Christian Unity? Yes! …But in the meantime…Let's not denigrate the edifying, God-glorifying witness of committed Protestants

For a number of months, following some shared blogging among Christian women of different faiths on the topic of “Denominational Diversity,” given its complex and controversial nature, I have been wondering how I might—and whether I even should--give voice on Catholic365 to what I am about to share in this article.

My answer came the other day, based on feedback to a recent related post, in general, and to accusations concerning the nature of my Catholic beliefs, as expressed by a fellow Catholic regarding a specific comment I made in reply to one of the commenters.

Thus, in fairness to all concerned, now is the time, and this is the portal, it seems, to share the article I have been pondering writing.

In charity and justice to the individual Protestants who continue to edify me and to spur me on to living a more authentic Catholic life, I am writing this article to show respect to them, to stand for what I believe, and to explain to my fellow Catholics my reasoning so that we might all be more effective missionaries in the sense that Pope Francis spoke of in his Epiphany text (referred to later in this article).

In the spirit of what the Holy Father wrote, if we want to be vessels of unity among Christians, it seems to me, that we need to be witnesses of the Light that welcomes, invites, and attracts. It also means to me that we can’t denigrate the light already present in those we seek to welcome, invite, and attract, and then expect them to accept the invitation. (Would you?)

But first, so that my subsequent comments in this article are not misunderstood, I need to assure my fellow Catholics of three things:

First, as a practicing Catholic, I believe that I am blessed to be a member of the one, holy, universal (meaning “catholic”) and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ. I do not believe that Protestant churches are equal or equivalent to the Catholic Church. e.g. I absolutely do believe it matters whether one is Catholic or not. I do not believe that all faiths and religions are equal.

Second, having been Baptized into the Catholic Faith, I recognize my responsibility to share in the Church’s missionary mandate from Jesus Christ to spread His Gospel. “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

Third, in spreading the Gospel, I believe I am called to be a witness to the fullness of Faith in the Catholic Church, attracting others to join, since it is Jesus’ expressed Will that there would be one fold and one Shepherd.

Those things being stated, I am ready to move on to presenting the comment I made that a fellow Catholic found offensive, followed by my Catholic Faith substantiation for why, as the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,” January 18-25, 2016, approaches, I am standing firmly behind my statement.

Truthfully, I have to believe that Jesus is more pleased and glorified by fully committed devout Protestants (like the ones who so edified me) than by lukewarm Catholics.

Thank you for reading this article; I invite your respectful feedback so that together we can become better witnesses attracting our Protestant brothers and sisters to join us, as we offer them the fullness of Christ’s teaching and Sacramental Presence.

Here is the Church teaching, including Scripture-based substantiation, for my position that individual Protestants can and do lead lives that edify Catholics-- lives, in fact, that are more pleasing and glorifying to Jesus than are the lives of lukewarm Catholics.

The Catholic Church accepts as authentic the Baptism of Protestants when the formula that Jesus gave His Apostles to use is followed (cf. Matt. 28:19). To deny the goodness of God demonstrated by baptized committed Protestants acting in accordance with Gospel values is an affront to the Holy Spirit who indwells in them, as He dwells in any Baptized person who is not in mortal sin (cf. 1Corinthians 6:!9).

Jesus condemned attributing to satan--to call evil--that which God is doing and is good (cf. Matt. 22-32). Jesus said that the Spirit blows where He Wills (cf. John 3:8). I will not tell the Holy Spirit that He cannot work in anyone who is not Catholic. Even St. Peter acknowledged that the Spirit had baptized Gentiles without the Apostles’ intervention (cf. Acts 2: 44-47).

In His human nature, Jesus was a Jew, and yet He praised the faith of non-Jews who believed in Him, who showed faith in Him (cf. Matt 8:10, Matt. 15:28). I don’t recall Him demanding that they become Jewish before working miracles for them. As I do recall, He revealed Himself as the Messiah to a non-Jewish woman (cf. John 4:26). Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (cf. Hebrews 13:8), I will not presume to deny Him the Sovereign right to reveal His Goodness and His Truth to those who are honestly seeking Him, even if they are not Catholics.

When one of the Apostles saw someone casting out demons in the Name of Christ, he told Jesus that they tried to prevent him because “he does not follow along with us.” Jesus said, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9: 49-50)

Jesus assured that where two or more are gathered in His Name, He is with them (cf. Matt. 18:20). I will not play God; I will not contradict the Lord. I will not tell Him that He can only be present to Catholics, not to Protestants who gather to worship Him in a way that glorifies Him; in a way that honors His Gospel, in His Name.

