgy. I remember when I first went to Mass and Catholics carried in the Bible in the introductory procession to start the Mass. The Bible was actually elevated in the hands of the deacon, over his head and was reverenced more than I had ever done as a Protestant. Then, in the Mass, there were three readings, usually coordinated from the Old Testament, the Epistles and the Gospel. Furthermore, the congregation had little devotional actions which related to the hearing and understanding of the Word of God, which we did not do, and at the Gospel reading the entire congregation always stood out of respect for the New Testament testimony to Jesus. We did not do that. I thought this was very consistent with the Protestant belief concerning the importance of the Word of God but when I proposed doing it in our Church, I was told that doing such a practice was “Catholic” and inappropriate for us. I began to wonder if my Presbyterian faith was more based on being anti-Catholic than it was on respect and dependence for the Word of God.
Later, in my studies, I read the official Catholic document from the Second Vatican Council on the authority of the Word of God in the Church, Dei Verbum. I was absolutely shocked. In addition to providing an excellent theological statement on the nature of divine revelation, it documented in detail the high esteem that Sacred Scripture should have in the lives of Catholics. A few examples: The attitude the Church should take toward Scripture is “veneration.” The text equates the importance of the Sacred Scripture with that of the Holy Eucharist, partaking of the bread of life an offering it to the faithful “from the one table of the Word of God and the Body of Christ” (DV, 21). They are, taken together with sacred Tradition, as the “supreme rule of faith.” Access to sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian Faithful” (DV, 22). The Sacred Scripture is the “rejuvenating force that keeps theology alive” and the “study of the sacred page” ought to be the very soul of sacred theology” (DV, 24). And, finally concerning its importance for the faithful, “the sacred Synod forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful… to learn “the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’” (DV, 25a). I was then overwhelmed. Having found the position of “sola scriptura” to be inaccurately presented and interpreted in Protestantism, I then found a stronger, more intellectually accurate position on the importance of Sacred Scripture in Catholicism; the Church that I thought ignored and scorned God’s precious word. Not only was Scripture truly given a more respectful and authoritative position in the Catholic Church, its use was more comprehensive.
15. More comprehensive use of Sacred Scripture in preaching. The first source that enlightened my awareness of the use of Scripture in the Catholic Church was my Protestant professor of worship who recommended the new of the new ecumenical (Vatican) lectionary to guide our preaching. He pointed out that even such an excellent pulpiteer as Billy Graham would only preach on about twenty percent of the texts of the New Testament. He showed us that the Catholic Church had a great solicitude to read, to listen to, to study, and to preach a much more comprehensive selection of Scripture than any Protestant Church.[8] As I later came to realize, this usage was based on a historical method that was more accurate and more pastorally useful than the historical critical method currently in vogue in most main-line Protestant schools.
16. Catholic principles for interpreting the Scriptures as most philosophically and historically accurate. The Catholic Church affirms both the “historical” method as well as the “historical-critical” method for interpreting the Scriptures.[9] But the “historical-critical” method must be used within carefully established parameters. I had known that the inherent skepticism and presumption of doubt inherent in the historical-critical method of Scriptural studies led to a number of negative consequences for the faith community. It was not until studies at the Franciscan University of Steubenville that I even heard of the “historical” method, that is, the “four senses” of Scripture (the literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. See the CCC, 115-119). It was this method that St. Augustine affirmed so strongly in his Confessions in that it allowed him to move beyond a rigid literalism.
I now judged that the Catholic faith,… could be maintained without being ashamed of it. This was especially the case after I had heard various passages in the Old Testament explained most frequently by way of allegory, by which same passages I was killed when I had taken them literally. Hence when many passages in those books were explained spiritually, I now blamed my own despair… (bk. 5, chpt. 14).
I often heard Ambrose speaking in his sermons to the people as though he most earnestly commended it as a rule that “the letter kills, but the spirit quickens (bk.6, chpt4, cf. 2 Cor 3:6).
I later discovered that the Scottish Presbyterian biblical scholar, William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible, Galatians, chpt 4, explained the various senses of Scripture that had been applied by the rabbis. So there had always been various levels for interpreting the sacred texts. Why had this background not been taught to me in seminary? Why had I not even been exposed to it, even if it could be refuted or discarded? Why had I had to come to the Catholic Church, the Church which I had always been taught was so unbiblical, in order to discover the principles that had governed the interpretation of Scripture for thousands of years?[10]
The Catholic Church also had the best position for criticizing the historical-critical approach. An uncritical, indiscriminate embracing of the historical-critical method of scriptural analysis may be one of the most destructive elements in twentieth century Christianity. Catholic biblical scholarship provides an excellent foundation to evaluate this issue. The Catholic Church also has a very high quality of technical, advanced Bible study. This depth and precision is a major reason for becoming Catholic. At this time in history it is difficult to establish a balance between the older historical method and the newer historical-critical methods. The historical-critical method can provide for a rigorous evaluation of the literal sense of the passages. Especially in the Catholic tradition, one can then combine this scientific linguistic study with the resources of the Fathers of the Church as well as the spiritual senses in the text. While I am convinced that much of modern bible study has adopted too much of the historical-critical methods too uncritically, the teaching magisterium of the Church has established guidelines for the use of this method which are mindful of its methodological and philosophical presuppositions.[11] We will see later in Chapter Two how the profound appreciation for the history of philosophy provides such a superior position for evaluating this recent approach to biblical studies.
These three positions, giving Sacred Scripture greater respect than in Protestantism, its more comprehensive use, better principles for interpreting it, and the way the study of the history of philosophy informed the critique of modern biblical scholarship; these prompted a serious paradigm shift in my thinking. This shift was accelerated by continued studies in which I found that Catholic practices that I had formerly ridiculed as demonstrating ignorance of Scripture really represented a more comprehensive appreciation of the content of the Word of God than that held by Protestants.
17. Many Catholic practices and traditions really based in Scripture. The second source of this awareness of the Biblical foundations of the Catholic Church was my wife, Patricia. As we discussed, argued and even fought over many practices of the Catholic Church, I learned from my very well-trained wife that many Catholic practices, which I had been taught were human inventions, really had their roots in Sacred Scripture. Several examples would be kneeling as a position for prayer, the celebrations of the “novena” being a form of prayer taken from the nine days before Pentecost, the emphasis on our sacrifice and our sufferings being positive an being able to be “offered up” to be united with the sufferings of Christ (Col 1:24, Rom 8:17, 1 Pet 4:12-19). This was thoroughly embarrassing! Let me briefly share a few more examples. For me, the discovery of these was like Chinese water torture. Drop after drop of truth revealed the weakness of my Protestant position.
18. Calling priests “Father.” Catholics are often criticized for calling priests “Father,” whereas Jesus says, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matt 23:9). To make this accusation reveals ignorance, ignorance of the cultural situation of the Matthew reference and ignorance of St. Paul’s description of himself as the “spiritual father” of believers in Corinth (1 Cor. 4:15 and Phil. 10). Jesus is criticizing the arrogance of the Pharisees as they arrogated titles such as teacher and father unto themselves, not meaning to apply it to all areas of life. St. Paul illustrates his understanding of spiritual leaders taking the role of “spiritual fathers.” “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became you father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15).[12] This is precisely the reason that Catholics call priests father. Most Protestants implicitly recognize what Jesus is doing for I do not know of any Protestant family where the children are not encouraged to call their daddy, “Father.”
19. The distinction between venial and mortal sins. (Jn. 23:9; 1 Jn. 5:16-17; CCC 1852-1861). I found that one of the most emotionally intense of the common critiques of the Catholic Church regarded the distinction between mortal and venial sins. All Protestants that I knew, and especially evangelicals, stress that any sin is sin and that Catholics are really being “soft” on sin when they assert that some sin is more serious than others. Again, I was embarrassed to find that Jesus, St. John and St. Paul indicate that some sins are greater or lesser than others. Jesus affirms this truth when he is before Pilate (Jn. 23:9). St. John makes an explicit distinction between sin that is mortal (deadly) and that which is not (1 Jn. 5:16-17). St. Paul identifies certain sins that cause persons not to inherit the Kingdom of God, making such sinners deserving of death (Rom 1:28-32); I Cor. 6:9-11; Gal 5:16-21). This issue is dealt with clearly in the Catechism.[13]
20. The Catholic understanding of the Communion of Saints more comprehensive and more spiritual. While I knew that all Christians affirmed belief in the “communion of saints” in the Apostles’ Creed, I really had no idea of what it meant. There certainly is a rational, this worldly level of understanding of this doctrine. We all affirm the need for good heroes. The stories of their exploits inspire and guide. Additionally, Calvin accented the economic aspect of being part of the Church when he stressed sharing (communion) among believers. This was certainly present in the early Church (Acts 2:44), and Calvin recalled the importance of this same sharing among believers today. These approaches fit comfortably into my secular, rationalistic mindset.
But there is a more spiritual aspect to this doctrine that I was missing. The architecture of the chapel of the Dominican house of studies in Dubuque, Iowa, pushed me further. Surrounding worshippers on four sides were statues of twenty-four Dominican saints. Many were martyrs or confessors of the Church. My wife amazed me by knowing the identity of each by its particular symbolism. I realized what a powerful resource it would be to have read all their lives and to have all that in one’s memory during Mass and daily office. Furthermore, I recalled the words of James, “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects (Js. 5:16c). Moreover, these saints are not present just in our memories. They are really, spiritually present with us in our worship, especially in the Eucharist. The greater depth and vitality of the Catholic understanding of that doctrine came alive for me. Additionally, while the Bible does not mention explicitly the veneration and invocation of saints, there is scriptural warrant for the practice. There is veneration offered angels (Jos. 5:14; Dan. 8:17l Tob. 12:16). Judas Maccabaeus saw in a vision how two deceased men interceded with God for the Jews (2 Macc. 15:11-16). Jeremiah himself wrote that Moses and Samuel made intercession for the Jews apparently after their deaths (Jer. 15:1). Protestant scholar William Barclay recognizes that in later Jewish literature the idea of heavenly intermediaries bringing the prayers of the faithful to God is very common. In Revelation 5:8 the incense in the golden bowls of the elders is the prayers of God’s faithful people.[14]
Furthermore, I wanted this fellowship with the saints of the Church to be part of my children’s faith. I must confess that even after I had discovered the lives of the saints, it was difficult to use this treasure deeply and powerfully within my own family as long as my identity was Protestant. It was necessary for me to become Catholic to obtain the benefits that come from acting like a Catholic. And moreover, I wanted to be able to teach and to share the exploits of the saints to my congregation. Not to do so seemed irresponsible. I would occasionally use Mother Theresa or St. Maria Goretti in sermons. This would always provoke some criticism. Furthermore, in pastoral work I found yet another powerful use of the lives of the saints. When I would share a difficult pastoral problem with my wife, she could always make references to a saint recognized by the Catholic Church who had overcome that problem. Then I would have to decide if I could use that story as an inspiration. Or I could give that person a book detailing that saint’s life. Of course as a Presbyterian minister I should do no such thing! Moreover, to go further to the supernatural level of asking their prayer intercessions for the persons I was guiding was utterly unthinkable. I was not a happy father or a cheerful pastor.
At this point I found myself naturally drawn into the supernatural role of the communion of saints as we pray to them and they intercede for us. They were present to participate with us in prayer. Beyond a material or rational level, the saints provide help in time of need. This seemed to be a direct incarnation of Hebrews 12:1-2!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Would I not wish to have these righteous men intercede for those with whom I was working? I was inspired. And I had been left out. Very few of these stories about the lives of the saints had been told to me during my childhood. Moreover, we had never received their help in prayer.
Patricia was very gentle with me. Only about twice a year would she suggest that I could be so much more effective in the Catholic Church because I would have so many more pastoral tools, like the lives of the saints, available to me. Twice a year is not too often to make a gentle comment, but after all, after eighteen years, that is thirty-six interventions.
The Protestant objection to using the saints in this way is based on the desire to avoid the error of worshipping them in the place of God and to avoid praying to them instead of going directly to God. If that were so important, I thought that I should be able to find that prohibition in Scripture. But I could not find such a prohibition anywhere. It seemed strange to me to reject such an important resource without an explicit Biblical prohibition. And if there had been times of overemphasis on the saints, it seemed to me that the responsible course of action would be to work to correct the abuse rather than rejecting the resource altogether. This led to research on the related topic of “prayers for the dead.”
21. Prayers for the dead most appropriate logically and scripturally. A Protestant pastor must always deal with requests for prayer for the deceased at funerals. After all, if we can prayer for our loved ones while living, why not after they have passed away? I learned quickly that not praying such prayers was one of the distinctives on which Presbyterian practice rested. We did not do that. Only Catholics did such a foolish thing. So again I went searching in the Scriptures to see where the prohibition for such an obviously incorrect practice could be. Again I found that no such prohibition existed and that prayers for the deceased are recognized in a positive way in 2 Maccabees 12:42-46.
“And they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be blotted out… He also took up a collection …to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorable, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.”
Additionally, St. Augustine records that he prayed for his mother, Monica, after her death with many tears and intercessions (Confessions, bk. 9, chpt. 13). Additional historical study showed that the early Christian community had prayed for the dead (The Acts of Paul and Thecla, second century) and archeological work has demonstrated graffiti in the catacombs, where the earliest Christians recorded prayers for the dead.[15] This further convinced me that such a practice was ancient, authentic and desirable. It is also logical since God is timeless, He can apply prayers at any point in history, including after a person has died. But in a Presbyterian setting I always risked criticism and rejection if I did so. In addition, I discovered that to pursue such study of the Early Church Fathers and of the history of the Church brought suspicion upon oneself in evangelical circles, for the simple reason that such study often resulted in a “softness” toward Catholic doctrine or outright conversion. I had no interest at this point in converting, but this study did raise the very fundamental issue of the Canon of Scripture.
22. The Deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament always used in the early Church. Why did Protestants reject the Deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament? I could find two reasons. The first was that St. Jerome had been aware that the Jewish scholars had refused to recognize these books as part of the Hebrew Bible, a decision taken at a Council in Jamnia in A.D. 90. But why should a Christian scholar accept Jewish authority for determining the Canon of Scripture in the Christian era? A second was that these books contained explicit references to doctrines that the Reformers wished to reject. But, these books had been used by the Christian Church from its early beginnings. Karl Keating has an incisive critique of Luther and Calvin’s inadequate attempts to come up with criteria for the canon.[16] It was the Church itself that determined the Canon of Scripture based on what the Church considered to be the authentic record of the Apostles. I had a hard time rejecting these books and the doctrines that they contained, and the delightful story of Tobit was most helpful in marriage counseling. But one did not need the Deutero-canonical books of Scripture to be aware that Protestants were ignoring Mary.
23. Embracing the considerable role of Mary in both the Sacred Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition. Preaching from the Lectionary, it only took me until my first Christmas in the ministry to come across a passage dealing with Mary that I had never seen. It was the Magnificat. Luke 1:48 records Mary saying that “all generations will call me blessed.” It was immediately clear to me that Protestants did not participate in that Scriptural guideline. It took a long time and the help of Professor Scott Hahn to help me realize the multiple references to Mary in the Sacred Scriptures.[17] I have slowly grown in appreciation for Mary as the Mother of God, for Mary as the Queen Mother, and in the many other roles attributed to her.
24. The Understanding of the four beasts in Daniel 7. The understanding of the prophecy of Daniel concerning the foundation of the Church at Rome only makes in a Catholic environment. See Daniel 7. The fourth beast represents the Roman Empire out of which comes the Christian Church in Rome. This is one of the explanations for the early Popes remaining in Rome to be martyred instead of fleeing.[18]
25. Greater biblical accuracy in supporting devotional practices an more perceptive principles for studying Scripture in the Catholic Church than in Protestant churches. In summary, my resistance to the Catholic Church, based on respect for the position of the Bible had been replaced by an openness to the claims of the Catholic Church. The principle of sola scriptura which I had received from Protestantism had become by a more accurate understanding of prima scriptura. As I became aware that the Catholic Church was much more accurately biblical in its beliefs and practices than the Protestant churches which claimed to be “Bible” churches, logic then demanded that I pay more attention to other Catholic positions. By the mid-nineteen eighties I was aware that I was no longer really a Presbyterian, or a Protestant, neither in theology nor in practice. But the people were excited in my church and we were looking forward to a building program. I put myself into a holding pattern, preoccupied with the practical concerns of Church building. However, my intellectual search for truth and practical pastoral concerns continued to lead me into more reasons for being Catholic. On the home front I was trying to ignore the implications of my study, while my wife became more and more interested in Marian appearances.
26. Many other examples of where the Catholic Church is biblically more accurate than Protestants. The possibility of going to hell after making a profession of faith in Jesus (security of salvation – see Chapter 5), that the belief in purgatory while not explicitly referenced in Scripture is consistent with it (2 Macc. 12:43-46; Mt. 12:32; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 1 Pet. 3:19; 1 Jn. 5:17; Rev. 21:27), and the role of Peter and the Papacy (many references).[19] I discovered that throughout the centuries, Catholic faithful meditated profoundly over Scripture, often much more profoundly than busy, married Protestant divines. They reached a great depth of understanding of the entire message of Scripture which we would do well to study. So I found Catholic reflections on Scripture to be more accurate than many of my favorite Protestant authorities.
