The heartbreak of Protestant Friends and Relatives

It is always helpful to remember and reflect that whenever Our Lord speaks of the Kingdom of God/Heaven on earth, He is speaking of the Catholic, or if you prefer -- The Universal Christian Church. So, in today's Gospel -- The Gospel accordding to St. Mark 4:26-34, we see a foreshadowing of the Church as when Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. During this Gospel Jesus strengthens our first bishops by foretelling the growth of the Church. This growth is described on two levels -- It's physical growth -- over the centuries since Jesus founded the Church, which was His mission, it has grown from a small group of believers huddled literally and figuratively underground to the worldwide Institutional we see today, indeed, protestations about its irrelevance not withstanding it is difficult to think of a more influential institution world wide -- and its spiritual growth or the growth which takes place within the individual member of the body of Christ on earth -- we enter through the narrow gate of Catholic School, Religious Education classes, and through conversion RCIA, the Church looks mysterious and barely scrutable. As we grow, walking with the Lord through the Liturgical year, receiving the sacraments initially and then continuously overtime the grace from these sacraments, indeed as our interior life grows, the Church grows and we come to see it as it was provided for us by Our Lord as Holy Mother Church and the means of our salvation.
It is at this point that we are able to see not just the Church but in contrast the World, which we are in but not of, as it really is. It is also at this point, that we turn with breaking hearts to see our separated brothers and sisters -- the Protestants -- as they really are. Though over the years as John Paul II has explained to us in His encyclical on Ecumenism, our separated brothers and sisters cannot be held responsible for the original heresies of Protestantism, sola fide and sola scriptura, being the two most salient of Protestant heresies, our heart still breaks. We watch them their noses pressed against the glass of misunderstanding and misinterpretation as we partake of the fullness of the banquet Our Lord had brought to all, and then through the other side of the same glass we watch as the chew on stale old tuna sandwiches as if these were all that Our Lord had provided.
And then we begin to act on their behalf praying, celebrating and dedicating Masses for them, when I think of the numbers of closeted nuns and brothers who dedicate their lives praying endlessly for their conversion, it is no wonder that we see the examples of Scott Hanh and his wife and the countless other separated brethren who come home to the Truth.
For we then begin to experience as Jesus described the external growth and the internal growth, as we step from the other side of the glass through the narrow gate and into the fullness of the faith that Jesus brought and bought for us, we begin to appreciate why we are here, is this not due to the same prayers of these same cloistered nuns and brothers, again a part of the church we do not see until we enter through the narrow gate When we see Jesus Physically present int he Eucharist, when we walk into a Church, anywhere in the world, and see a lighted candle near the tabernacle, and know that Jesus is physically present, and thus we genuflect before Him -- these are some of the things that Our lord was talking about when he compared the Church to a mustard seed and the ripening process of grain.
But even here it does not stop. This eternal growth of the understanding of the mysteries of the Church that Jesus founded never ends, until we pass from the kingdom of God/Heaven on earth to the Kingdom of God in Heaven, at which point all the mysteries, all the whys of understanding will be reviled to us, even the mystery of Protestantism, why our separated brothers and sisters would fall for such an obvious ploy of the devil -- to get people to believe they are actually "saved" or going to heaven, when they are not. This is the most heartbreaking aspect of being in the Church and seeing Protestant friends and relatives. why would they fall for such an obvious ploy, and remain convinced that the stale old tuna sandwich is what Our Lord wanted for them, and that their salvation is "assured" through the words of Luther or Henry VIII or any of the countless others who broke off from a branch that broke off from a branch, for once Luther started the precedent of Protestation and separation it could only continue, all connected by baptism to the original vine of truth started by our Lord, and at the same time all so far removed from our Lord's original vine that they can no longer see the entire truth and the fullness of the faith they are missing.

copyright 2011 Fred Celio

What do we say to Protestants about the Bible?

So many of us these days are friends with protestants, even some of us feel close to the so called evangelical or fundamentalist Christian movement – the fundies. It is true the fundies are with us on the evil of abortion, and it is also true that we are related to them through the sacrament of baptism. They were baptised into the kingdom of God/Heaven on earth -- the Catholic Church aka the Christian Church universal.

