Protestant At Heart?

I recently was involved in a discussion with another author on this website in which he proposed that two mutually exclusive religions (Catholicism and Judaism) are both true. He cited a statement by Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany that the religion of the Jews today is salvific for them. This, of course, is not only a logical absurdity but flies in the face of the teaching of Scripture and 2,000 years of Church history represented in the findings of Church Councils and pronounced in the great Creeds. He declared because I opposed the writings of this Cardinal that I was “still Protestant at heart”. Let’s take a look at that statement.

First, of course, such a statement assumes a capability reserved strictly to God. Only God can look on the heart and know where that heart truly stands. But more than that, it presents a definition of what it means to be “Catholic” that I think is very troublesome…and completely wrong. If the definition he proposes in his words is true, what kind of a Catholic am I?

I’m Not That Kind of Catholic

If being the kind of Catholic he proposes means leaving my Bible and my brain at the door, then I am NOT that kind of Catholic. Romans chapters 9-11 speak against the philosophy espoused in his article and against the Cardinal he cites. Paul tells us in Chapter 9 that not all Israelis are children of Abraham but only those who have come to Christ. He begins Chapter 10 with these words, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” Not that they ARE saved in keeping their religion, but that they might BE saved by coming to Christ.

We must not confuse Old Covenant Judaism of before the Cross with Rabbinical Judaism that arose after the birth of the Church. God did indeed make Covenants, as I just covered in the series on The Shadow and Substance of God’s Plan. He made a Covenant with Abraham personally, with Israel nationally and with David personally. All of these were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ…as the author of Hebrews clearly states. But God did not establish Rabbinical Judaism which denies the Messiah has come and therefore denies the salvific work on the Cross. That was established by the Scribes and Pharisees and their successors right up to this present day.

This is where logic and our brain comes in to play. Two mutually exclusive ideas such as Messiah has come and Messiah has not come cannot both be true. That is a logical absurdity. One must be true and the other false or vice versa.

Fortunately, the Church doesn’t demand that either your Bible or your brain be checked at the door. The Church today wants her people to be Bereans…to know what they believe and why they believe it. As I’ve shown in other articles, what the Church teaches and believes is rooted squarely in Scripture. She has no fear of the Book she wrote and published.

P.S. After this article was originally submitted later that evening the Catholic News Agency posted the following headline:

“Pope Francis to youth: the Bible can change your life. Now read it!”

Thank you for your support, Holy Father!

I’m Not That Kind of Catholic Either

If to accept the opinion of one Cardinal I have to deny the history of the Church then I’m not that kind of Catholic either. The opinion that Rabbinical Judaism is salvific for them runs counter to much that was written in Sacred Tradition in Creeds and findings of Councils all the way back to the Jerusalem Council. Writings by the Magisterium of the Church also deny that statement.

A prime example of that is a document produced in 2000 by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone called “Dominus Iesus”. Cardinal Ratzinger, of course, went on to become Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Bertone became the Vatican Secretary of State. It was adopted in Plenary Session and its publication ordered on June 16, 2000. It bears the signature of Pope Saint John Paul II.

I’m Definitely Not That Kind of Catholic Either

If being Catholic means conferring on any Cardinal that which reserved for the Pontiff alone then I’m definitely not that kind of Catholic either. Infallibility rests solely with the Pope, and then only when speaking “Ex Cathedra”…from the Chair of Peter. Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and even Popes have gotten things wrong. The history of the Church up until this point proves that. But the Word of God, the Sacred Tradition and the eventual work of the Papal Magisterium is always there to remedy that.

Cardinal Kasper is wrong and it’s not “un-Catholic to say so. Does that make me “Protestant at heart”? Not in the least! I am Catholic through and through, but I am an educated and informed Catholic armed with a Bible and Church history. To quote Charles Dickens, ”That’s the kind of bucks they’re looking for these day!” In fact, the Church will be stronger because of them.