In conclusion, I found the Roman Catholic Church to have a general biblical accuracy to which I had both been ignorant an blind, making it more biblically accurate than any of the protestant denominations. In particular, I found that the Sacraments were founded upon the teachings of Jesus explicitly stated in Scripture, that Catholics had superior depth and wisdom in their study of Scripture, and that Catholics had many spiritual practices and devotions that were explicitly consistent with those same Scriptures. But there were more reasons for becoming Catholic than just the biblically related ones.
[1] While it is true that Luther added the adverb “only” into his translations of Romans, it should be noted that he himself indicated that it was demanded by the context and that sola, (only) had been used in the theological tradition before him. Robert Bellarmine listed eight earlier authors who used “only” in this situation. Lyonnet added two others (including St. Thomas), and Joseph Fitzmeyer adds three more (See Fitzmeyer, Romans, p.360ff). The error of most of Protantism is to deny any necessity for works even in response to the gift of grace.
[2] A very helpful articulation of the special role of Scripture in the Catholic Tradition is found in Prof. Scott Hahn’s article, Prima Scriptura (A.Mastroeni, ed., The Church and the Universal Catechism, The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Franciscan University Edition, 1992, pp. 83-116).
[3] The best summary I have found for resolving the grace/works dilemma is in the decrees from the II Council of Orange, 529 AD, in which the struggle between Augustinian thought and semi-Pelagianism was resolved. This process of Magisterial reflection upon the issue illustrates why it is inadequate to draw only on Scripture alone or upon outstanding theologians who often were writing in the heart of theological conflict. One cannot consult Augustine’s anti-Pelagian writings alone to resolve this issue. This is also one of the reasons that the Reformation was such a tragedy. Once outside of the corrective dialogue with the Magisterium of the Church, their historically conditioned excesses could not be easily corrected by assumed the role of autonomous denominational identity.
[4] For a much more depth on this issue see Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, index references.
[5] Article 299 in the Catechism relates “being created in the image of God” to being called to a personal relationship is implied every time that “being created in the image of God” is mentioned. Article 2558 indicates that the faithful believe the faith, celebrate it, and live from it in a vital and personal relationship with God and that this relationship is prayer. That means that all of the aspects of living the Christian life are to be lived out of a personal relationship with God.
[6] For a fuller development of this see my paper on the sacraments in the Gospel of John.
[7] For the details of this rich study, see “The Development of the Papacy,” by Marcus C. Grodi. Concerning the slow development of the petrine office see also John Henry Cardinal Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, pp.148-165. Just as samples of the New Testament witness, on Peter’ commissioning see: Matt 16:13-19; 23:1-12; Lk 22:31-32; Jn 21:15-19, as well as the first sixteen chapters in Acts.
[8] Later when I studied the Documents of Vatican II, I was both surprised an inspired by the high position given to Scripture and its use in the Catholic Church. See chapter 6 of Dei Verbum, “Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church,” for truly inspiring statements about the very important role of Scripture in the Catholic Church. Even more surprising was to find out that even at the Council of Trent, the role of Scripture and preaching was very important. Because these affirmations were placed in the Reform Decrees rather than the Dogmatic Definitions, they tend to get lost. For example, the Council of Trent taught that the preaching of the Good News is “the first responsibility of bishops” (D.R. Sess. 5, c.2, n.9., cf. Sess. 24, can. 4.), making the language at Trent stronger than that of Vatican II. Thus my preconceived prejudice that the Council of Trent was medieval, ignorant and reactionary also has come to be corrected.
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Intellectual, Philosophical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
27. Because of their moral honesty, Catholics can also be the most honest intellectuals. In his ground-breaking book, Degenerate Moderns, E. Michael Jones makes the case that much modern intellectual activity is really rationalized sexual misbehavior. The intellectual life is a function of the moral life of the thinker. In order to apprehend truth, which is the goal of the intellectual life, one must live a moral life (p. 16). On the one hand we have St. Augustine and St. Thomas who rigorously submit desire to the truth. On the other hand we have Freud or Paul Tillich who submitted truth to their desires. Jones makes the case by exposing biographically that intellectuals without the moral disciplines of the Church and without confession and absolution easily get caught up in the guilty tracks of their desires. Once this has happened, one’s intellectual achievements often become an exercise in rationalizing the guilt of lust. Catholic intellectuals, with the protection of God’s moral laws, and the resources of the Church for obtaining forgiveness, successfully resolving guilt, are the first among intellectuals in their freedom to be honest.[i]
28. The principle of catholicity (comprehensiveness). An essential intellectual principle that inspired me is that of comprehensiveness. It is essential to apply in all areas of thought, and especially in the study of the Bible. The danger in any field of study is to take a small part and generalize from that part rather than seeing the part in the context of the entire field of play. In scripture studies the danger is in selecting individual passages for their content and not seeing them in the context of the entire written revelation of God and in the development given them throughout the Tradition. In apologetic discussions with non-Catholics the most common phrase I have had to use was, “Would you please continue reading to the end of the passage.” The second was, “How can you harmonize that passage with these others?” This concern for comprehensiveness is crucial to avoiding some of the errors of fundamentalism and erroneous proof texting. A typical example of this kind of superficiality is the criticism of Catholics for calling their priests “father.” The apparent basis for this is Matthew 23:9, “And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” Yet those who make this criticism do not seem to take the context of that passage into account. Furthermore, many New Testament texts show the appropriateness for the designation “father” for spiritual leaders. First Corinthians 4:14-21 is but one example.[ii]
Comprehensiveness as including necessary balance. The principle of comprehensiveness demands that the Catholic take into account all legitimate differing positions, maintaining all necessary balances, not just taking the one side of a position that is consistent with his personality or situation. I remember being so impressed when I first came across Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care (audio). In its third part he reflects on how to give pastoral care to forty sets of opposing traits or situations, finding a balance appropriate to each. The depth of this approach addressed me profoundly, and I returned often to meditate upon its truth. This illustrates the fact that truth and life are ordinarily found in avoiding extremes by recognizing a correct balance. I had found many Protestant churches and Protestant organizations based on one side of a principle or behavioral experience, raising it up as virtue, but not taking into account other legitimate positions. An example of this would be the attitude often found in the Assembly of God churches when they insist on speaking in tongues as the definitive sign of spiritual maturity, not taking St. Paul’s cautions in 1 Cor 13 and 14 into account. This is an attitude that inevitably leads sects and divisions, not to the responsible, creative unity sought in Catholic tradition. This principle is also true in practical areas, for example, in approaching ecology and the environment, in balancing justice and love, ion developing personal growth/ societal applications.
29. Intellectual freedom not confused with irresponsible license. I have come to realize that the cries of many intellectuals for freedom to peddle their wares are nothing more than the desire to be able to promote often questionable ideas free from responsibility for their consequences. Major changes in ideas and life practices, even refinements in doctrinal areas, have usually come at great expense and much suffering. Extreme and painful have been the price that many have paid to establish a new understanding of truth. The conflicts of the Arian controversy provoked exile and murder. Today some of the proponents of sexual liberation complain bitterly about their being disciplined in the Church. This discipline has been very light historically speaking. Freedom for intellectual investigation comes with its limits and responsibilities. New positions must be valid enough to be paid for with some price.
30. Responsible recognition of the development of doctrine. The study of the development of doctrine is a great strength in the Catholic tradition. The tendency within Protestant theology and Scripture study is to leap from the Apostolic Age to the Reformation, dismissing almost everything in between as irrelevant. One often dismisses or ignores the great intellectual developments from St. Anselm and St. Thomas, as well as the maturation centering around Abelard. This ignoring of a continuing development of thought seemed intellectually irresponsible to me.
In addition, to recognizing the continuity of the history of the Church, I realized that the Holy Spirit had been given to the Church to guide such development. Fundamentalists, especially, wish to remain excessively limited to the text of Scripture. They forget that Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them everything and remind them of all that he had taught them. This gives the Holy Spirit a special role in guiding the progressive understanding of doctrine in the life of the Church. This is like the growth of an oak tree from an acorn. From the very beginning one has the same tree, but it grows and develops. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine was very helpful to me. Once I had committed myself to Catholicism and was studying as Steubenville and with the Jesuits in Brussels, I found that references to St. John Chrysostom or Origin did not meet with blank stares. On the contrary, Protestants who get into the study of the Fathers of the Church are often held suspect as being closet Catholics.
31. Catholicism as the foundation and origin of the Liberal Arts Tradition. Another intellectual reason for becoming Catholic is the Catholic Liberal Arts tradition. It was once considered that the teaching of the Liberal Arts was one of the major evangelization tools the Church. In this tradition, theology resides as the culminating, integrating discipline rather than the rhetoric of the sophists or the mathematical secular rationalism of modernity. The authentic, ancient tradition of the liberal arts is one of the great corrections to modern schools of subjective thought.
I am deeply convinced that higher education again needs to come under the supervision of the Church. It is often the case today, that attempting to teach a student in a university such things as self-restraint and the moral conviction necessary for character is about equivalent to teaching chastity in a brothel. I am so happy and proud now to be a part of the great Catholic Tradition, for I believe that we can re-establish godly values and formation in the lives of modern students.
32. Concern for the dignity and freedom of the human person. This has been historically one of the great contributions of the Catholic Church to Western Culture. On the one hand, modern American culture tends to judge the worth of a person on what he can do, the money he can accumulate, the education he has obtained, the value of his contributions to society, his physical health and function of his body, in sum, on how useful he is on a daily basis. However, on the other hand, God tells us that our worth is derived from our relationship with Him, that he created us out of love and redeemed us by the price of the blood of His Son. Our sense of worth, our self-esteem is at the very root of our relationship with God. The Catechism provides an excellent overview of this, complete with references to the entire patrimony of the Church.[iii]
33. The study of philosophy and dialogue with other great systems of thought. The study of philosophy is a very great gift which seems to have been lost to most of Protestantism. This study is nothing more than the self-conscious study of the thought systems of man. Since these thought systems have influenced our contemplations concerning our faith, it is not really possible to think theologically with the clarity and depth needed without some rudimentary appreciation of the philosophies that have influenced Western European civilization. I sometimes felt in Protestant seminary that the faculty did not want us to look at our history nor our presuppositions very critically. At one point, a group of students had requested a course in the history of theological thought from the Reformation until the present. The request was refused. In comparison, every Catholic seminarian is expected to study the entire historical overview of philosophy, from the pre-Socrates to the present day, something that in my Jesuit-directed studies occupied two semesters of classes and occupied Copleston for nine volumes. The intellectual perspective that such study provides is essential and is today only consistently and comprehensively found within the Catholic tradition.
34. Clarity on erroneous and problematic manners of thinking. The great continuous tradition of theological and philosophical thought in the Catholic Church provides an excellent foundation for analyzing modern thought for errors and problems. Catholics can appreciate the dependence of much of Protestantism on nominalism, the dependence on false presuppositions (in German idealism and other forms of modern thought), the danger of subjective systems of self-actualization (Rogers and Maslow), and is a sure guide through the mine field of the many deceptions of the modern New Age movement.[iv]
35. The spiritual gift of celibacy and its relationship to intellectual excellence. Until I actually became Catholic and went to Belgium to study (by myself, with my wife remaining behind to look over our teenage boys, to earn a living to support us all, and to obtain medical insurance), celibacy was to me one of the least attractive elements of the Catholic tradition and especially of the Catholic clergy. My reaction to this practice delayed my becoming Catholic for a number of years. My experience in Brussels opened my eyes to see the great gift that celibacy can be for achieving intellectual excellence. The many years of education required for a Catholic to achieve training for priesthood and advanced degrees (Licentiate and Doctorate) are simply very difficult for lay persons (I calculate it takes about eleven years of study and formation to prepare for priesthood and these advanced degrees). Financially and emotionally it becomes almost impossible for married men or women to achieve this. Even if it is possible to obtain this education, the time and energy demanded by one’s family makes it impossible to dedicate oneself to this preparation to the same depth and thoroughness that a celibate person is free to do. One can project on from this observation to see how the same freedom is very helpful in the life of a priest in his parish and in his diocese.
36.The great treasure of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Here we have two of the greatest minds of the Church. They provide some of the most profound analysis and presentation of Christian theology in the Church. They also represent the integration of the two greatest systems of philosophy from the ancient world into the Christian faith, Neo-Platonism and Aristotelianism. Any system of thought that did not take seriously these two great thinkers would be deficient. I am personally convinced that we have no concept today of how important and how valuable the thinking of St. Thomas has been to bring us to where we are today.
37. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). No other Christian denomination has any summary of the faith that is as deeply rooted in Scripture and the entire Tradition of the Church as the Catholic Church. The Catechism provides the essential collection of the doctrine of the Church (the deposit of faith) as it is to be understood after the Second Vatican Council. As much in matters of belief as in matters of morality, as well as an affirmation of the sacramental reality of the Church, and in affirming the importance of prayer, the interior life, and the traditional spiritual devotions of the Catholic Church, the Catechism fives authoritative guidance for the faithful, setting limits on experimental religion and documenting through the footnotes the great continuity in the Tradition of the Church. The importance given to the believer’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the introduction to Part Four (2558) makes clear that our belief and doctrine (Part One), the liturgy and the sacraments (Part Two), and the living of a moral life (Part Three) are to contribute to believers living out their faith “in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God” (See also ##35 & 299).
- See more at: http://www.sfacatholic.net/index.cfm?load=page&page=374#sthash.mrRDT4Ys.dpuf
Intellectual, Philosophical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
In American Protestant culture it is generally assumed that Catholics are intellectually inferior and backward. This is often attributed to the stifling effects of the Middle Ages, from which the Roman Catholic Church has not escaped. It is also often attributed to the repressive authority of the Pope and the hierarchy. Somehow the “mother church” muddled along, but it was mostly ignorance and magic. It came as a great surprise to me to discover the depth of the philosophical and theological reflection developed throughout the history of the Church, especially of the great achievements of Augustinian and Thomistic theology as well as their interface with the major philosophical systems of their days, Neo-Platonic and Aristotelian thought. Furthermore, I had never considered that the Catholic Church was the true origin and protector of the Liberal Arts tradition in the Western World. This tradition had been hidden away in the Middle Ages, that Protestantism called the “dark ages.” Several incidents in Church history, like the condemnation of Galileo, overshadowed everything else.
27. Because of their moral honesty, Catholics can also be the most honest intellectuals. In his ground-breaking book, Degenerate Moderns, E. Michael Jones makes the case that much modern intellectual activity is really rationalized sexual misbehavior. The intellectual life is a function of the moral life of the thinker. In order to apprehend truth, which is the goal of the intellectual life, one must live a moral life (p. 16). On the one hand we have St. Augustine and St. Thomas who rigorously submit desire to the truth. On the other hand we have Freud or Paul Tillich who submitted truth to their desires. Jones makes the case by exposing biographically that intellectuals without the moral disciplines of the Church and without confession and absolution easily get caught up in the guilty tracks of their desires. Once this has happened, one’s intellectual achievements often become an exercise in rationalizing the guilt of lust. Catholic intellectuals, with the protection of God’s moral laws, and the resources of the Church for obtaining forgiveness, successfully resolving guilt, are the first among intellectuals in their freedom to be honest.[i]
28. The principle of catholicity (comprehensiveness). An essential intellectual principle that inspired me is that of comprehensiveness. It is essential to apply in all areas of thought, and especially in the study of the Bible. The danger in any field of study is to take a small part and generalize from that part rather than seeing the part in the context of the entire field of play. In scripture studies the danger is in selecting individual passages for their content and not seeing them in the context of the entire written revelation of God and in the development given them throughout the Tradition. In apologetic discussions with non-Catholics the most common phrase I have had to use was, “Would you please continue reading to the end of the passage.” The second was, “How can you harmonize that passage with these others?” This concern for comprehensiveness is crucial to avoiding some of the errors of fundamentalism and erroneous proof texting. A typical example of this kind of superficiality is the criticism of Catholics for calling their priests “father.” The apparent basis for this is Matthew 23:9, “And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” Yet those who make this criticism do not seem to take the context of that passage into account. Furthermore, many New Testament texts show the appropriateness for the designation “father” for spiritual leaders. First Corinthians 4:14-21 is but one example.[ii]
Comprehensiveness as including necessary balance. The principle of comprehensiveness demands that the Catholic take into account all legitimate differing positions, maintaining all necessary balances, not just taking the one side of a position that is consistent with his personality or situation. I remember being so impressed when I first came across Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care (audio). In its third part he reflects on how to give pastoral care to forty sets of opposing traits or situations, finding a balance appropriate to each. The depth of this approach addressed me profoundly, and I returned often to meditate upon its truth. This illustrates the fact that truth and life are ordinarily found in avoiding extremes by recognizing a correct balance. I had found many Protestant churches and Protestant organizations based on one side of a principle or behavioral experience, raising it up as virtue, but not taking into account other legitimate positions. An example of this would be the attitude often found in the Assembly of God churches when they insist on speaking in tongues as the definitive sign of spiritual maturity, not taking St. Paul’s cautions in 1 Cor 13 and 14 into account. This is an attitude that inevitably leads sects and divisions, not to the responsible, creative unity sought in Catholic tradition. This principle is also true in practical areas, for example, in approaching ecology and the environment, in balancing justice and love, ion developing personal growth/ societal applications.