When I read of Protestant missionaries being killed spreading the Gospel, I am edified that those persons have fulfilled Christ’s pronouncement that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend (cf. John 15:13).

When in the Holy Name of Jesus, Protestants feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, etc., I will not deny that they have performed what we would call works of mercyin fulfillment of Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor (cf. Matt. 22:37-39; John 15:12). I will leave the judging of the heart to the Sovereign Merciful God.

When I sing a sacred hymn during Mass, thus praying twice by singing (as St. Augustine described), I don’t refuse to sing because the words or melody were written by a Protestant. No. I glorify God that my Protestant brother or sister has given me words to praise Him—words that the Church finds consistent with its teaching for that particular hymn, even if in other circumstances, aspects of the Protestant translation and interpretation of the Bible are not consistent with Catholic teaching.

When someone who is Protestant offers to pray for me, I do not recoil; likewise, I will not hesitate to ask my Protestant friends to keep me in their prayers. Certainly, I do not believe that God hears only the prayers of Catholics.

As recently as this Epiphany, in a text available from Vatican Radio, Pope Francis challenged us Catholics who have the fullness of Christ’s Light to be on mission, which he said is the very nature of the Church. He said that mission is not to proselytize, but to reflect Light, and thereby to attract others to the one true Church.

From having been a member of a diocesan mission-animation team, I know firsthand that it is in seeing good in others and praising God for the good we see in them--which is, in fact, His Goodness, since all Good comes from God (cf. James 1:17)--that we show others the love of God that attracts them to want more of Him, more of His Love. All human beings are made in God’s Image and Likeness. We need to respect that, even as we live lives that attract them to living their lives as Catholics, so that they can live as fully humanly as possible.

Concerning unity, there are different kinds and degrees. “E pluribus unum,” as the USA motto says: from the many, one. Church dogma includes “a link” in the Body of Christ with those “who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter.” Lumen Gentium, Chapter II, Paragraph 15.

Because Jesus prayed His High Priestly Prayer the night before He died, expressing His desire for unity (cf. John 17:22), I want to be an instrument of the One Fold and One Shepherd unity that the Lord desires in His Good Shepherd discourse (cf. John 10:16), but I will not fear to find, to recognize, and to acknowledge His Goodness displayed by those whose beliefs are different from mine.

I know that the Lord is in charge of each one’s life, and that His timing is perfect. Therefore, I will not presume to press for anyone’s conversion; rather, I will just invite, by word and by witness. Only God knows the way He patiently leads someone to the fullness of His Truth, perhaps building on--using first--a Protestant foundation.

Surely, we can think of a number of well-known Catholic voices from the past and from today that came from Protestant roots. They discovered their desired place closer to the Lord after a sincere search for the complete truth in Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus in His Catholic Church. Praise God for them! If any Catholics can speak persuasively about the Church’s witnessing to the fullness of the Light of Christ, it is they!

Without denying that the Catholic Church is the one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ,as we pray in the Creed, in the Catholic Profession of Faith, I stand on what I said in reply to one commenter. Devout, committed Protestants who witness to the essence of Christ’s Gospel glorify God more than lukewarm Catholics. I say this as I remember that Jesus said He would spew forth the lukewarm; He would vomit them from His mouth (cf. Rev. 3:16).

Perhaps that is why God in His Permissive Will has permitted Protestant churches to stay in existence. So that those who have the fullness of His Light and Truth, those who have the surest Way to Him, who feed on His very Body and Blood, who have the assurance of being kept in the Truth by His visible head on Earth, the Pope, and the Apostolic Magisterium of the Church,and so forth, will not take for granted or become lukewarm in their privilege and responsibility to live a fully Catholic life.

Whatever the reason that God permits Protestantism through individuals’ free will to continue to exist, I know that God brings good out of evil (cf. Gen. 50:20; Romans 8:28). And, so, inasmuch as Protestantism is a manifestation of disunity, in opposition to the unity that Christ desires, in that context, if its existence is an evil to God, I trust that as long as it exists, God will use it for His purpose, to bring about greater good.

In the meantime, until all Christians are truly, fully One Body, for my part, I will continue to do what I have done. I will respect others who are living their faith in a way that honors God, and I will acknowledge that Goodness. Having acknowledged that Goodness, I will invite them to participate in the fullness of that Goodness as members of the Catholic Church.

