I have a graduate degree
from the Augustine Institute in Denver, Colorado. On the home page of that fine
university, these words are found:
The
Augustine Institute serves the formation of Catholics for the New
Evangelization. Through our academic and parish programs, we equip Catholics
intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the Church and transform
the world for Christ.
There is at least one
thing wrong with this picture.
I am not Catholic.
I have never been
Catholic.
I have been both a
card-carrying Methodist and Baptist but never Catholic. I didn’t necessarily
hide my Protestantism in my very-Catholic classes – they didn’t ask, I didn’t
tell – but after a few online conversations with Catholics, I tended not to
advertise. I was asked by one, “Do you feel like the fox in the hen house?” I
replied that I felt more like a hen in the fox den. Those who discovered that I
was not Catholic were nice, polite and tolerant, but it was obvious to me that
conversation became somewhat guarded upon learning that I was not a fellow Catholic.
One of my professors graded a paper with these comments: “It is a source of edification for me to read a paper like this and to
think that the Church has another son who has made such effort to think with
her!” He obviously didn’t sense any Protestantism. That might have caused
just a bit of something like Catholic guilt in me.
History has taught us
that Catholic and Protestant churches are as far apart as the east is from the
west. Though there have been attempts to bring the two faiths together, those
efforts have gone unrewarded for the most part. A Baptist friend of mine referred
to the Catholic Church as a cult, and a Methodist relative said, (I am not
making this up) “I’d rather die and go to hell than be Catholic.” Another
church friend said that my interest in Catholicism was possibly due to “a faith
crisis”. Although I cannot begin to rectify the differences that have existed
for over five hundred years, my personal belief is that a lack of education
causes many of those differences. The Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen stated,
“There are not more than 100 people in the
world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what
they perceive to be the Catholic Church. As a matter of fact, if we
Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the
Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.”
My limited Catholic
education has given me a profound respect for the Catholic Church. Though I
know a lot more now about both sides of this religious fence between us, I
don’t see any benefit in debating the issues distancing us, but I do have a
strong desire to take the fence down. My goal has become to educate my
Protestant brothers and sisters in order to begin taking the divide apart
little by little. I have attempted to teach Catholic discipline, doctrine and
dogma in both Baptist and Methodist religious adult education classes. I have
tried, mostly in vain, to explain the differences between Catholics and
Protestants. My thought process has been that if we know where they
are coming from, we can move closer together. I have had very little success. The
Greek philosopher, Epictetus, must have experienced something similar when he
said, “For it is impossible for
anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.” A few have
seemingly appreciated the Catholic education, but I have come to believe that
most people don’t want their beliefs challenged.
They don’t want to know
what they don’t know.
There are many areas of
contention between Catholics and Protestants. We don’t seem to be able to agree
on the meaning of baptism, the security of the believer, salvation by faith or
works or both, the priesthood of the believer, the infallibility of the Pope,
the succession of apostles, and oh, the Mary thing. More, of course, could be
named, and yet, we agree – or at least we pretend to agree – that Jesus was
the Christ and He is our personal savior. It was His intention that we love one
another and that we be ONE. They will only know we are Christians by our
LOVE.
This is the Truth: There is one body and one Spirit, just as
you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one
baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in
all (Ephesians 4:4-6).
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