29. Intellectual freedom not confused with irresponsible license. I have come to realize that the cries of many intellectuals for freedom to peddle their wares are nothing more than the desire to be able to promote often questionable ideas free from responsibility for their consequences. Major changes in ideas and life practices, even refinements in doctrinal areas, have usually come at great expense and much suffering. Extreme and painful have been the price that many have paid to establish a new understanding of truth. The conflicts of the Arian controversy provoked exile and murder. Today some of the proponents of sexual liberation complain bitterly about their being disciplined in the Church. This discipline has been very light historically speaking. Freedom for intellectual investigation comes with its limits and responsibilities. New positions must be valid enough to be paid for with some price.
30. Responsible recognition of the development of doctrine. The study of the development of doctrine is a great strength in the Catholic tradition. The tendency within Protestant theology and Scripture study is to leap from the Apostolic Age to the Reformation, dismissing almost everything in between as irrelevant. One often dismisses or ignores the great intellectual developments from St. Anselm and St. Thomas, as well as the maturation centering around Abelard. This ignoring of a continuing development of thought seemed intellectually irresponsible to me.
In addition, to recognizing the continuity of the history of the Church, I realized that the Holy Spirit had been given to the Church to guide such development. Fundamentalists, especially, wish to remain excessively limited to the text of Scripture. They forget that Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them everything and remind them of all that he had taught them. This gives the Holy Spirit a special role in guiding the progressive understanding of doctrine in the life of the Church. This is like the growth of an oak tree from an acorn. From the very beginning one has the same tree, but it grows and develops. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine was very helpful to me. Once I had committed myself to Catholicism and was studying as Steubenville and with the Jesuits in Brussels, I found that references to St. John Chrysostom or Origin did not meet with blank stares. On the contrary, Protestants who get into the study of the Fathers of the Church are often held suspect as being closet Catholics.
31. Catholicism as the foundation and origin of the Liberal Arts Tradition. Another intellectual reason for becoming Catholic is the Catholic Liberal Arts tradition. It was once considered that the teaching of the Liberal Arts was one of the major evangelization tools the Church. In this tradition, theology resides as the culminating, integrating discipline rather than the rhetoric of the sophists or the mathematical secular rationalism of modernity. The authentic, ancient tradition of the liberal arts is one of the great corrections to modern schools of subjective thought.
I am deeply convinced that higher education again needs to come under the supervision of the Church. It is often the case today, that attempting to teach a student in a university such things as self-restraint and the moral conviction necessary for character is about equivalent to teaching chastity in a brothel. I am so happy and proud now to be a part of the great Catholic Tradition, for I believe that we can re-establish godly values and formation in the lives of modern students.
32. Concern for the dignity and freedom of the human person. This has been historically one of the great contributions of the Catholic Church to Western Culture. On the one hand, modern American culture tends to judge the worth of a person on what he can do, the money he can accumulate, the education he has obtained, the value of his contributions to society, his physical health and function of his body, in sum, on how useful he is on a daily basis. However, on the other hand, God tells us that our worth is derived from our relationship with Him, that he created us out of love and redeemed us by the price of the blood of His Son. Our sense of worth, our self-esteem is at the very root of our relationship with God. The Catechism provides an excellent overview of this, complete with references to the entire patrimony of the Church.[iii]
33. The study of philosophy and dialogue with other great systems of thought. The study of philosophy is a very great gift which seems to have been lost to most of Protestantism. This study is nothing more than the self-conscious study of the thought systems of man. Since these thought systems have influenced our contemplations concerning our faith, it is not really possible to think theologically with the clarity and depth needed without some rudimentary appreciation of the philosophies that have influenced Western European civilization. I sometimes felt in Protestant seminary that the faculty did not want us to look at our history nor our presuppositions very critically. At one point, a group of students had requested a course in the history of theological thought from the Reformation until the present. The request was refused. In comparison, every Catholic seminarian is expected to study the entire historical overview of philosophy, from the pre-Socrates to the present day, something that in my Jesuit-directed studies occupied two semesters of classes and occupied Copleston for nine volumes. The intellectual perspective that such study provides is essential and is today only consistently and comprehensively found within the Catholic tradition.
34. Clarity on erroneous and problematic manners of thinking. The great continuous tradition of theological and philosophical thought in the Catholic Church provides an excellent foundation for analyzing modern thought for errors and problems. Catholics can appreciate the dependence of much of Protestantism on nominalism, the dependence on false presuppositions (in German idealism and other forms of modern thought), the danger of subjective systems of self-actualization (Rogers and Maslow), and is a sure guide through the mine field of the many deceptions of the modern New Age movement.[iv]
35. The spiritual gift of celibacy and its relationship to intellectual excellence. Until I actually became Catholic and went to Belgium to study (by myself, with my wife remaining behind to look over our teenage boys, to earn a living to support us all, and to obtain medical insurance), celibacy was to me one of the least attractive elements of the Catholic tradition and especially of the Catholic clergy. My reaction to this practice delayed my becoming Catholic for a number of years. My experience in Brussels opened my eyes to see the great gift that celibacy can be for achieving intellectual excellence. The many years of education required for a Catholic to achieve training for priesthood and advanced degrees (Licentiate and Doctorate) are simply very difficult for lay persons (I calculate it takes about eleven years of study and formation to prepare for priesthood and these advanced degrees). Financially and emotionally it becomes almost impossible for married men or women to achieve this. Even if it is possible to obtain this education, the time and energy demanded by one’s family makes it impossible to dedicate oneself to this preparation to the same depth and thoroughness that a celibate person is free to do. One can project on from this observation to see how the same freedom is very helpful in the life of a priest in his parish and in his diocese.
36.The great treasure of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Here we have two of the greatest minds of the Church. They provide some of the most profound analysis and presentation of Christian theology in the Church. They also represent the integration of the two greatest systems of philosophy from the ancient world into the Christian faith, Neo-Platonism and Aristotelianism. Any system of thought that did not take seriously these two great thinkers would be deficient. I am personally convinced that we have no concept today of how important and how valuable the thinking of St. Thomas has been to bring us to where we are today.
37. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). No other Christian denomination has any summary of the faith that is as deeply rooted in Scripture and the entire Tradition of the Church as the Catholic Church. The Catechism provides the essential collection of the doctrine of the Church (the deposit of faith) as it is to be understood after the Second Vatican Council. As much in matters of belief as in matters of morality, as well as an affirmation of the sacramental reality of the Church, and in affirming the importance of prayer, the interior life, and the traditional spiritual devotions of the Catholic Church, the Catechism fives authoritative guidance for the faithful, setting limits on experimental religion and documenting through the footnotes the great continuity in the Tradition of the Church. The importance given to the believer’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the introduction to Part Four (2558) makes clear that our belief and doctrine (Part One), the liturgy and the sacraments (Part Two), and the living of a moral life (Part Three) are to contribute to believers living out their faith “in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God” (See also ##35 & 299).
[i] This is a reason of first rank for being Catholic. I very highly recommend E. Michael Jones, Degenerate Moderns (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1993) and Paul Johnson, Intellectuals (New York: Harper & Row, 1988).
[ii] For a further explanation of this issue see Paul R. Key, “Apologetics Paper #1, ‘Why Christians should think of their spiritual leaders as fathers.’” Catholic Answers also has an excellent tract on this subject.
[iii] Catechism, “Part III, Section One, Chapter One, The Dignity of the Human Person” (1700-1876), which includes the following Articles: “Man: the Image of God, Our vocation to Beatitude, Man’s Freedom, The Morality of Human Acts, The Morality of the Passions, Moral Conscience, The Virtues, and Sin”.
[iv] Love of Wisdom: An Introduction to Christian Philosophy by Rhonda Chervin and Eugene Kevane, “Part III, Modern Philosophy: A Challenging Problem” sets forth the weaknesses of many modern philosophers and contrasts their positions to Christian philosophy. Catholics and the New Age by Mitch Pacwa, S.J., provides a well-researched overview of the many problems of the New Age movement. “Confession of a Catholic School Dismantler” (audio) by Dr. William Coulson documents the tragic consequences of the work of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, especially in the area of education. This audio demonstrates for me, more than any other source, the need for informed Catholic education. I cannot understate the importance of Dr. Coulson’s revelations for anyone concerned about education in the United States today.
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Practical and Institutional Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
Practical and Institutional Reasons for Becoming Catholic
In addition to the Biblical, intellectual, philosophical and historical reasons for becoming Catholic, a number of practical, “nature of the institution” considerations have also attracted me to Catholicism.
38. A global, unified Church with special means for communication and evaluation. The world-wide system of episcopal government conforms to the vision of Jesus that the Church be one. Most Protestant denominations have national organizations that are related internationally only through voluntary umbrella organizations that have no actual authority (See John 17:20-24). This world-wide perspective was brilliantly demonstrated at the Second Vatican Council through the presence of so many nationalities among the bishops. This same gift is demonstrated in the periodic synods which are called to consider major issues in the life of the Church. No other church body has similar structure with such catholicity.
Since working in the Catholic Church it has become increasingly clear to me that the hierarchical nature of the Church is a key to its unity. Catholic Christianity makes up about half of all Christians of the world. The other half is divided up into about 25,000 different denominations. I am convinced that the hierarchical structuring of authority provides a principle of unity that Jesus desires for His Church. A Church organization that understands itself to be democratic at its very roots contains the principle of division in self-assertiveness. Limited democratic government can exist within the hierarchical system, such as elections within religious orders and the election of the Pope by the Cardinals or another limited representative body. Christianity at its roots is not democratic but is headed up by Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
39. An openness to respectful dialogue and discussion. The globality of the Church combined with her diversity promotes an opportunity for respectful dialogue and discussion. I believe that this derives from the diversity within the Church as well as its long and complex history. These factors established that there are many manners of expressing the true, the good, and the beautiful. I have found the opposite to be true in particular Protestant groups which either tend to be founded on a dominant theological theme or a common ethnic heritage. Denominational identity can be tied to certain distinctives which are much narrower than the biblical or historical expressions of the faith. An example of this would be the insistence of Baptist churches on the necessity of immersion baptism of adults. This ignores the Old Testament references to cleansing by sprinkling and pouring as well as the diversity of means of baptism present in the Didache as well as the diversity present in the Great Tradition of the Church.
40. Global unity moderates aberrant local cultural influences. The world-wide nature of Catholic decision-making processes helps to overcome the danger of localized cultural influences. For the revisions of the draft of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Vatican solicited feedback from all the bishops of the world in an extensive process. The diversity of opinions coming from Europe and North America, Latin America, Africa, the Eastern Rites, and the Catholic Churches of the Far East helps to build a teaching and tradition that is truly universal. Doctrines developed in such a manner are less likely to be trapped by one particular cultural perspective, but can genuinely be applied to the one, universal Church of Christ. This diversity within the unity of the entire Church can allow for a sensitivity to legitimate enculturation while clearly identifying eternal values of the faith. To arrive at truth, a creative tension is always necessary. An example of this would be the way in which the feminist tendencies in the United States were tempered in the English translation of the Catechism.
41. Clarity and simplicity in official church documents. Related to this world-wide perspective with its continual dialogue with particular local cultures and multiplicity of languages comes a clarity and simplicity in the official Church teachings that makes the documents eminently readable and understandable. Teachings for the universal Church cannot be couched in the style of any one culture but must be and generally are clearly understandable in cross-cultural setting. Our experience with the new Catechism of the Catholic Church has again demonstrated clarity.
42. Concern for the unity of the entire Church. The initiatives of the Popes since John XXIII in reaching out to the “separated brethren” of all types has been moving to me. The persistent openness and hopefulness of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” reminds all Christians of Jesus’ high priestly prayer for the unity of His Church, His body.[i] The humility of the II Vatican Council and of the Holy Father to take initiatives in relation to the Orthodox Church was compelling. This ecumenical desire for real organic bodily unity is shared with the many protestant church bodies and is an inspiration to all. Yet it is not to be done in depreciation of the substance of the Catholic tradition.
So often, ecumenical overtures within Protestantism ignore substantial theological differences. Within Catholicism the desire is to move toward unity without compromising essentials.
Spiritual Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
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Essentials of Sin and Salvation as Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
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Sexual, Marital, and Familial Reasons :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
66. Clarity on human sexuality and human life issues is one of the great strengths in the official teaching of the Catholic Church. In both mainline Protestant churches as well as in the Evangelical and Fundamentalist camps, there is an increasing tendency to downplay the seriousness of sexual sin. Whereas St. Paul says,
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from unchastity; that each
one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor… (I Thess. 4:3,4).
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? ... Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (I Cor 6:15-20).
This is exactly what is referred to in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in its commentary on the sixth commandment, section II, “The Vocation to Chastity” (##2337-2359).
67. The call to virtue in the face of the tidal wave of the sexual revolution and its consequence, the sexual suicide of our cultures. The Position taken against artificial contraception by the Catholic Church is very courageous and very necessary. It is courageous, for Humanae Vitae was an unpopular position taken over against the tidal wave of sexual permissiveness of western culture. If Paul VI had not maintained the historic position of the Catholic Church in this confrontation, the faithful could easily have been in a free fall following fornication. John Paul II stresses that the virtues of the Christian life are not to be obtained without vigorous discipline (See Rom 5:3-5). This prohibition against artificial contraception while permitting “natural methods” is a recipe for virtue, consistent with the biblical recognition of the cost of discipleship. It may also be absolutely essential for the preservation of our society itself. At this time in Northern Europe and English-speaking North America, no society is reproducing itself.
68. The affirmation of the call to self-sacrificing love in the marital relationship. “Be submissive (subordinate – NAB) to one another out of reverence for Christ” is the most distinctive and fundamental guideline for Christian marriage. This is exactly what Jesus modeled at the Last Supper. Was he not the most powerful, most glorious, most important person there? And yet, what did he do first? He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and humbled himself, washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:3-15). Later that night, he gave himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. In Eph. 5, St. Paul explicitly compares the relationship of Christ to His Church and that of a husband to his wife.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Even so
husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no
man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church (Eph. 5:25ff).
Through the supernatural relationship with Christ, both the man and the woman are empowered to love each other with a sacrificial love in imitation of Christ. When both partners have this love in their marriage, there is no problem that can drive them apart. Today I find most Christians rejecting this principle of mutual obedience or mutual submission. I have heard well educated women in Belgium, in France, and in the U.S. say forcefully, “I will never be submissive to anyone.” This principle of mutual submission, of even unilateral sacrifice of the self for the good of others, is clearly affirmed within the Catholic tradition while the liberty and dignity of each person is also protected.
In most liberal Protestant churches, “being submissive to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21), has been relegated to the trash heap as not conducive to the dignity of women. Submission does not seem to be worthy of man come of age. Self-actualization, self-assertion, self-realization are much more in style. Submission does not seem dignified for a proud, powerful, and affluent people. Here, perhaps, we encounter most pointedly the conflict between Christian values and those of Hegelian idealism.
This same word, (hupotassomai in the Greek), is frequently used to describe all adult relationships within the Christian community (Eph. 5:21, 1 Pet. 2:13, 18; 3:1, 5:5). The very structure of Ephesians 5 demonstrates that this submission is the way to imitate God, as Christ himself loved us (Eph. 5:1, 2). Mutual submission is the way Christians should act when imitating the love of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34).
69. The role of the Church in protecting the family and its values, it’s affirmation of the role of women, especially as mothers, and the precious gift that children are. The role of the Catholic Church in protecting and strengthening the family along with the set of moral values that undergird this position was the final and compelling force behind my conversion. The increasing confusion in the mainline Protestant churches in this area was revolting to me. My wife and I have found the Catholic teaching on marriage and the family excellent for us, for our marriage, and for our family. It has led to a secure and warmly intimate relationship which has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. When I reflected back over twenty-five years of married life and realized the source of those values, I realized that not only did I want those values for myself, for my family, for my children, and my grandchildren, but I also wanted the Church and its Tradition that had preserved these so well. And it seemed to me that to pastor in the name of Christ required those same values to be clearly present in the church in which I served. All of the other reasons I have given here were significant, many of which would be adequate by themselves for making such a change. But I found the witness of the Catholic Church in this area of the family and of the moral life to be both emotionally and rationally compelling.
The Catholic Church has not succumbed to the prevailing politically-correct affirmation of feminist values. While strongly affirming the dignity and value of women, the Church has continued to recognize differences between men and women and to attest to the value of their distinctive family roles, maintaining the original and irreplaceable meaning of work in the home and in rearing children. Pope John Paul II also calls for society to be “structured in such a way that wives and mothers are not in practice compelled to work outside the home, and that their families can live and prosper in a dignified way even when they themselves devote their full time to their own family” (FC, 28-41).[i]
When I became aware of all of these biblically-based guidelines given by the Church, developed through consultation with bishops from all the cultures of the world, I decided that the Catholic Church was by far the most healthy place for a solid family to be. I also realized that my very serious commitment to the poor and the down trodden could be most powerfully worked out by serving in the Church that placed such a priority on sexual integrity and family values. Not to be Catholic was becoming downright painful.