I have thought about the evangelical or fundamentalist movement a great deal, and I do have some things to say about it. I also have had first hand experience, having been part of the Calvary Chapel sect of the fundamentalist movement. I'll tell you right now you know what it means to be persecuted if you sit around listening to them bash Catholics before and after their prayer breakfasts, Wednesday night prayer meetings, and Sunday "services." Make no mistake about it, John Paull II's encyclical on ecumenism not withstanding, we must remember that THEY are out to convert or "save" us. And they love luring folks away from the church that Jesus founded. So, we need to take the lead in our encounters, friendships etc. We can be kind but firm in our knowledge of the Truth. I have been accused of being a little too firm, but to me they are in a house that is on fire, and it would no be loving to try and coax them out. In fact I yell "fire" get out.

Today I would just like to share with you an allegory or “parable” if you will, that I hope illustrates one of the heresies of Protestantism and fundamentalism in particular. That is their doctrine of sola scriptura , i.e., The bible first last and always. They say if it is not in the bible according to their strict arbitrary literal understanding, then it is not Christian and is thus valueless. They are of course hard pressed, when ask for the chapter and verse of things they value like say the “the sinners prayer”.

It is important to remember that inherent in our ecumenism is evangelization, and that we Catholics are the leaders, by virtue of our knowledge of the truth. They are joined to us by baptism but in evangelizing it is important that we make known to them, and it is incumbent upon us to make them aware, of just what that means, and what it does not mean. Ecumenism does not excuse the heresy. It excuses many from blame for the original heresy of their particular sect or root.

Nor does ecumenism excuse us from our duty to tell the truth. And the truth is that after baptism, if one does not receive absolution in the manner prescribed by Jesus, and documented by us in the Gospels (which by the way are Catholic documents) then one is no longer a member of the kingdom of God/Heaven on earth. That is we lose our salvation.

It is our obligation to evangelize them from a kind yet firm position, grounded in our knowledge of the truth.

And I'm tired of hearing that Catholics don't know the bible -- it's our book -- we are they only ones who do know it. Every week or every day at mass if one is fortunate enough to be so situated as to attend daily mass, we have the scripture read to us and explained to us by one trained with expert first hand knowledge of it's meaning and dedicated to us for that purpose. There are no fundie pastors that I have met or heard that know the bible better than a Catholic priest.

So here's my little allegory. I call it sola scriptura?

Sola Scriptura ?

Go get a copy of the marine corp. manual, take it home study it. Don't forget to rip out the five chapters that contradict what you are doing. Get other people together to study it, implement it in your life, get the people who you study it with to implement it in there lives. Oh, don’t forget to get your official marine corps manual concordance, so you can look up words and phrases like “simper fi”, “Iwo Jima”, “Helmet”, “Grenade”, and “Honor”, etc. Now does this make you guys marines? I think not.You are missing pretty much everything that it means to be a marine. You haven't had the training that they have done for years you don't have the history -- the understanding of what it means to BE a marine as passed on from the founder of the marine corp to his first lieutenants and on down through the ranks through the years – the direct link to the founder of the marine corp. and writers of the manual, nor do you have the word of mouth testimony (those unwritten instructions that the founder himself – who by the way did not write the manual -- passed on to his first lieutenants, things the marines have been doing for years), nor do you have the true meaning of what the manual says. Because, of course, outside of the marine corp., the manual is MEANINGLESS.People who belong to bible studying fellowships who believe in the doctrine of solely scripture, scripture first, scripture only -- sola scriptura are no more Christians than are the people who got together to study the marine manual are marines. Now that you and your friends have studied the marine corp manual. Go out in front of a marine corp. recruiting station and as people walk in hand them a tract from the manual and get them to come join you. Go to a marine corp. camp and do the same thing see if they will join you marine corp. manual studying fellowship. But don't call yourselves that. Call yourselves, "marines". Go to the veterans day parade and hand out tracts from the manual there, and tell them to come to your marine barracks. Let people know that you have the way that all they have to do is study the manual with you and they too can be marines.Oh yes and erect marine corp. manual studying colleges and graduate what?Experts in misunderstanding the marine corp. manual.And OHHHH yes don't forget to call yourselves not just marines but "heroes(saints)", because after all everyone who is part of your marine corp., manual studying fellowship is a "hero(saint)", after all the manual says that doesn't it? Forget about honoring real marine “Heroes(Saints)” like Colonel Louis C. Plain and Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone; or Gunnery Sergeant Donald A. Levesque (RET); or Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham ... etc.; for after all the manual tells us not to do that, right?Then, go up to a real marine (if you dare) tell them what you are doing, and ask them what is wrong with it?

Copyright Fred Celio 2009