I will invite them to Mass, explaining that receiving Holy Communion is something that is reserved for properly disposed Catholics, which I hope they someday will be. I will give them copies of the Catechism and other spiritual books to read (e.g. apologetics, particularly those written by converts). I will earnestly pray for them—that God give them the gift of the Catholic Faith if that be His Holy Will at this time in their lives, and I will pray, too, that if God has already led them to accept the gift of the Catholic Faith, that they will be open to receive it.

Most of all, I will repent of any negative witness in word or action that I have given that turns them away from the Catholic Faith, rather than drawing them into it. I will ask God to use me as a vessel of His Mercy and Unity, and not allow me wittingly or unwittingly to be a stumbling block to the unity He desires.

And when I am confronted by Protestants who--unlike the ones who edify me-- blatantly (aggressively, brutally and uncharitably) challenge our Faith, who condemn, ridicule, blaspheme, I will respectfully, emphatically stand up for the Creed. I will offer information from the Catechism or other Church documents as part of the information that I share with them. I will not engage in dialog that disintegrates into disrespectful attacks.

All told, I will not behave or speak in a way that suggests that the Catholic Church is one of an equivalent number of Faith options. Neither will I denigrate the lived faith of Protestants who are respectful of my Catholic Faith, even as they do not accept all the tenets of that Faith. I will continue to be grateful for my Protestant friends who lead Gospel-value edifying lives that call me to be more Catholic.

Since more is expected from those to whom more has been given (cf. Luke 12:48), and if I believe—and I do—that as a Catholic, I have been given more, then I need to act and speak like it! When I see Protestants who do not have the fullness of Truth whole-heartedly living the Gospel, their witness makes me want to be more Catholic, to fulfill my obligations more faithfully.

I stand by what I said.

Truthfully, I have to believe that Jesus is more pleased and glorified by fully committed devout Protestants (like the ones who so edified me) than by lukewarm Catholics.

I know and I have the right to make that statement because I was worse than a lukewarm Catholic, and it was the faith witness of Protestants that made me want to come closer to the Lord. It is their edifying witness that spurred me back to being a fully committed Catholic, as I explained in that prior post I referred to in the introduction to this article.

In my prior state, I cannot imagine that the Lord was either pleased with or glorified by my Catholic “lukewarmness.” Conversely, I can imagine that He was both pleased and glorified by the way my Protestant friends were living their faith, in fulfillment of Gospel values, according to their sincerity of heart.

If you have known Protestants who have edified you, who have brought you closer to Jesus, tell them. Thank them. And let them know that out of love and gratitude, you want nothing less for them than you want for yourself—all possible Earthly fullness with Jesus.

Gently tell them that as much as you respect their faith, and as much as you owe them for helping you be a better Catholic, still, in justice and charity, you have to say, “Please, would you consider joining me in following Jesus in fuller ways; would you consider becoming Catholic?”…And then tell them what your Catholic Faith means to you, and why you think it would be such a gift to them.

God bless you! Shall we commit ourselves during this Jubilee Year of Mercy to letting the Lord’s Guiding Light shine brightly through us, attracting and leading our Protestant brothers and sisters to be more fully one with the Lord.

And as we live our Catholic Faith, grateful for the blessings we have been given as members of the one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, let us not be stumbling blocks to others who might consider joining the Church. Let us be wary, when without the spirit of mercy, love, and charity that is essential to the message of Jesus, we turn our Protestant brothers and sisters away from the Light of the Catholic Church by denying the Gospel-value life that they already are leading. Let us not add to the wounded Heart of Jesus by haughtily denigrating the good work He is doing in the lives of committed Protestants, even as He desires that there be one fold and one Shepherd.

Rather, with the help of God’s Grace, using a proper code of tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect in friendliness of Christian human and divine charity, let us confirm our Protestant brothers and sisters in the edifying Christian lives they already are living. And let us sincerely and enthusiastically invite them to live fuller Christian lives along with us in the Catholic Church we love, the Mother Church that Jesus Himself founded as a means of leading us safely home to Him.

If you have experiences, either as a convert who was attracted to the Faith, or as the Catholic Faithful who attracted converts, would you please share with us what you have learned that will help us live our missionary mandate more charitably, as Christ would have us do? Thank you! And God bless you!