A quotation from George Gilder on the importance of spiritually supporting families summarizes well for me the far-reaching importance of this for our lives:
The problems of the American poor are most fundamentally moral and spiritual. As Margaret Mead insisted, stable families – with long time horizons and a resistance to the buffeting of life’s inevitable troubles – ultimately depend, in all societies, on the reinforcement of religious beliefs and ceremonies. Without a strong religious culture, a secular bureaucracy, with its rationalizing ethic, erodes the very foundations of family life and thus creates the very moral chaos it ostensibly combats. The effort to inculcate ethical behavior without religious faith seems one of the great fiascoes of the modern age. If the established churches are truly concerned with the problems of poverty, they will abandon their current tendency to serve as shills for demoralizing materialism of the welfare state and return to their paramount role, giving moral and spiritual guidance to the poor, and to all American society.[ii]
70. A Biblical appreciation for the goodness of proper sexual relationships as well as for the dangers of disordered sex. The Catholic Church of today also exhibits a profound respect for marriage as a sacrament and affirms sexual activity within the marriage as good. This is consistent with the Biblical witness in Genesis 2, Ephesians 5 and Hebrews 13:4.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed (koite) be undefiled;
for God will judge the immoral and adulterous (Heb. 13:4).
The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (CCC, 1660, see CIC, can. 1055, #1 as well as Gaudium et spes [GS], 48a).
This correct biblical foundation most completely corresponds to real life. Far from being a church that represses and discourages a healthy sexuality, I realized that it was the Catholic Church that provided a life context for a truly sexy marital relationship in a manner that was healthy and sustainable.
71. The devotional resources of the Catholic Church in sustaining a relationship of biblical love: the crucifix. Once I learned what the biblical guidelines for the sacrificial, Jesus-type, agape love needed to sustain Christian marriages and families, I was free to see the profound depth in certain Catholic devotional practices that I had previously scorned. As Catholics, we have devotional practices that sustain us spiritually and inspire us in the practice of Jesus’s manner of love. Almost all Protestant denominations have rejected these practices. For example, the crucifix. Many of my Protestant friends (and family) would ridicule the crucifix, saying, “Don’t Catholics know that Jesus is resurrected?” We might well respond, “Yes, we do, but we are painfully aware of the great price Jesus paid for our sins and how difficult it is to model his self-giving love. That is why we have the crucifix. It reminds us of one of the most precious of all bible verses and facts of Jesus’s life. That is, John 15:13: “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are called to live this every day in our lives and we need this sacramental, visible reminder to help us. We use the crucifix in the same manner that Protestants use bible memory. Our method is more direct and more graphic.
72. The devotional resources of the Catholic Church in sustaining marriage and the Christian Life: The Rosary, especially the sorrowful mysteries. The Rosary had been one of the most difficult of the spiritual practices of the Catholic Church for me to participate in. Initially the block was both intellectual and emotional, based on the often cited Protestant warning of the words of Jesus not to pray with “vain repetition.” Even after overcoming bad exegesis of Matt. 6:7 and my intellectual objections to this prayer, emotionally I found it very difficult to do. This was true even though in the most scientific of methods I could document its positive effects in the families of those who prayed it.[iii] The sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary (Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion) have a special application to the living out of marriage. If we are called to love one another as Christ loved the Church (Eph 5), then meditation on these most painful events in Jesus’s life is essential for us as we love one another in marriage. Nothing that we have to undergo in marriage is as severe as what Jesus suffered to love us!
73. The devotional treasury of the Church in sustaining marriage and the Christian life: the Stations of the Cross. Just as the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary have a particular application to Christian marriage, just so do the Stations of the Cross. By meditating on the Stations of the Cross we can enter more deeply into what Jesus meant when he said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13. The Stations of the Cross describe in bloody detail exactly how Jesus did exactly this. As I reflect on my reactionary attitude before I became Catholic, I am amazed at my blindness. As a committed Christian I was committed to following Jesus. But I resisted participating in this devotional practice. Now I can see clearly that in order to imitate Christ in the most basic aspect of his love, it seems to me now to be absolutely necessary to meditate on the last days of Jesus’s suffering, this, the most painful and humiliating part of his love. It is helpful to meditate on each of the stations asking oneself, “What form would this suffering of Jesus take in my life, in my marriage?” When I realized the depth and power of these devotional practices for sustaining marital life, I could no longer tolerate remaining Protestant. I could not do so as a husband, for I wanted these strengths for my marriage, my family, and my grandchildren. I could not do so as a pastor because integrity demanded that I share these treasures with my congregation and that just would not fly for a Presbyterian pastor.
74. The courage to maintain standards in sexual and human life issues. The moral courage of the Catholic Church in maintaining standards for marriage and for human life issues has been most impressive and has certainly been a strong attraction for me. Most protestant churches today accept whatever the divorce court decrees and allow for remarriage after divorce. The prohibition of divorce by Jesus has been unpopular, but it is a standard very important to maintain.[iv] I frequently found myself as a Presbyterian pastor making a defense for the procedures of the Roman Catholic marriage tribunal. I could also see the many spiritual benefits that accrued to couples who submitted themselves to the tribunal’s demanding process. The work by Heth and Windham, Jesus and Divorce, is a valuable overview of the entire history of the divorce controversy by Evangelical scholars. It was surprising to me to find two Evangelical scholars arrive at the Catholic position by their study. Certainly, the courage of the Catholic stand on this issue will be a sign for all in coming decades.
75.The existence and use of the marriage tribunal. A related strength of the Catholic Church is the use of the marriage tribunal to evaluate the validity of a marriage. No other major Protestant church to my knowledge at this time has any analogous structure. As a Protestant minister counseling Catholics who were angry at their Church for the rigor and depth of the procedures used by the marriage tribunal, I often found myself clarifying its function and encouraging them to participate in its investigation. It is my opinion that even when the tribunal may be too lenient in granting annulments, the very procedure provides an opportunity for submission to Church authority and affords a valid means of being held accountable for the failure of a relationship. In addition to its value to individuals, the tribunal becomes an immense source of knowledge and wisdom for the whole Church as it scrutinizes the stories of so many.
76. The recognition of the value of the celibate life. The recognition of the power and value of the celibate life (I Cor 7:25-35) and of the value of periodic continence within marriage (marital chastity – 1 Cor 7:5) are great gifts of Catholicism. Though the recognition of both disciplines, the Church stands as a sign of practical, realizable holiness in the midst of a sexually indulgent society. This is particularly true when the gift of celibacy is combined with a vocational call to the priesthood or to the religious life. Then all one’s creative energy can be sublimated first into training and preparation, then into availability of service. I clearly saw this gift while living at La Maison Ste Thérèse in Belgium. At every holiday and during the summer all the seminarians and priests went out for formation or for service all around the world. I always had to (and intensely desired to) return to my wife and family to take care of my obligations there. The celibate vocation is to the married vocation as a rifle is to shotgun. Given the same gifts, strengths and energy, the rifle will always carry further than the shotgun. We do note, however, that there are some married men that make a humdinger of a shotgun blast!
There is a fascinating correlation between this kind of sexual discipline and the level of cultural achievement in a society:
J.D. Unwin, in his book Sex and Culture, analyzed 59 preliterate societies and some societies in history, and he came to a conclusion which was sustained by Pitirim Sorokin in his book The American Sex Revolution, namely, that societies were able to advance to a highly rationalistic culture only when they had a spiritual patriarchal type of government, maintained their sexual life within marriage, and were chaste and temperate. They inevitably declined whenever they departed from this basic pattern.[v]
If this kind of research is true to any significant degree, then our very existence as an advanced culture is at stake in the issue of sexual morality, and in the broader issue of male spiritual leadership. I was forced to cast my lot with the Church that seemed to me most equipped to defend sexual purity as an essential value for the Church and for the broader society.
77. A pastorally sensitive but doctrinally accurate opposition to homosexual practice. This has been of very great consequence in today’s world. The Catholic Church makes the essential distinction between homosexual orientation and willful homosexual practice:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (cf. Gen. 19: 1-29; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6;10; 1 Tim. 1:10), tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” (CCC, 2357)
Today, the historical morality represented by the mainline Protestant denominations is seriously threatened by “gay lobbies” within each body. I found the leadership of the Holy Father to be a real encouragement on this issue. The Catholic Church also makes the essential distinction between an “orientation” to a sinful behavior and the “practice” of that behavior. The orientation is not sinful, but like any other disordered passion must be resisted (See CCC, 1762-1775). All of us have disordered passions because of original sin, the evil of the world, the lusts of the flesh and the activity of the Devil (1 Jn. 2:12-17). These sources of temptation lead to sins only when we give into them.
78. Trenchant opposition to the abortion industry. Catholic opposition to abortion was a genuine inspiration to me. Upon graduation from college I would have described myself as reluctantly pro-choice, a position founded primarily on ignorance. Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s Aborting America clarified the physical, developmental issues surrounding the fetus. Subsequent reading revealed to me the hostility of both Christian Tradition and the Sacred Scriptures to abortion. The Didache demonstrated most clearly the thinking of the Early Church in relating opposition to abortion to the seventh commandment: “You shall not murder a child by abortion/destruction” (Did. 2:2). I was appalled by the utter collapse of main-line Protestant positions in the face of militant feminism. The Catholic Church and the very conservative evangelical and fundamentalist churches seemed to be the only ones holding firm. Hence, given all of the above reasons for becoming Catholic, it should be clear that Roman Catholicism was my only possibility in relation to this issue.
79. Humanae Vitae, its opposition to birth control and the honesty of the Catholic Church in the area of artificial contraceptives. The position on birth control is also a compelling attraction of the Roman Catholic Church. Humanae Vitae and the subsequent statements by John Paul II demonstrate that the Catholic Church is the only major Christian denomination that continues to expect all of its members to be able to exercise personal self-control of the sexual appetite. Janet Smith demonstrates that John Paul II is very concerned that persons gain “the benefits for human happiness that come from the control that man acquires over himself through proper self-discipline which in turn yields mastery of self, virtue, and the formation of character in the realm of sexuality.”[vi] All Christian churches opposed artificial contraception up until 1930, when the Anglican Church allowed it for certain situations. Now the Catholic Church is alone in maintaining this position.
Natural family planning, the Billings method, has demonstrated the honesty as well as the accuracy of the Catholic Church in this area of marital intimacy. The Jan. 9, 1995 issue of U.S. News and World Report demonstrates the dishonesty of the anti-contraception lobby in this country. On the list of “dangerous drugs” which the FDA is monitoring, the first is Norplant, the five year contraceptive. The use of such chemical contraceptives is known to raise the risk of clotting and strokes in women. Yet, Planned Parenthood and their allies seek to suppress such data. Under the leadership of Fr. Paul Marx, doctors related to Human Life International have documented that the birth control pill triggers more than 150 chemical reactions in a woman’s body, most of which have not been adequately researched or reported. (Wyeth announced that it does not plan to resume distribution or marketing of the six-capsule Norplant System (levonorgestrel implants as of 7/26/02)
Learning the disciplines of NFP is an excellent manner of gaining self-discipline and self-control, essential to living out the principle of delayed gratification. Does one wish one’s wife to be perpetually available for sexual activity at the cost of undergoing the above-mentioned 150 chemical reactions? To avoid this danger, one must be able to delay gratification. This is the ability not to need to fulfill feelings and urges but to delay them to a more appropriate time. This control is essential to avoiding the danger of credit card and to most financial success also.
Gaining these virtues then make living out one’s marital obligations much more possible and rewarding.
80. The unitive function of natural family planning (NFP). NFP draws husbands and wives together in communication and self-discipline. It is a manner of regulating sexuality that honors a woman’s natural cycles while building character and virtue. At the same time it encourages the appropriate enjoyment of the intimate delights of married life. Statistics gathered in the United States show that the divorce rate is less than two percent for families using natural family planning. This Christian discipline certainly is one of the answers to the collapse of the family in our society today. The encouragement by the Catholic Church for large families and the disciplines of Natural Family Planning confront head on the materialism and selfishness of modern culture.
81. The restriction of the ordained priesthood to men. This is for me an important element of Biblical theology, as well as the entire Judeo-Christian tradition. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger states the situation well:
One forgets that in the ancient world all the religions also had priestesses. All except one: the Jewish. Christianity, here too, following the ‘scandalous’ original example of Jesus, opens a new situation to women; it accords them a position that represents a novelty with respect to Judaism. But of the latter he preserves the exclusively male priesthood. Evidently, Christian intuition understood that the question was not secondary, that to defend Scripture (which in neither the Old nor the New Testament knows women priests) signified once more to defend the human person, especially those of the female sex.[vii]
82. An emphasis on the primacy of spiritual and moral values. This clear position highlights yet another strength of the Catholic tradition in our day, that is, the warning by the Holy Father to priests and bishops not to see their role primarily as social activists. The underlying realities in individual lives and in society are spiritual. I believe that my list of reasons for becoming Catholic demonstrates the great truth that when one seeks to be pleasing to God, all aspects of life come together in a joyful harmony. As a Catholic, participating as prophet, priest, and king in the ministry of Word and Sacrament of the Church, one helps to provide, as Gilder points out, the necessary spiritual underpinnings for all of society. This all comes together most powerfully in the Sacred Liturgy of the (Mass) Eucharist.
Practical and Institutional Reasons for Becoming Catholic
In addition to the Biblical, intellectual, philosophical and historical reasons for becoming Catholic, a number of practical, “nature of the institution” considerations have also attracted me to Catholicism.
38. A global, unified Church with special means for communication and evaluation. The world-wide system of episcopal government conforms to the vision of Jesus that the Church be one. Most Protestant denominations have national organizations that are related internationally only through voluntary umbrella organizations that have no actual authority (See John 17:20-24). This world-wide perspective was brilliantly demonstrated at the Second Vatican Council through the presence of so many nationalities among the bishops. This same gift is demonstrated in the periodic synods which are called to consider major issues in the life of the Church. No other church body has similar structure with such catholicity.
Since working in the Catholic Church it has become increasingly clear to me that the hierarchical nature of the Church is a key to its unity. Catholic Christianity makes up about half of all Christians of the world. The other half is divided up into about 25,000 different denominations. I am convinced that the hierarchical structuring of authority provides a principle of unity that Jesus desires for His Church. A Church organization that understands itself to be democratic at its very roots contains the principle of division in self-assertiveness. Limited democratic government can exist within the hierarchical system, such as elections within religious orders and the election of the Pope by the Cardinals or another limited representative body. Christianity at its roots is not democratic but is headed up by Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
39. An openness to respectful dialogue and discussion. The globality of the Church combined with her diversity promotes an opportunity for respectful dialogue and discussion. I believe that this derives from the diversity within the Church as well as its long and complex history. These factors established that there are many manners of expressing the true, the good, and the beautiful. I have found the opposite to be true in particular Protestant groups which either tend to be founded on a dominant theological theme or a common ethnic heritage. Denominational identity can be tied to certain distinctives which are much narrower than the biblical or historical expressions of the faith. An example of this would be the insistence of Baptist churches on the necessity of immersion baptism of adults. This ignores the Old Testament references to cleansing by sprinkling and pouring as well as the diversity of means of baptism present in the Didache as well as the diversity present in the Great Tradition of the Church.
40. Global unity moderates aberrant local cultural influences. The world-wide nature of Catholic decision-making processes helps to overcome the danger of localized cultural influences. For the revisions of the draft of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Vatican solicited feedback from all the bishops of the world in an extensive process. The diversity of opinions coming from Europe and North America, Latin America, Africa, the Eastern Rites, and the Catholic Churches of the Far East helps to build a teaching and tradition that is truly universal. Doctrines developed in such a manner are less likely to be trapped by one particular cultural perspective, but can genuinely be applied to the one, universal Church of Christ. This diversity within the unity of the entire Church can allow for a sensitivity to legitimate enculturation while clearly identifying eternal values of the faith. To arrive at truth, a creative tension is always necessary. An example of this would be the way in which the feminist tendencies in the United States were tempered in the English translation of the Catechism.
41. Clarity and simplicity in official church documents. Related to this world-wide perspective with its continual dialogue with particular local cultures and multiplicity of languages comes a clarity and simplicity in the official Church teachings that makes the documents eminently readable and understandable. Teachings for the universal Church cannot be couched in the style of any one culture but must be and generally are clearly understandable in cross-cultural setting. Our experience with the new Catechism of the Catholic Church has again demonstrated clarity.
42. Concern for the unity of the entire Church. The initiatives of the Popes since John XXIII in reaching out to the “separated brethren” of all types has been moving to me. The persistent openness and hopefulness of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” reminds all Christians of Jesus’ high priestly prayer for the unity of His Church, His body.[i] The humility of the II Vatican Council and of the Holy Father to take initiatives in relation to the Orthodox Church was compelling. This ecumenical desire for real organic bodily unity is shared with the many protestant church bodies and is an inspiration to all. Yet it is not to be done in depreciation of the substance of the Catholic tradition.
Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false conciliatory
approach which harms the purity of Catholic doctrine and obscures its
assumed genuine meaning.[ii]
approach which harms the purity of Catholic doctrine and obscures its
assumed genuine meaning.[ii]
So often, ecumenical overtures within Protestantism ignore substantial theological differences. Within Catholicism the desire is to move toward unity without compromising essentials.
43. Quality of leadership. The quality of leadership in the Twentieth Century Roman Catholic Church, beginning with Pope Leo XIII is a compelling reason to become Catholic. Pius XII and John XXIII were both extremely able and visionary. The spiritual qualities, the holiness of all these men have been exceptional. Furthermore, the courage, the faith, the vision, and the intellectual competence of John Paul II has been outstanding.
44. John Paul II an exceptional philosopher, theologian and Christian leader. John Paul II brings an exceptional level of excellence to the Papacy because of his profound foundation in philosophy. His philosophy of personalism is particularly rich in helping to highlight the importance of basic human rights and freedoms within the context of a hierarchically structured church. He is able to maintain the importance of objective divine revelation in a system of life which is remarkably sensitive to the individual person. Hence, the Church under his leadership speaks forcefully in defense of fundamental personal rights and freedoms to all those living under conditions of oppression. He demonstrates a truly remarkable range of abilities all the way from popularity with youth to the ability to conduct hard-nosed criticism of powerful, hostile regimes while looking out for the good of the entire Church.
45. The 1983 Code of Canon Law. The Code is an exceptional strength of the Catholic Church that should not go unnoticed. Providing a remarkable systematic legal foundation for the Church, it is, in and of itself, a theological document, harmonized with and clearly based upon the official statements of the Church. The most recent code (1983) is also a profoundly pastoral document, demonstrating a great awareness for the actual living out of its truth. As the last document of the Second Vatican Council, it presents a maturity and depth that is exceptional.
46. The Roman affirmation of the importance of the visible, institutional Church. Some would laugh at the affirmation of Louis XIV when he asserted that “the Catholic Church is as visible as the Kingdom of France.” But the Protestant doctrine of the invisible (true) Church is not well-grounded biblically. The Church is also described as the “bride of Christ.” As D.T. Niles pointed out, “Invisible brides are of no use.” While there are invisible aspects to the Church of Jesus Christ, the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” Church is visible and functions as a spiritual reality within this world.
=====================================================================44. John Paul II an exceptional philosopher, theologian and Christian leader. John Paul II brings an exceptional level of excellence to the Papacy because of his profound foundation in philosophy. His philosophy of personalism is particularly rich in helping to highlight the importance of basic human rights and freedoms within the context of a hierarchically structured church. He is able to maintain the importance of objective divine revelation in a system of life which is remarkably sensitive to the individual person. Hence, the Church under his leadership speaks forcefully in defense of fundamental personal rights and freedoms to all those living under conditions of oppression. He demonstrates a truly remarkable range of abilities all the way from popularity with youth to the ability to conduct hard-nosed criticism of powerful, hostile regimes while looking out for the good of the entire Church.
45. The 1983 Code of Canon Law. The Code is an exceptional strength of the Catholic Church that should not go unnoticed. Providing a remarkable systematic legal foundation for the Church, it is, in and of itself, a theological document, harmonized with and clearly based upon the official statements of the Church. The most recent code (1983) is also a profoundly pastoral document, demonstrating a great awareness for the actual living out of its truth. As the last document of the Second Vatican Council, it presents a maturity and depth that is exceptional.
46. The Roman affirmation of the importance of the visible, institutional Church. Some would laugh at the affirmation of Louis XIV when he asserted that “the Catholic Church is as visible as the Kingdom of France.” But the Protestant doctrine of the invisible (true) Church is not well-grounded biblically. The Church is also described as the “bride of Christ.” As D.T. Niles pointed out, “Invisible brides are of no use.” While there are invisible aspects to the Church of Jesus Christ, the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” Church is visible and functions as a spiritual reality within this world.
[ii] Decree on Ecumenism, 11.
Spiritual Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
Spiritual Reasons for Becoming Catholic
47. The maintenance of a spiritual presence in a secularized world. In the midst of a world which has become very secularized, the Catholic Church has retained a spiritual foundation and spiritual resources that are unmatched among the other churches of the West. In particular, I had noticed that during the 1960’s and 1970’s many of the mainline Protestant Churches had closed their church camps and retreat centers. It is now very common for those churches in the United States to use Catholic facilities.
48. A clear affirmation of the supernatural character of the Christian faith. A clear belief in the supernatural is a very fundamental reason for becoming Catholic out of a mainline Protestant background. Much of the intellectual leadership of “old-line Protestantism” has lost its belief in supernatural reality. Revelation, the existence of God, the realities of hell and heaven, a salvation which is completed outside of our time and space, the reality of judgment, and hence the seriousness of sin have all been lost in the modernization of the Protestant main-line. Hence healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, visions and appearances of holy figures are all rejected. I, too, rejected all of these for a time. Then the evidence for their realness became overwhelming to me and I was forced to recognize the limits of my rationalistic, Germanic idealistic philosophical presuppositions in which the intellectual leaders of the Presbyterian Church were formed but of which they were ignorant or wished to keep us ignorant. Hegel’s rejection of the supernatural has profoundly affected our society and seriously limited our ability to see certain kinds of reality. The Catholic Church believes clearly in the supernatural, that such interventions are real, and that one should expect the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural realm. This also makes it possible to affirm Marian appearances, that they can be recognized, evaluated and affirmed without being rejected out of hand.
49. The Recognition of the New Testament charisms of the Holy Spirit. As a Presbyterian, I had become acquainted with the very great power of teaching and discerning these gifts from my contact with charismatic churches and the Church Growth movement. I was delighted when I learned that the Second Vatican Council strongly affirmed the use of these gifts in the Church among the lay faithful of the Church, stating that “they are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation… and those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts…” (Lumen Gentium [LG], 12b). The traditional position of the Church before the Council was that these gifts were rare and exceptional. A debate took place between Cardinals Suenens and Ruffini in October 1963 in which the reality of these gifts for the laity was affirmed.[i] The confirmations of these gifts amongst all the faithful was a further verification for me of the comprehensive spiritual validity of the Catholic Church.
Furthermore, I am personally convinced that the correct balance between the freely given charismatic gifts and the overseeing responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church, necessary for the unity of the Church, is best found in the Catholic Church. In my opinion and experience, the charismatic movement is most healthy and most balanced when it exists within the Catholic Church under the sympathetic and informed spiritual direction of pastors. This then became another reason why I believed that the Catholic Church is the best and most effective place to carry out a ministry which is sensitive to these movements of the Holy Spirit.
50. A philosophical orientation friendly to spiritual reality. Undergirding the above spiritual reasons for being Catholic is a philosophical clarity that exists within certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church which can identify modern atheistic philosophical systems in their true context. It is a philosophical tradition rooted in St. Thomas and St. Augustine. It maintains an identity separate from the modern philosophy of Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, et al. Much of contemporary Roman Catholic thought has been influenced consciously or unconsciously by modern philosophy which embodies the “metaphysics of atheism”.[ii] But this deeper tradition, which maintains the ability to identify modern atheistic treasures of the Catholic Church.
Modern philosophy has rejected the transcendent God of creation, revelation and redemption. This modern thought is also in error about the nature of man, adamantly rejecting the Christian doctrine of original sin. Modern subjective thought, beginning with Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” centers man on himself. This stands in contrast to the thought of St. Thomas which first recognizes that “I exist” and then raises the question, “Where have I come from?” Perhaps best summarized in Hegel, we find a modern thought which rejects the supernatural, creation, miracles, the salvation of the soul, the doctrines of heaven and hell, etc. Hence, much of modern philosophical thought is in opposition to and seeks to destroy the foundations of Christian spirituality in the modern world.
In most of Protestantism, philosophy is viewed with some suspicion and its study is not considered vital. This leaves Biblical scholarship and denominational traditions which are impoverished due to a lack of self-consciousness which comes from philosophy, and a lack of intellectual tools to appreciate the above-mentioned differences. The consequence is that much of Protestantism cannot be reflective about its own presuppositions. Many Protestants are therefore “philosophically blind.” This also means that there is little study of the comprehensive picture of Western thought within Protestant theological circles.
In contrast, the Catholic system requires a comprehensive overview for every Catholic seminarian. Central to this study is the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas which is really a summary of all that has gone before and provides the consistent philosophical foundation for the Roman Catholic Church. This overview provides metaphysical clarity to Catholic dogma. In the 19th Century, Pope Leo XIII’s program to renew Christina philosophy brought renewal an clarity to the Christian confrontation with the atheistic thought of the German schools of philosophy, theology, and Scriptural study. With Inscrutabili (April, 1978) “On the Evils affecting Modern Society” and Aeterni Patris (Aug. 1879), “The Program to Renew Christian Philosophy”, we have a foundation of clear Christian philosophy which can do battle with the atheistic thought that currently dominates the West.[iii]
51. Affirmation of heaven and hell. Worthy of separate mention is the clear Catholic affirmation of the existence of both heaven and hell as realities which we should hope for and fear, respectively. A large number of Protestants have rejected belief in hell as too negative or they have been caught up in a liberal or neo-orthodox universalism that believes such a doctrine is irrelevant, if indeed it is true at all. How one can explain away the many Biblical references to a place of condemnation and eternal torment is amazing, but a number of both Protestants and Catholics are attempting to do just that. The Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, in its documents of 26 June, 1975, incorporating materials from Pope Paul VI’s preaching in 1972, reaffirmed forcefully the teaching of the Church on the reality of Satan and Hell in “Christian Faith and Demonology.”[iv] We should not fail, out of a false compassion, to keep these two serious options before people. They do not come and go, depending on our belief in them. “It is possible to have such sympathy with our fellowman as to be guilty of red-handed rebellion against God” (Oswald Chambers). This is all so very consistent with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which in and of themselves were a motivating factor in my change of church identity.
52. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. These are a compelling reason for at least using Roman Catholic spiritual resources if not for becoming outright Catholic. Addressing the essential issues and decisions of the spiritual life, they give a clarity to discerning one’s way as a Christian. And since John Wesley derived much of his spirituality from Ignatius, this spirituality underlies much of Protestantism also. Why not get the real thing? My spiritual director, Fr. Donald McGuire, is a retreat master for Mother Therese’s order, the Missionaries of Charity. After attending five of these short retreats according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, under Fr. McGuire’s direction, I decided it was foolish not to both obtain and become the real thing.
53. The presence of monasteries and those committed to the contemplative life. During my time in Belgium the powerful role of monasteries and convents in maintaining historic spiritualties came even clearer. A monastery with its stable resident population of committed religious formed according to a spiritual tradition, well educated, well-disciplined, represents a formidable resource for the Church. The liturgy and the traditions of the Cistercians, Trappists, Benedictines, Carmelites, Franciscans, the Sisters of St. Ignatius, and others are as oases of faith and spiritual knowledge in the midst of an increasingly barren secular desert. They represent the radicalness of total commitment, the joy of a life lived out entirely in the service of the Lord. Many of them share, as part of their vocation, the function of providing retreat and meditation space at very low cost. Nothing comparable exists in Protestantism. This was more clear in Belgium than in the United States. The priests and seminarians of our community in Belgium were easily able to find a quiet, isolated monastic community for a weekend trip “into the desert,” complete with monks able to give spiritual conferences and spiritual direction. I believe that the very spiritual climate of a city is changed by having such a monastery present nearby.
54. Religious orders. These associations are a very important gift of the Church. They provide for a distinctive, disciplined way of life which allow their members to serve Christ and his Church without the anxieties of worldly affairs brought on by marriage. The richness of the orders of Catholicism, with their different charisms, yet always under the discipline of the one, universal Church, is a great strength. So often similar movements of the Spirit in Protestantism yield distinct autonomous organizations, independent of any stable ecclesiastical authority.
55. The “Evangelical Counsels” of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In our day, the reaffirmation of these “counsels” seem to me to be particularly important, for in modern Western culture the traditional religious commitments to these Gospel values have been replaced the “trinitarian idol” consumerism, hedonism and nationalism. A materialistic challenge faces the faithful. The Evangelical Counsels are invaluable guidelines for Christian life and are a great gift to all the faithful. Their application within religious orders has provided a radical sign of deeper Christian commitment. Their use by all the faithful helps to draw all closer to the example of Christ in their daily living. I will treat the gift of chastity in the section on Sex, Marriage and the Family. But here I want to recognize the spiritual power of these spiritual disciplines which seek to direct and control “money, sex, and power.”[v]
The evangelical counsel of poverty takes on a particular significance in our Western materialistic, consumer-oriented society. This virtue of poverty is a light on the road of following Jesus. It holds before all Christians the willingness of the early Christians to give up all to follow Christ. Best described in #17 of Presbyterian Ordinis [PO] as it is applied to the life of priests, this Gospel principle leads to a Godly detachment from the goods of this world, while affirming them as good and of God. Priest should be a sign to a ll the faithful of the joy and the fruitfulness that comes while following “Lady Poverty.” While “poverty” should never be used to cause one to be an inappropriate burden on others (See 2 Thess 3:6), it can make one free to follow the values of God instead of the values of this world. How much less corruption would there be in the countries of the world if their political leaders were sufficiently close to Christ through a spirit of detachment to reject the temptation to misuse their office for fain, using it, rather, for the common good?
The special emphasis by the Franciscans on poverty has a particular value in our consumer-oriented, immediate-gratification, credit card-contaminated world. The Second Vatican Council called on religious orders to return to appreciate their original charisms. These are of tremendous value for the faithful today.
The evangelical counsel of obedience stands as a sign of the relation of the disciple to his Master, indeed of the absolute power and glory of God, in our society in which many individuals are preoccupied with gaining “freedom.” The motivation of St. Paul to bring about the “obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations” (Rom 1:5 and 16:26) is often ignored or misunderstood in today’s narcissistic culture of self-actualization. Obedience is offered in a spirit of unity and with the knowledge of legitimate structures of authority, yet is creative and leads to “the more mature freedom of God’s Sons.”[vi] I believe that the Catholic Church is a very good environment in which to grow in the obedience of God’s sons. Even so, I do find it easier to write about obedience, to read about obedience, even to teach about obedience than to obey.
56.Liturgical and monastic prayer. The rich traditions of liturgical prayers, both for the living and for the dead, are a valuable resource in Catholicism. I remember collecting a number of prayers of confession for the Presbyterian Sunday morning liturgy and realizing that the only confessional prayers in which worshippers asked other worshippers for forgiveness and mutual support were from the Catholic tradition. “And I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” I suspect that Protestants reacted so intensely to perceived misuses of the confessional that they lost almost completely the invocation of James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” The Catholic tradition treasures classic prayers that have stood the test of time. Often, Protestant individualism and subjectivity requires a spontaneous, non-written prayer, dependent upon no one other than the pray-er. Hence, Catholic prayers tend to be more tested and more refined than the average Protestant prayers.
57. The redemptive nature of suffering. This is a value rigorously maintained in Catholic teaching. It is particularly important since the world in which we live is has a “consumer” mentality. The crucifix stands as a persistent symbolic reminder that the way of the cross is finally the way of life that brings joy and happiness. Self-denial and sacrificial giving of the self in the name of Jesus is what is needed in every facet of life, from the most personal care of the young and the elderly to the leading and administering of the greatest public or private institutions. This gift will be extensively developed in Chapter Seven on the Eucharist.
58. The social teachings of the Catholic Church. These teachings are another outstanding spiritual resource. Especially within Catholicism, starting with Rerum Novarum, there exists a careful, systematic critique of the social systems of the world in which we live. In this thought, personal, spiritual, and moral imperatives of the Gospel are integrated with society’s need for justice and structural renewal. With the collapse of Communism this resource becomes even more valuable.
59. Spiritual direction. And finally, I found a very healthy assumption among almost all Catholics concerning the need for spiritual direction. The assumption is that for spiritual wisdom and accurate insight into oneself, one should obtain spiritual direction from someone wiser and more mature than oneself. I had generally found Protestants more committed to a John Wayne spirituality, often isolating their personal, vertical relationship to God from any spiritual support systems, having to make it on their own. How much of the ministries of Jimmy Swaggert and Jimmy Baker could have been protected had they been open to competent spiritual direction? The contemporary American scene finds a number of Protestant clergy turning to Catholic and Episcopalian religious to obtain such direction. Moreover, in the Catholic tradition, because Spiritual Direction is highly valued, resources are committed to training such persons. I am not aware that the skills of spiritual direction have been substantially developed anywhere else in the religious traditions of the West.
Under this category of spiritual reasons for becoming Catholic fall a number of traditional disciplines and sacramentals that I consider very important such as the Rosary, the Crucifix, and the Stations of the Cross. Iam going to deal with them in section VI to highlight their importance in sustaining marriage and family life.
48. A clear affirmation of the supernatural character of the Christian faith. A clear belief in the supernatural is a very fundamental reason for becoming Catholic out of a mainline Protestant background. Much of the intellectual leadership of “old-line Protestantism” has lost its belief in supernatural reality. Revelation, the existence of God, the realities of hell and heaven, a salvation which is completed outside of our time and space, the reality of judgment, and hence the seriousness of sin have all been lost in the modernization of the Protestant main-line. Hence healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, visions and appearances of holy figures are all rejected. I, too, rejected all of these for a time. Then the evidence for their realness became overwhelming to me and I was forced to recognize the limits of my rationalistic, Germanic idealistic philosophical presuppositions in which the intellectual leaders of the Presbyterian Church were formed but of which they were ignorant or wished to keep us ignorant. Hegel’s rejection of the supernatural has profoundly affected our society and seriously limited our ability to see certain kinds of reality. The Catholic Church believes clearly in the supernatural, that such interventions are real, and that one should expect the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural realm. This also makes it possible to affirm Marian appearances, that they can be recognized, evaluated and affirmed without being rejected out of hand.
49. The Recognition of the New Testament charisms of the Holy Spirit. As a Presbyterian, I had become acquainted with the very great power of teaching and discerning these gifts from my contact with charismatic churches and the Church Growth movement. I was delighted when I learned that the Second Vatican Council strongly affirmed the use of these gifts in the Church among the lay faithful of the Church, stating that “they are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation… and those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts…” (Lumen Gentium [LG], 12b). The traditional position of the Church before the Council was that these gifts were rare and exceptional. A debate took place between Cardinals Suenens and Ruffini in October 1963 in which the reality of these gifts for the laity was affirmed.[i] The confirmations of these gifts amongst all the faithful was a further verification for me of the comprehensive spiritual validity of the Catholic Church.
Furthermore, I am personally convinced that the correct balance between the freely given charismatic gifts and the overseeing responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church, necessary for the unity of the Church, is best found in the Catholic Church. In my opinion and experience, the charismatic movement is most healthy and most balanced when it exists within the Catholic Church under the sympathetic and informed spiritual direction of pastors. This then became another reason why I believed that the Catholic Church is the best and most effective place to carry out a ministry which is sensitive to these movements of the Holy Spirit.
50. A philosophical orientation friendly to spiritual reality. Undergirding the above spiritual reasons for being Catholic is a philosophical clarity that exists within certain parts of the Roman Catholic Church which can identify modern atheistic philosophical systems in their true context. It is a philosophical tradition rooted in St. Thomas and St. Augustine. It maintains an identity separate from the modern philosophy of Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, et al. Much of contemporary Roman Catholic thought has been influenced consciously or unconsciously by modern philosophy which embodies the “metaphysics of atheism”.[ii] But this deeper tradition, which maintains the ability to identify modern atheistic treasures of the Catholic Church.
Modern philosophy has rejected the transcendent God of creation, revelation and redemption. This modern thought is also in error about the nature of man, adamantly rejecting the Christian doctrine of original sin. Modern subjective thought, beginning with Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” centers man on himself. This stands in contrast to the thought of St. Thomas which first recognizes that “I exist” and then raises the question, “Where have I come from?” Perhaps best summarized in Hegel, we find a modern thought which rejects the supernatural, creation, miracles, the salvation of the soul, the doctrines of heaven and hell, etc. Hence, much of modern philosophical thought is in opposition to and seeks to destroy the foundations of Christian spirituality in the modern world.
In most of Protestantism, philosophy is viewed with some suspicion and its study is not considered vital. This leaves Biblical scholarship and denominational traditions which are impoverished due to a lack of self-consciousness which comes from philosophy, and a lack of intellectual tools to appreciate the above-mentioned differences. The consequence is that much of Protestantism cannot be reflective about its own presuppositions. Many Protestants are therefore “philosophically blind.” This also means that there is little study of the comprehensive picture of Western thought within Protestant theological circles.
In contrast, the Catholic system requires a comprehensive overview for every Catholic seminarian. Central to this study is the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas which is really a summary of all that has gone before and provides the consistent philosophical foundation for the Roman Catholic Church. This overview provides metaphysical clarity to Catholic dogma. In the 19th Century, Pope Leo XIII’s program to renew Christina philosophy brought renewal an clarity to the Christian confrontation with the atheistic thought of the German schools of philosophy, theology, and Scriptural study. With Inscrutabili (April, 1978) “On the Evils affecting Modern Society” and Aeterni Patris (Aug. 1879), “The Program to Renew Christian Philosophy”, we have a foundation of clear Christian philosophy which can do battle with the atheistic thought that currently dominates the West.[iii]
51. Affirmation of heaven and hell. Worthy of separate mention is the clear Catholic affirmation of the existence of both heaven and hell as realities which we should hope for and fear, respectively. A large number of Protestants have rejected belief in hell as too negative or they have been caught up in a liberal or neo-orthodox universalism that believes such a doctrine is irrelevant, if indeed it is true at all. How one can explain away the many Biblical references to a place of condemnation and eternal torment is amazing, but a number of both Protestants and Catholics are attempting to do just that. The Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, in its documents of 26 June, 1975, incorporating materials from Pope Paul VI’s preaching in 1972, reaffirmed forcefully the teaching of the Church on the reality of Satan and Hell in “Christian Faith and Demonology.”[iv] We should not fail, out of a false compassion, to keep these two serious options before people. They do not come and go, depending on our belief in them. “It is possible to have such sympathy with our fellowman as to be guilty of red-handed rebellion against God” (Oswald Chambers). This is all so very consistent with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which in and of themselves were a motivating factor in my change of church identity.
52. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. These are a compelling reason for at least using Roman Catholic spiritual resources if not for becoming outright Catholic. Addressing the essential issues and decisions of the spiritual life, they give a clarity to discerning one’s way as a Christian. And since John Wesley derived much of his spirituality from Ignatius, this spirituality underlies much of Protestantism also. Why not get the real thing? My spiritual director, Fr. Donald McGuire, is a retreat master for Mother Therese’s order, the Missionaries of Charity. After attending five of these short retreats according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, under Fr. McGuire’s direction, I decided it was foolish not to both obtain and become the real thing.
53. The presence of monasteries and those committed to the contemplative life. During my time in Belgium the powerful role of monasteries and convents in maintaining historic spiritualties came even clearer. A monastery with its stable resident population of committed religious formed according to a spiritual tradition, well educated, well-disciplined, represents a formidable resource for the Church. The liturgy and the traditions of the Cistercians, Trappists, Benedictines, Carmelites, Franciscans, the Sisters of St. Ignatius, and others are as oases of faith and spiritual knowledge in the midst of an increasingly barren secular desert. They represent the radicalness of total commitment, the joy of a life lived out entirely in the service of the Lord. Many of them share, as part of their vocation, the function of providing retreat and meditation space at very low cost. Nothing comparable exists in Protestantism. This was more clear in Belgium than in the United States. The priests and seminarians of our community in Belgium were easily able to find a quiet, isolated monastic community for a weekend trip “into the desert,” complete with monks able to give spiritual conferences and spiritual direction. I believe that the very spiritual climate of a city is changed by having such a monastery present nearby.
54. Religious orders. These associations are a very important gift of the Church. They provide for a distinctive, disciplined way of life which allow their members to serve Christ and his Church without the anxieties of worldly affairs brought on by marriage. The richness of the orders of Catholicism, with their different charisms, yet always under the discipline of the one, universal Church, is a great strength. So often similar movements of the Spirit in Protestantism yield distinct autonomous organizations, independent of any stable ecclesiastical authority.
55. The “Evangelical Counsels” of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In our day, the reaffirmation of these “counsels” seem to me to be particularly important, for in modern Western culture the traditional religious commitments to these Gospel values have been replaced the “trinitarian idol” consumerism, hedonism and nationalism. A materialistic challenge faces the faithful. The Evangelical Counsels are invaluable guidelines for Christian life and are a great gift to all the faithful. Their application within religious orders has provided a radical sign of deeper Christian commitment. Their use by all the faithful helps to draw all closer to the example of Christ in their daily living. I will treat the gift of chastity in the section on Sex, Marriage and the Family. But here I want to recognize the spiritual power of these spiritual disciplines which seek to direct and control “money, sex, and power.”[v]
The evangelical counsel of poverty takes on a particular significance in our Western materialistic, consumer-oriented society. This virtue of poverty is a light on the road of following Jesus. It holds before all Christians the willingness of the early Christians to give up all to follow Christ. Best described in #17 of Presbyterian Ordinis [PO] as it is applied to the life of priests, this Gospel principle leads to a Godly detachment from the goods of this world, while affirming them as good and of God. Priest should be a sign to a ll the faithful of the joy and the fruitfulness that comes while following “Lady Poverty.” While “poverty” should never be used to cause one to be an inappropriate burden on others (See 2 Thess 3:6), it can make one free to follow the values of God instead of the values of this world. How much less corruption would there be in the countries of the world if their political leaders were sufficiently close to Christ through a spirit of detachment to reject the temptation to misuse their office for fain, using it, rather, for the common good?
The special emphasis by the Franciscans on poverty has a particular value in our consumer-oriented, immediate-gratification, credit card-contaminated world. The Second Vatican Council called on religious orders to return to appreciate their original charisms. These are of tremendous value for the faithful today.
The evangelical counsel of obedience stands as a sign of the relation of the disciple to his Master, indeed of the absolute power and glory of God, in our society in which many individuals are preoccupied with gaining “freedom.” The motivation of St. Paul to bring about the “obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations” (Rom 1:5 and 16:26) is often ignored or misunderstood in today’s narcissistic culture of self-actualization. Obedience is offered in a spirit of unity and with the knowledge of legitimate structures of authority, yet is creative and leads to “the more mature freedom of God’s Sons.”[vi] I believe that the Catholic Church is a very good environment in which to grow in the obedience of God’s sons. Even so, I do find it easier to write about obedience, to read about obedience, even to teach about obedience than to obey.
56.Liturgical and monastic prayer. The rich traditions of liturgical prayers, both for the living and for the dead, are a valuable resource in Catholicism. I remember collecting a number of prayers of confession for the Presbyterian Sunday morning liturgy and realizing that the only confessional prayers in which worshippers asked other worshippers for forgiveness and mutual support were from the Catholic tradition. “And I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” I suspect that Protestants reacted so intensely to perceived misuses of the confessional that they lost almost completely the invocation of James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” The Catholic tradition treasures classic prayers that have stood the test of time. Often, Protestant individualism and subjectivity requires a spontaneous, non-written prayer, dependent upon no one other than the pray-er. Hence, Catholic prayers tend to be more tested and more refined than the average Protestant prayers.
57. The redemptive nature of suffering. This is a value rigorously maintained in Catholic teaching. It is particularly important since the world in which we live is has a “consumer” mentality. The crucifix stands as a persistent symbolic reminder that the way of the cross is finally the way of life that brings joy and happiness. Self-denial and sacrificial giving of the self in the name of Jesus is what is needed in every facet of life, from the most personal care of the young and the elderly to the leading and administering of the greatest public or private institutions. This gift will be extensively developed in Chapter Seven on the Eucharist.
58. The social teachings of the Catholic Church. These teachings are another outstanding spiritual resource. Especially within Catholicism, starting with Rerum Novarum, there exists a careful, systematic critique of the social systems of the world in which we live. In this thought, personal, spiritual, and moral imperatives of the Gospel are integrated with society’s need for justice and structural renewal. With the collapse of Communism this resource becomes even more valuable.
59. Spiritual direction. And finally, I found a very healthy assumption among almost all Catholics concerning the need for spiritual direction. The assumption is that for spiritual wisdom and accurate insight into oneself, one should obtain spiritual direction from someone wiser and more mature than oneself. I had generally found Protestants more committed to a John Wayne spirituality, often isolating their personal, vertical relationship to God from any spiritual support systems, having to make it on their own. How much of the ministries of Jimmy Swaggert and Jimmy Baker could have been protected had they been open to competent spiritual direction? The contemporary American scene finds a number of Protestant clergy turning to Catholic and Episcopalian religious to obtain such direction. Moreover, in the Catholic tradition, because Spiritual Direction is highly valued, resources are committed to training such persons. I am not aware that the skills of spiritual direction have been substantially developed anywhere else in the religious traditions of the West.
Under this category of spiritual reasons for becoming Catholic fall a number of traditional disciplines and sacramentals that I consider very important such as the Rosary, the Crucifix, and the Stations of the Cross. Iam going to deal with them in section VI to highlight their importance in sustaining marriage and family life.
[i] For a good summary on the Council debates on charisms as well as the subsequent developments brought up by Hans K?ng, see Vatican II: Assessment and Perspectives: Twenty-five Years After, vol 1, René Latourelle, ed. (Paulist Press, NewYork, 1988)
[ii] For example, in the recent document, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Catholic Church, the approbation of the methods of historical-critical analysis is always qualified by the need to separate them from their philosophical foundations. I am not at all convinced that this is being done adequately. A dood description of the positions of this “modern philosophy” is found in Love of Wisdom: An Introduction to Christian Philosophy, Part Three, “Modern Philosophy: A Challenging Problem.”
[iii] For more detail on this see Love of Wisdom, p. 324 ff, “The Program to Renew Christian Philosophy: Aeterni Patris.”
[iv] In Vatican Council II: More Post Conciliar Documents, Austin Flannery, O.P., General Editor (Costello Publishing Company, Northport, NY, 1982.
[v] For a fresh approach to these three vows and their corresponding disciplines, see three books by the Quaker author Richard J. Foster: Celebration of Discipline; Money, Sex, and Power; and Freedom of Simplicity. He draws on a wide range of Catholic sources for a dynamic approach to these values, an approach which is radically applicable to all the People of God.
[vi] To distinguish a New Testament sense of the freedom of men from the very different contemporary notions of freedom see Romans 6:15-23. Both William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible: Romans and Joseph A. Fitzmeyer’s Anchor Bible: Romans are helpful on this passage.
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Essentials of Sin and Salvation as Reasons for Becoming Catholic :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
Essentials of Sin and Salvation as Reasons for Becoming Catholic
If the beginning of my awareness of the depth and correctness of Catholicism began with the Bible, it culminated in the moral life. If there is not righteousness and holiness present in daily life, nothing works in this world, and one’s relationship with God is disrupted. The Doctrine and traditional practices of the Catholic Church present essentials for the moral life, both personal and communal.
60. The biblical principle of cooperation with God’s grace. In order to understand our responsibility for the moral life, only the Catholic principle of cooperation with the grace of God is adequate. The Protestant principle of “grace alone” is usually understood to mean that we can do nothing ourselves. Moral actions are only a sign of effectual calling for many Protestants. Sooner or later, the logic of one’s theology catches up with one’s behavior. One can only affirm sola gratia and sola fides so many times with the Protestant evangelicals before coming to faith and baptism has no causative relationship to one’s salvation. If righteous living is only an inevitable consequence of a person’s unmerited election by God, the freedom of will is denied and the heart is cut out of the moral life. Nothing is then at stake in one’s daily decision for good or evil. One of the consequences of this manner of thinking becomes evident in relation to the practice of confession. If one is “effectually called” in the Reformed or Calvinist way of thinking, then one’s behavior must become almost automatically righteous. If serious sin is present, it is a sign that one is not of the elect. Hence the sacrament of confession becomes not a liberation from the sin that besets all Christians, but rather only a reminder of one’s lack of election by God. Consequently, in these traditions, an unhealthy denial of sin becomes far too easy. This is demonstrated by examining the liturgies of most Calvinistic and Evangelical churches. The Liturgy of Confession has usually disappeared! Without confession the disciplines of repentance and penance tend to disappear also.
61. A correct basis for an “assurance of salvation.” As we have seen above, there are many Scriptural passages in which the relationship between salvation and works is explicit.[i] This leads Catholics to know that something is very much out of line (biblically) when confronted by the Evangelical doctrine of “eternal security.” Catholics know clearly that the gift of salvation can be lost through unrepentant mortal sin. Ezekiel directly destroys the doctrine of eternal security:
“Though I say to the virtuous man that he shall surely live, if he then presumes on his virtue and does wrong, none of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered; because of the wrong he has done, he shall die. And though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just… he shall surely live, he shall not die.” (Ezek. 33:13-14)
We remember St. Paul’s admonition that “anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12; See also Rom 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Cor. 13:5; Heb. 2:1-3, 3:12, 6:4,6; 2 John 8-11). Especially Phil 2:12 does not allow the self-confident assurance expressed by so many evangelicals. I was always put off by this confidence, “I know that I am saved and can never be snatched out of the Father’s hand.” I reflected on the above passages, and especially these words from St. Paul, “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (NAB). A Catholic know that his assurance of salvation comes from a diligent examination of conscience and a humble attitude that leads to a life of continual conversion and dependence on the graces of God, a position from which he can fall at any time.[ii]
62. The affirmation of the reality of original sin. If our decisions are truly responsible and free as we cooperate with God’s grace in our salvation, then the implications of “original sin” become very serious. If mankind suffers from such a defect, correctable only through an infusion of God’s grace, this completely dominates a correct understanding of the human situation. The Catechism describes the original sin and its consequences clearly #396 ff. Many modernist theologies have rejected this doctrine and therefore teach in an unreal world, to the detriment of their adherents. In my situation in Protestantism, I began to feel the accuracy of H. Richard Niebuhr’s critique of the religion of liberalism, in which “a god without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of Christ without a cross.” Modern secularists desperately affirm the inherent goodness of man. This always leads to disillusionment and discouragement. On the other hand, those who affirm the seriousness of sin and the importance of original sin are rarely discouraged. We are exhorted not to reduce the Good News of the Gospel to nice news because of the implied suggestion that there was never any bad news about the human condition to begin with. I was attracted to the Catholic Church by the clarity about sin but also the Good News of the mercy and the grace of God which He has promised us if we turn to Him.
63. A clear awareness of the danger of mortal sin and evil. The reality of the original sin makes this gift essential. It is the humanist secularists who deny the defect of original sin which leads to their optimism about human nature. This optimism is false and will collapse under the pressure of objective observation of human behavior. Without a correct understanding of repentance and confession, an acknowledgement of the seriousness of sin becomes overwhelmingly depressing. At least four times St. Paul gives lists of serious sins and pastorally warns his people that “those who do such things deserve to die,” “will not inherit the Kingdom of God”, and will be the objects of “the wrath of God” (Rom. 1:18-32, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Gal 5:19-21, Eph. 5:5 and Col. 3:5-6). Most Protestant interpretations of these passages deny the danger of serious sin separating one from God and also deny that any devotional act of ours could help reunite us to Him.[iii] The seriousness with which we need to take these Pauline warnings is clearly documented in the works of Leo XIII cited above as well as #48 of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (The meditation on the triple sin). This entire exercise allows one to meditate upon the seriousness of a single mortal sin in the sight of God, and of his graciousness in offering us forgiveness.
64. Appreciation for the real “fear of God.” If there are no direct consequences for immoral behavior, then the statements about the fear of God don’t make much sense. If God is an all-loving Father who ignores our sins and “accepts us as we are”[iv], then is there any reason to be afraid? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7 and related passages). This theological softening on the seriousness of sin then infects exegesis, which is the study and interpretation of Biblical concepts. It is quite the mode in contemporary Protestant thought to insist that “fear” doesn’t mean “fear” but “respect”. I wondered about this apparent error and did a word study to see what kinds of situations “fear” (phobos in the Greek) described. I found that among others it described stoning idolaters so that “all Israel shall hear, and fear… (Deut. 13:11). In the New Testament “great fear came upon the whole church” after Ananias an Sapphira fell dead before Peter (Acts 5). See also the warnings in 1 Cor. 10:1-13. Then I found that Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, in its article on phobos, says that the exegesis of that word will not sustain the limitation to the meaning of “respect” but must include the sense of “terror-inspiring fear” which leads to repentance. About one third of the uses of the term “fear of the Lord” have the sense of awe or respect, in about one third the more terrifying aspect dominates, and in the final third both may be present. From this I conclude that the “fear of the God” is a real fear of total destruction or damnation and therefore is most healthy for us. This is historically very clearly expressed in the Catholic Tradition.
It is also the Catholic Church that clearly teaches that unrepentant sin separates one from God and leads to eternal damnation.
To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell” (CCC 1033).
It seems to me that here we have something of which one is wise to be afraid, so that, as children of God, we run to the loving arms our Heavenly Father, repentant and trusting.
65. The exercise of biblical Church discipline. Historically, one of the great distinctives of the Presbyterian (Reformed) family of churches (Augustinian Calvinism) has been the importance that it placed on the right exercise of biblical church discipline. When identifying the marks of the true church, in addition to the proper preaching of the Word and the correct administration of the Sacraments, John Calvin included church discipline, as a lesser but essential element. In recent years, the exercise of discipline has been taking a beating in all the traditions. It seems to me that a gentle, equitable church discipline is historical and should be most possible in the Catholic Church.
If the need to cooperate with God’s grace is clearly understood in the context of the seriousness of the original sin and resulting human weakness, then the danger of falling into mortal sin is grave enough to make the practice of caring Church discipline very necessary. On the other hand, if the danger of losing one’s salvation by active participation in serious sin no longer provokes anxiety, fear, and the sense of impending danger, then the importance of the practice of discipline and correction within the Church loses its meaning, and the application of passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Hebrews 12:5,6,9 becomes increasingly irrelevant. Following the direction of the new Catechism, it seems to me that the former situation certainly is the case in the Catholic Church. I note here that the Catholic Church’s willingness to discipline seriously erring theologians such as Hans Kung and Charles Curran has been an important inspiration to me. Their discipline has not been severe, but it does make clear to the faithful that these theologians are not teaching what the Church teaches.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work
(2 Tim 3:16-17).
And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? “My son, does not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives…” Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live (Heb. 12:5-6,9).
Additionally, Catholic thought, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas, understands the importance of teaching and instruction in order to turn around from sin and to get established in the right direction. This position is consistent with the citation from 2 Timothy above. The Greek word that is translated “discipline” in Hebrews 12:5-11 is exactly the word used for teaching, paideia, from which we obtain “pedagogy” in English. This appreciation for discipline undergirded by education and formation should make it increasingly possible to describe the Catholic faithful as contending Christians rather than conciliatory churchmen.
60. The biblical principle of cooperation with God’s grace. In order to understand our responsibility for the moral life, only the Catholic principle of cooperation with the grace of God is adequate. The Protestant principle of “grace alone” is usually understood to mean that we can do nothing ourselves. Moral actions are only a sign of effectual calling for many Protestants. Sooner or later, the logic of one’s theology catches up with one’s behavior. One can only affirm sola gratia and sola fides so many times with the Protestant evangelicals before coming to faith and baptism has no causative relationship to one’s salvation. If righteous living is only an inevitable consequence of a person’s unmerited election by God, the freedom of will is denied and the heart is cut out of the moral life. Nothing is then at stake in one’s daily decision for good or evil. One of the consequences of this manner of thinking becomes evident in relation to the practice of confession. If one is “effectually called” in the Reformed or Calvinist way of thinking, then one’s behavior must become almost automatically righteous. If serious sin is present, it is a sign that one is not of the elect. Hence the sacrament of confession becomes not a liberation from the sin that besets all Christians, but rather only a reminder of one’s lack of election by God. Consequently, in these traditions, an unhealthy denial of sin becomes far too easy. This is demonstrated by examining the liturgies of most Calvinistic and Evangelical churches. The Liturgy of Confession has usually disappeared! Without confession the disciplines of repentance and penance tend to disappear also.
61. A correct basis for an “assurance of salvation.” As we have seen above, there are many Scriptural passages in which the relationship between salvation and works is explicit.[i] This leads Catholics to know that something is very much out of line (biblically) when confronted by the Evangelical doctrine of “eternal security.” Catholics know clearly that the gift of salvation can be lost through unrepentant mortal sin. Ezekiel directly destroys the doctrine of eternal security:
“Though I say to the virtuous man that he shall surely live, if he then presumes on his virtue and does wrong, none of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered; because of the wrong he has done, he shall die. And though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just… he shall surely live, he shall not die.” (Ezek. 33:13-14)
We remember St. Paul’s admonition that “anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12; See also Rom 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Cor. 13:5; Heb. 2:1-3, 3:12, 6:4,6; 2 John 8-11). Especially Phil 2:12 does not allow the self-confident assurance expressed by so many evangelicals. I was always put off by this confidence, “I know that I am saved and can never be snatched out of the Father’s hand.” I reflected on the above passages, and especially these words from St. Paul, “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (NAB). A Catholic know that his assurance of salvation comes from a diligent examination of conscience and a humble attitude that leads to a life of continual conversion and dependence on the graces of God, a position from which he can fall at any time.[ii]
62. The affirmation of the reality of original sin. If our decisions are truly responsible and free as we cooperate with God’s grace in our salvation, then the implications of “original sin” become very serious. If mankind suffers from such a defect, correctable only through an infusion of God’s grace, this completely dominates a correct understanding of the human situation. The Catechism describes the original sin and its consequences clearly #396 ff. Many modernist theologies have rejected this doctrine and therefore teach in an unreal world, to the detriment of their adherents. In my situation in Protestantism, I began to feel the accuracy of H. Richard Niebuhr’s critique of the religion of liberalism, in which “a god without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of Christ without a cross.” Modern secularists desperately affirm the inherent goodness of man. This always leads to disillusionment and discouragement. On the other hand, those who affirm the seriousness of sin and the importance of original sin are rarely discouraged. We are exhorted not to reduce the Good News of the Gospel to nice news because of the implied suggestion that there was never any bad news about the human condition to begin with. I was attracted to the Catholic Church by the clarity about sin but also the Good News of the mercy and the grace of God which He has promised us if we turn to Him.
63. A clear awareness of the danger of mortal sin and evil. The reality of the original sin makes this gift essential. It is the humanist secularists who deny the defect of original sin which leads to their optimism about human nature. This optimism is false and will collapse under the pressure of objective observation of human behavior. Without a correct understanding of repentance and confession, an acknowledgement of the seriousness of sin becomes overwhelmingly depressing. At least four times St. Paul gives lists of serious sins and pastorally warns his people that “those who do such things deserve to die,” “will not inherit the Kingdom of God”, and will be the objects of “the wrath of God” (Rom. 1:18-32, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Gal 5:19-21, Eph. 5:5 and Col. 3:5-6). Most Protestant interpretations of these passages deny the danger of serious sin separating one from God and also deny that any devotional act of ours could help reunite us to Him.[iii] The seriousness with which we need to take these Pauline warnings is clearly documented in the works of Leo XIII cited above as well as #48 of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (The meditation on the triple sin). This entire exercise allows one to meditate upon the seriousness of a single mortal sin in the sight of God, and of his graciousness in offering us forgiveness.
64. Appreciation for the real “fear of God.” If there are no direct consequences for immoral behavior, then the statements about the fear of God don’t make much sense. If God is an all-loving Father who ignores our sins and “accepts us as we are”[iv], then is there any reason to be afraid? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7 and related passages). This theological softening on the seriousness of sin then infects exegesis, which is the study and interpretation of Biblical concepts. It is quite the mode in contemporary Protestant thought to insist that “fear” doesn’t mean “fear” but “respect”. I wondered about this apparent error and did a word study to see what kinds of situations “fear” (phobos in the Greek) described. I found that among others it described stoning idolaters so that “all Israel shall hear, and fear… (Deut. 13:11). In the New Testament “great fear came upon the whole church” after Ananias an Sapphira fell dead before Peter (Acts 5). See also the warnings in 1 Cor. 10:1-13. Then I found that Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, in its article on phobos, says that the exegesis of that word will not sustain the limitation to the meaning of “respect” but must include the sense of “terror-inspiring fear” which leads to repentance. About one third of the uses of the term “fear of the Lord” have the sense of awe or respect, in about one third the more terrifying aspect dominates, and in the final third both may be present. From this I conclude that the “fear of the God” is a real fear of total destruction or damnation and therefore is most healthy for us. This is historically very clearly expressed in the Catholic Tradition.
It is also the Catholic Church that clearly teaches that unrepentant sin separates one from God and leads to eternal damnation.
To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell” (CCC 1033).
It seems to me that here we have something of which one is wise to be afraid, so that, as children of God, we run to the loving arms our Heavenly Father, repentant and trusting.
65. The exercise of biblical Church discipline. Historically, one of the great distinctives of the Presbyterian (Reformed) family of churches (Augustinian Calvinism) has been the importance that it placed on the right exercise of biblical church discipline. When identifying the marks of the true church, in addition to the proper preaching of the Word and the correct administration of the Sacraments, John Calvin included church discipline, as a lesser but essential element. In recent years, the exercise of discipline has been taking a beating in all the traditions. It seems to me that a gentle, equitable church discipline is historical and should be most possible in the Catholic Church.
If the need to cooperate with God’s grace is clearly understood in the context of the seriousness of the original sin and resulting human weakness, then the danger of falling into mortal sin is grave enough to make the practice of caring Church discipline very necessary. On the other hand, if the danger of losing one’s salvation by active participation in serious sin no longer provokes anxiety, fear, and the sense of impending danger, then the importance of the practice of discipline and correction within the Church loses its meaning, and the application of passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Hebrews 12:5,6,9 becomes increasingly irrelevant. Following the direction of the new Catechism, it seems to me that the former situation certainly is the case in the Catholic Church. I note here that the Catholic Church’s willingness to discipline seriously erring theologians such as Hans Kung and Charles Curran has been an important inspiration to me. Their discipline has not been severe, but it does make clear to the faithful that these theologians are not teaching what the Church teaches.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work
(2 Tim 3:16-17).
And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? “My son, does not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives…” Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live (Heb. 12:5-6,9).
Additionally, Catholic thought, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas, understands the importance of teaching and instruction in order to turn around from sin and to get established in the right direction. This position is consistent with the citation from 2 Timothy above. The Greek word that is translated “discipline” in Hebrews 12:5-11 is exactly the word used for teaching, paideia, from which we obtain “pedagogy” in English. This appreciation for discipline undergirded by education and formation should make it increasingly possible to describe the Catholic faithful as contending Christians rather than conciliatory churchmen.
[i] See Reasons 2 and 3.
[ii] For an excellent development of this issue see Keating, Fundamentalism and Catholicism, chpt. 13 “Salvation.”
[iii] This is made quite clear in Paul Tillach’s Systematic Theology, Vol. II, p. 224, where he states, “It should be regarded as the Protestant principle that, in relation to God, God alone can act and that no human claim, especially no religious claim, no intellectual or moral or devotional “work,” can reunite us with him.”
[iv] A phrase made famous by Paul Tillach in The Shaking of the Foundations (Chas. Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1948), chpt. 19, “You Are Accepted.”
Sexual, Marital, and Familial Reasons :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
Sexual, Marital, and Familial Reasons
66. Clarity on human sexuality and human life issues is one of the great strengths in the official teaching of the Catholic Church. In both mainline Protestant churches as well as in the Evangelical and Fundamentalist camps, there is an increasing tendency to downplay the seriousness of sexual sin. Whereas St. Paul says,
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from unchastity; that each
one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor… (I Thess. 4:3,4).
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? ... Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (I Cor 6:15-20).
This is exactly what is referred to in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in its commentary on the sixth commandment, section II, “The Vocation to Chastity” (##2337-2359).
67. The call to virtue in the face of the tidal wave of the sexual revolution and its consequence, the sexual suicide of our cultures. The Position taken against artificial contraception by the Catholic Church is very courageous and very necessary. It is courageous, for Humanae Vitae was an unpopular position taken over against the tidal wave of sexual permissiveness of western culture. If Paul VI had not maintained the historic position of the Catholic Church in this confrontation, the faithful could easily have been in a free fall following fornication. John Paul II stresses that the virtues of the Christian life are not to be obtained without vigorous discipline (See Rom 5:3-5). This prohibition against artificial contraception while permitting “natural methods” is a recipe for virtue, consistent with the biblical recognition of the cost of discipleship. It may also be absolutely essential for the preservation of our society itself. At this time in Northern Europe and English-speaking North America, no society is reproducing itself.
68. The affirmation of the call to self-sacrificing love in the marital relationship. “Be submissive (subordinate – NAB) to one another out of reverence for Christ” is the most distinctive and fundamental guideline for Christian marriage. This is exactly what Jesus modeled at the Last Supper. Was he not the most powerful, most glorious, most important person there? And yet, what did he do first? He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and humbled himself, washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:3-15). Later that night, he gave himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. In Eph. 5, St. Paul explicitly compares the relationship of Christ to His Church and that of a husband to his wife.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Even so
husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no
man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church (Eph. 5:25ff).
Through the supernatural relationship with Christ, both the man and the woman are empowered to love each other with a sacrificial love in imitation of Christ. When both partners have this love in their marriage, there is no problem that can drive them apart. Today I find most Christians rejecting this principle of mutual obedience or mutual submission. I have heard well educated women in Belgium, in France, and in the U.S. say forcefully, “I will never be submissive to anyone.” This principle of mutual submission, of even unilateral sacrifice of the self for the good of others, is clearly affirmed within the Catholic tradition while the liberty and dignity of each person is also protected.
In most liberal Protestant churches, “being submissive to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21), has been relegated to the trash heap as not conducive to the dignity of women. Submission does not seem to be worthy of man come of age. Self-actualization, self-assertion, self-realization are much more in style. Submission does not seem dignified for a proud, powerful, and affluent people. Here, perhaps, we encounter most pointedly the conflict between Christian values and those of Hegelian idealism.
This same word, (hupotassomai in the Greek), is frequently used to describe all adult relationships within the Christian community (Eph. 5:21, 1 Pet. 2:13, 18; 3:1, 5:5). The very structure of Ephesians 5 demonstrates that this submission is the way to imitate God, as Christ himself loved us (Eph. 5:1, 2). Mutual submission is the way Christians should act when imitating the love of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34).
69. The role of the Church in protecting the family and its values, it’s affirmation of the role of women, especially as mothers, and the precious gift that children are. The role of the Catholic Church in protecting and strengthening the family along with the set of moral values that undergird this position was the final and compelling force behind my conversion. The increasing confusion in the mainline Protestant churches in this area was revolting to me. My wife and I have found the Catholic teaching on marriage and the family excellent for us, for our marriage, and for our family. It has led to a secure and warmly intimate relationship which has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. When I reflected back over twenty-five years of married life and realized the source of those values, I realized that not only did I want those values for myself, for my family, for my children, and my grandchildren, but I also wanted the Church and its Tradition that had preserved these so well. And it seemed to me that to pastor in the name of Christ required those same values to be clearly present in the church in which I served. All of the other reasons I have given here were significant, many of which would be adequate by themselves for making such a change. But I found the witness of the Catholic Church in this area of the family and of the moral life to be both emotionally and rationally compelling.
The Catholic Church has not succumbed to the prevailing politically-correct affirmation of feminist values. While strongly affirming the dignity and value of women, the Church has continued to recognize differences between men and women and to attest to the value of their distinctive family roles, maintaining the original and irreplaceable meaning of work in the home and in rearing children. Pope John Paul II also calls for society to be “structured in such a way that wives and mothers are not in practice compelled to work outside the home, and that their families can live and prosper in a dignified way even when they themselves devote their full time to their own family” (FC, 28-41).[i]
When I became aware of all of these biblically-based guidelines given by the Church, developed through consultation with bishops from all the cultures of the world, I decided that the Catholic Church was by far the most healthy place for a solid family to be. I also realized that my very serious commitment to the poor and the down trodden could be most powerfully worked out by serving in the Church that placed such a priority on sexual integrity and family values. Not to be Catholic was becoming downright painful.
A quotation from George Gilder on the importance of spiritually supporting families summarizes well for me the far-reaching importance of this for our lives:
The problems of the American poor are most fundamentally moral and spiritual. As Margaret Mead insisted, stable families – with long time horizons and a resistance to the buffeting of life’s inevitable troubles – ultimately depend, in all societies, on the reinforcement of religious beliefs and ceremonies. Without a strong religious culture, a secular bureaucracy, with its rationalizing ethic, erodes the very foundations of family life and thus creates the very moral chaos it ostensibly combats. The effort to inculcate ethical behavior without religious faith seems one of the great fiascoes of the modern age. If the established churches are truly concerned with the problems of poverty, they will abandon their current tendency to serve as shills for demoralizing materialism of the welfare state and return to their paramount role, giving moral and spiritual guidance to the poor, and to all American society.[ii]
70. A Biblical appreciation for the goodness of proper sexual relationships as well as for the dangers of disordered sex. The Catholic Church of today also exhibits a profound respect for marriage as a sacrament and affirms sexual activity within the marriage as good. This is consistent with the Biblical witness in Genesis 2, Ephesians 5 and Hebrews 13:4.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed (koite) be undefiled;
for God will judge the immoral and adulterous (Heb. 13:4).
The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (CCC, 1660, see CIC, can. 1055, #1 as well as Gaudium et spes [GS], 48a).
This correct biblical foundation most completely corresponds to real life. Far from being a church that represses and discourages a healthy sexuality, I realized that it was the Catholic Church that provided a life context for a truly sexy marital relationship in a manner that was healthy and sustainable.
71. The devotional resources of the Catholic Church in sustaining a relationship of biblical love: the crucifix. Once I learned what the biblical guidelines for the sacrificial, Jesus-type, agape love needed to sustain Christian marriages and families, I was free to see the profound depth in certain Catholic devotional practices that I had previously scorned. As Catholics, we have devotional practices that sustain us spiritually and inspire us in the practice of Jesus’s manner of love. Almost all Protestant denominations have rejected these practices. For example, the crucifix. Many of my Protestant friends (and family) would ridicule the crucifix, saying, “Don’t Catholics know that Jesus is resurrected?” We might well respond, “Yes, we do, but we are painfully aware of the great price Jesus paid for our sins and how difficult it is to model his self-giving love. That is why we have the crucifix. It reminds us of one of the most precious of all bible verses and facts of Jesus’s life. That is, John 15:13: “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are called to live this every day in our lives and we need this sacramental, visible reminder to help us. We use the crucifix in the same manner that Protestants use bible memory. Our method is more direct and more graphic.
72. The devotional resources of the Catholic Church in sustaining marriage and the Christian Life: The Rosary, especially the sorrowful mysteries. The Rosary had been one of the most difficult of the spiritual practices of the Catholic Church for me to participate in. Initially the block was both intellectual and emotional, based on the often cited Protestant warning of the words of Jesus not to pray with “vain repetition.” Even after overcoming bad exegesis of Matt. 6:7 and my intellectual objections to this prayer, emotionally I found it very difficult to do. This was true even though in the most scientific of methods I could document its positive effects in the families of those who prayed it.[iii] The sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary (Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion) have a special application to the living out of marriage. If we are called to love one another as Christ loved the Church (Eph 5), then meditation on these most painful events in Jesus’s life is essential for us as we love one another in marriage. Nothing that we have to undergo in marriage is as severe as what Jesus suffered to love us!
73. The devotional treasury of the Church in sustaining marriage and the Christian life: the Stations of the Cross. Just as the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary have a particular application to Christian marriage, just so do the Stations of the Cross. By meditating on the Stations of the Cross we can enter more deeply into what Jesus meant when he said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13. The Stations of the Cross describe in bloody detail exactly how Jesus did exactly this. As I reflect on my reactionary attitude before I became Catholic, I am amazed at my blindness. As a committed Christian I was committed to following Jesus. But I resisted participating in this devotional practice. Now I can see clearly that in order to imitate Christ in the most basic aspect of his love, it seems to me now to be absolutely necessary to meditate on the last days of Jesus’s suffering, this, the most painful and humiliating part of his love. It is helpful to meditate on each of the stations asking oneself, “What form would this suffering of Jesus take in my life, in my marriage?” When I realized the depth and power of these devotional practices for sustaining marital life, I could no longer tolerate remaining Protestant. I could not do so as a husband, for I wanted these strengths for my marriage, my family, and my grandchildren. I could not do so as a pastor because integrity demanded that I share these treasures with my congregation and that just would not fly for a Presbyterian pastor.
74. The courage to maintain standards in sexual and human life issues. The moral courage of the Catholic Church in maintaining standards for marriage and for human life issues has been most impressive and has certainly been a strong attraction for me. Most protestant churches today accept whatever the divorce court decrees and allow for remarriage after divorce. The prohibition of divorce by Jesus has been unpopular, but it is a standard very important to maintain.[iv] I frequently found myself as a Presbyterian pastor making a defense for the procedures of the Roman Catholic marriage tribunal. I could also see the many spiritual benefits that accrued to couples who submitted themselves to the tribunal’s demanding process. The work by Heth and Windham, Jesus and Divorce, is a valuable overview of the entire history of the divorce controversy by Evangelical scholars. It was surprising to me to find two Evangelical scholars arrive at the Catholic position by their study. Certainly, the courage of the Catholic stand on this issue will be a sign for all in coming decades.
75.The existence and use of the marriage tribunal. A related strength of the Catholic Church is the use of the marriage tribunal to evaluate the validity of a marriage. No other major Protestant church to my knowledge at this time has any analogous structure. As a Protestant minister counseling Catholics who were angry at their Church for the rigor and depth of the procedures used by the marriage tribunal, I often found myself clarifying its function and encouraging them to participate in its investigation. It is my opinion that even when the tribunal may be too lenient in granting annulments, the very procedure provides an opportunity for submission to Church authority and affords a valid means of being held accountable for the failure of a relationship. In addition to its value to individuals, the tribunal becomes an immense source of knowledge and wisdom for the whole Church as it scrutinizes the stories of so many.
76. The recognition of the value of the celibate life. The recognition of the power and value of the celibate life (I Cor 7:25-35) and of the value of periodic continence within marriage (marital chastity – 1 Cor 7:5) are great gifts of Catholicism. Though the recognition of both disciplines, the Church stands as a sign of practical, realizable holiness in the midst of a sexually indulgent society. This is particularly true when the gift of celibacy is combined with a vocational call to the priesthood or to the religious life. Then all one’s creative energy can be sublimated first into training and preparation, then into availability of service. I clearly saw this gift while living at La Maison Ste Thérèse in Belgium. At every holiday and during the summer all the seminarians and priests went out for formation or for service all around the world. I always had to (and intensely desired to) return to my wife and family to take care of my obligations there. The celibate vocation is to the married vocation as a rifle is to shotgun. Given the same gifts, strengths and energy, the rifle will always carry further than the shotgun. We do note, however, that there are some married men that make a humdinger of a shotgun blast!
There is a fascinating correlation between this kind of sexual discipline and the level of cultural achievement in a society:
J.D. Unwin, in his book Sex and Culture, analyzed 59 preliterate societies and some societies in history, and he came to a conclusion which was sustained by Pitirim Sorokin in his book The American Sex Revolution, namely, that societies were able to advance to a highly rationalistic culture only when they had a spiritual patriarchal type of government, maintained their sexual life within marriage, and were chaste and temperate. They inevitably declined whenever they departed from this basic pattern.[v]
If this kind of research is true to any significant degree, then our very existence as an advanced culture is at stake in the issue of sexual morality, and in the broader issue of male spiritual leadership. I was forced to cast my lot with the Church that seemed to me most equipped to defend sexual purity as an essential value for the Church and for the broader society.
77. A pastorally sensitive but doctrinally accurate opposition to homosexual practice. This has been of very great consequence in today’s world. The Catholic Church makes the essential distinction between homosexual orientation and willful homosexual practice:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (cf. Gen. 19: 1-29; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6;10; 1 Tim. 1:10), tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” (CCC, 2357)
Today, the historical morality represented by the mainline Protestant denominations is seriously threatened by “gay lobbies” within each body. I found the leadership of the Holy Father to be a real encouragement on this issue. The Catholic Church also makes the essential distinction between an “orientation” to a sinful behavior and the “practice” of that behavior. The orientation is not sinful, but like any other disordered passion must be resisted (See CCC, 1762-1775). All of us have disordered passions because of original sin, the evil of the world, the lusts of the flesh and the activity of the Devil (1 Jn. 2:12-17). These sources of temptation lead to sins only when we give into them.
78. Trenchant opposition to the abortion industry. Catholic opposition to abortion was a genuine inspiration to me. Upon graduation from college I would have described myself as reluctantly pro-choice, a position founded primarily on ignorance. Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s Aborting America clarified the physical, developmental issues surrounding the fetus. Subsequent reading revealed to me the hostility of both Christian Tradition and the Sacred Scriptures to abortion. The Didache demonstrated most clearly the thinking of the Early Church in relating opposition to abortion to the seventh commandment: “You shall not murder a child by abortion/destruction” (Did. 2:2). I was appalled by the utter collapse of main-line Protestant positions in the face of militant feminism. The Catholic Church and the very conservative evangelical and fundamentalist churches seemed to be the only ones holding firm. Hence, given all of the above reasons for becoming Catholic, it should be clear that Roman Catholicism was my only possibility in relation to this issue.
79. Humanae Vitae, its opposition to birth control and the honesty of the Catholic Church in the area of artificial contraceptives. The position on birth control is also a compelling attraction of the Roman Catholic Church. Humanae Vitae and the subsequent statements by John Paul II demonstrate that the Catholic Church is the only major Christian denomination that continues to expect all of its members to be able to exercise personal self-control of the sexual appetite. Janet Smith demonstrates that John Paul II is very concerned that persons gain “the benefits for human happiness that come from the control that man acquires over himself through proper self-discipline which in turn yields mastery of self, virtue, and the formation of character in the realm of sexuality.”[vi] All Christian churches opposed artificial contraception up until 1930, when the Anglican Church allowed it for certain situations. Now the Catholic Church is alone in maintaining this position.
Natural family planning, the Billings method, has demonstrated the honesty as well as the accuracy of the Catholic Church in this area of marital intimacy. The Jan. 9, 1995 issue of U.S. News and World Report demonstrates the dishonesty of the anti-contraception lobby in this country. On the list of “dangerous drugs” which the FDA is monitoring, the first is Norplant, the five year contraceptive. The use of such chemical contraceptives is known to raise the risk of clotting and strokes in women. Yet, Planned Parenthood and their allies seek to suppress such data. Under the leadership of Fr. Paul Marx, doctors related to Human Life International have documented that the birth control pill triggers more than 150 chemical reactions in a woman’s body, most of which have not been adequately researched or reported. (Wyeth announced that it does not plan to resume distribution or marketing of the six-capsule Norplant System (levonorgestrel implants as of 7/26/02)
Learning the disciplines of NFP is an excellent manner of gaining self-discipline and self-control, essential to living out the principle of delayed gratification. Does one wish one’s wife to be perpetually available for sexual activity at the cost of undergoing the above-mentioned 150 chemical reactions? To avoid this danger, one must be able to delay gratification. This is the ability not to need to fulfill feelings and urges but to delay them to a more appropriate time. This control is essential to avoiding the danger of credit card and to most financial success also.
Gaining these virtues then make living out one’s marital obligations much more possible and rewarding.
80. The unitive function of natural family planning (NFP). NFP draws husbands and wives together in communication and self-discipline. It is a manner of regulating sexuality that honors a woman’s natural cycles while building character and virtue. At the same time it encourages the appropriate enjoyment of the intimate delights of married life. Statistics gathered in the United States show that the divorce rate is less than two percent for families using natural family planning. This Christian discipline certainly is one of the answers to the collapse of the family in our society today. The encouragement by the Catholic Church for large families and the disciplines of Natural Family Planning confront head on the materialism and selfishness of modern culture.
81. The restriction of the ordained priesthood to men. This is for me an important element of Biblical theology, as well as the entire Judeo-Christian tradition. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger states the situation well:
One forgets that in the ancient world all the religions also had priestesses. All except one: the Jewish. Christianity, here too, following the ‘scandalous’ original example of Jesus, opens a new situation to women; it accords them a position that represents a novelty with respect to Judaism. But of the latter he preserves the exclusively male priesthood. Evidently, Christian intuition understood that the question was not secondary, that to defend Scripture (which in neither the Old nor the New Testament knows women priests) signified once more to defend the human person, especially those of the female sex.[vii]
82. An emphasis on the primacy of spiritual and moral values. This clear position highlights yet another strength of the Catholic tradition in our day, that is, the warning by the Holy Father to priests and bishops not to see their role primarily as social activists. The underlying realities in individual lives and in society are spiritual. I believe that my list of reasons for becoming Catholic demonstrates the great truth that when one seeks to be pleasing to God, all aspects of life come together in a joyful harmony. As a Catholic, participating as prophet, priest, and king in the ministry of Word and Sacrament of the Church, one helps to provide, as Gilder points out, the necessary spiritual underpinnings for all of society. This all comes together most powerfully in the Sacred Liturgy of the (Mass) Eucharist.
[i] John Paul II has developed this thought further in his Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem: On the Dignity and Vocation of Women on the Occasion of the Marian Year.
[ii] George Gilder, Men and Marriage, p. 98.
[iii] See my Catholic Apologetics sheet on “Vain Repetitions and the Rosary.” This is a subject that Keating does not deal with well in Catholicism and Fundamentalism. He does provide a good in depth treatment in a later book, What Catholics Really Believe – Setting the Record Straight, pp.77-81. Even Protestant scholars agree that “vain repetitions” is not a good translation. The phrase means “to babble, to heap up empty phrases, do not be saying idle things.” Jesus himself repeated prayers (Mt 26:44) and urged persistence in prayer (Lk 11:5-13). Since the Rosary is explicitly biblical (see Lk 1:28, 42), with 13 of the 15 mysteries being key events in the life of Jesus, it is very unlikely that a person praying it would be babbling or heaping up empty phrases. The Rosary is a contemplative prayer, designed to encourage meditation on fundamental elements of the life of Jesus and his Mother.
[iv] See Matthew 5:31, 19:3-12, Mark 10:2-12, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 7: 10-16, and Malachi 2:13-16.
[v] Carl W. Wilson, Our Dance Has Turned to Death But We Can Renew the Family (Tyndale House Publishers, 1981) pp. 85-86.
[vi] Janet Smith, Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later (The Catholic University of America Press, Washington D.C.) 1991, pp230-265. Include reference here to the paper I translated from Wojtyla’s theologians.
[vii] J. Razinger, The Ratzinger Report (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1985), p.94.
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The Eucharist As the Center of Our Faith and Source and Summary of Our Values :: St. Marys Catholic Campus Ministry (Nacogdoches, TX)
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The Eucharist As the Center of Our Faith and Source and Summary of Our Values
(83) 1. The Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian Life.
(84) 2. The structure of the Mass as the guide for successful Christian living.
(85) 3. The Eucharist as teacher of God’s manner of loving.
(86) 4. Sacrifice as an essential element in Christian love.
(87) 5. The Eucharist integrates Law and Gospel.
(88) 6. The Eucharist calls for a resolution of sins.
(89) 7. The Eucharist as participation in biblical submission.
(90) 8. Preparation and informed participation in the Eucharist as source of a most
attractive, biblical lifestyle.
(91) 9. This informed participation in the Eucharist as a means to true popularity.
(92) 10. A Eucharistic life of sacrificial love as foundation of a happy and stable family life.
(93) 11. A Eucharistic life as the foundation for a successful personal life.
(94) 12. Eucharistic values essential to a just, equitable society.
(95) 13. Jesus Christ as the answer to every personal and social problem.
to be continued.....
(84) 2. The structure of the Mass as the guide for successful Christian living.
(85) 3. The Eucharist as teacher of God’s manner of loving.
(86) 4. Sacrifice as an essential element in Christian love.
(87) 5. The Eucharist integrates Law and Gospel.
(88) 6. The Eucharist calls for a resolution of sins.
(89) 7. The Eucharist as participation in biblical submission.
(90) 8. Preparation and informed participation in the Eucharist as source of a most
attractive, biblical lifestyle.
(91) 9. This informed participation in the Eucharist as a means to true popularity.
(92) 10. A Eucharistic life of sacrificial love as foundation of a happy and stable family life.
(93) 11. A Eucharistic life as the foundation for a successful personal life.
(94) 12. Eucharistic values essential to a just, equitable society.
(95) 13. Jesus Christ as the answer to every personal and social problem.
to be continued.....
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