Fr Dwight Longenecker on Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

By Fr Dwight Longenecker
7/18/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

If you are a Catholic and you are talking with non-Catholic friends or family members about the faith, you have to be patient

It might be an email or a phone call, but they come in regularly now--enquiries from Evangelicals who are interested in the Catholic Church. They call me because they have heard that I was brought up as an Evangelical and graduated from the fundamentalist Bob Jones University--but now I'm a Catholic priest.

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GREENVILLE,SC (Catholic Online) - It might be an email or a phone call, but they come in regularly now--enquiries from Evangelicals who are interested in the Catholic Church. They call me because they have heard that I was brought up as an Evangelical and graduated from the fundamentalist Bob Jones University--but now I'm a Catholic priest.

Invariably they are attracted to the Catholic Church, but having difficulties with some doctrine or devotion. They hold back from coming closer to the Catholic Church because they have real and genuine difficulties and doubts.

This is good. They're being honest and taking the whole thing seriously. However, one of the problems is that the Protestant (even when he doesn't know it) has an underlying critical attitude-especially when it comes to Catholicism. That is to say, deep down he has a belief that Catholicism can't possibly be true. Even when he has started to be fair to Catholicism and is even attracted to it he still holds back because that deep seated prejudice is still very strong.

It's understandable. That's why, if you are a Catholic and you are talking with non-Catholic friends or family members about the faith, you have to be patient. This deep prejudice is written into the genetic code of Protestants because it is written into the genetic code of Protestantism. Protestantism is a breakaway from the Catholic Church. It is, after all, called Protestantism because at heart it is a protest movement. It is by its very nature a reaction against Catholicism. It's whole theology and worship and liturgy and ecclesiology and therefore its whole understanding of God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the world and everything is a reaction against the Catholic world view.

Therefore real, solid and in depth conversion takes a lifetime. Converts of many years still find themselves struggling with a basic aversion and distrust to things Catholic. It happens to me. I love the Catholic faith, but when I'm presented with some new devotion or Catholic custom I am, more often than not, likely to reject it rather than accept it.

When this happens I have to remind myself of the little dictum that changed my life: It is a quote by F.D.Maurice: "A man is most often right in what he affirms and wrong in what he denies." This is wisdom: it means that when we are denying we are usually cutting ourselves off from something which is good and useful and beautiful and true. It must be all these things or good people wouldn't hold to it.

This quote, joined with one by the poet Thomas Traherne, will change your life. Traherne wrote, "Can a man be just unless he loves all things according to their worth?" See, love all things. ALL THINGS!. What? Yes, but 'according to their worth'. By all means, therefore, love a Big Mac, but according to it's worth, for next to a five course French meal the Big Mac's worth is perhaps much less.

In college I joined the opera chorus against my first inclination. But when I thought about it I came to the conclusion that lots of decent people, people more educated and wiser and older than I seemed to like opera, so maybe my dislike of fat ladies bellowing in Italian was something I ought to get over. So with an open mind I joined the opera chorus and learned to like Puccini and Verdi, who are worth was much more than the music I had loved up to that time.

Same with religion. When confronted with something new we all need to have an open mind and open heart and realize that God has far more goodness and truth and beauty in store for us than we can ever imagine, and we should stop being so picky. Instead we ought to welcome new things with curiosity, an open mind and an open heart.

This has happened to me many times in my pilgrimage in the Catholic Church. I was in Oklahoma once and had a day off. I wanted to visit a nearby Benedictine monastery, but it turned out to be not so nearby and you needed a jeep to get there it was so out in the sticks. So it was suggested that we visit the shrine of the Infant of Prague instead. Now, I didn't really 'get' the Infant of Prague. To me it was just a doll baby dressed up in outlandish clothes with a crown on his head. I wasn't disrespectful or anything--I just didn't get it.

But wanting to affirm and not deny, I jumped in the car and off we went. I met the priest warden of the shrine and he told me about the history of the Infant of Prague--how it had links with St Teresa of Avila and therefore with St Therese (who was one of my favorites). Ahh! St Therese of the Child Jesus. I get it! So I knelt before the image and still not quite having made the long journey from the head to the heart I prayed, "Lord, help me to understand this Infant of Prague thing."

In the stillness I saw that this was a pro life image. It was a reminder that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords had become a little child, and that in this cruel and cynical age we needed to remember that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the kingdom. So now I love the Infant of Prague and when something new and Catholic comes my way I'm going to try to affirm and not deny!
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Fr Longenecker is parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Greenville South Carolina. Visit his blog and website and browse his books at http://www.dwightlongenecker.com

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: evangelical, catholic, protestant, ecumenism, dialogue, witness, full communion, conversion, catholic converts, Fr Dwight Longenecker

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1 - 9 of 9 Comments

Rev. Joseph Longenecker
9 months ago
Brother Megev Bullen, you say, "...all the way to misguided, though sincere Christians such as...the quinessentially famous Brother (?) Martin Luther (and his "by faith" Scripture selection theological theory) against the Lord and His Church..." Please don't knock Martin Luther. He was doing all the Roman Catholic practices and he held all the Roman Catholic doctrines with great sincerity and personal sacrifice, having studied in the Roman Catholic Theological Institutions of Learning, and still did not find the peace with God which every human heart craves and needs.

Then one day Luther, while reading in the Greek New Testament, came across Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." There it was, plain and simple in the Holy Word of God! Luther realized that he was looking for peace with God in the wrong place, in his own good works as a good Roman Catholic, and that peace with God is only found through faith in Jesus Christ, and His work on the Cross in dying to pay the awful debt for our sins. And the rest of Romans chapter 5 explains in detail the truth of being justified before God by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that eternal life and salvation is a free gift that we receive from God, and which we can't possibly pay for by our good works.

The "Therefore" in Romans 5:1 refers back to Romans chapter 4, recounting that Abraham also was counted righteous before God, not by his works, but by his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4:1-5). Abraham's faith was in Jesus Christ, for according to John 8:56, Abraham by faith saw Jesus Christ, and he rejoiced! Hallelujah!! Also in Romans chapter 4, David was counted as righteous before God, being justified by God, not by his own works but through the grace of God, Romans 4:6-8

Of course, God's goal in us who have trusted in the grace of God rather than our own good works for our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), is that we produce good works. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His (God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them."

Martin Luther found that doing good works to try to earn salvation with God did not bring him peace with God, but he did find that faith in the atoning work of Christ on the Cross, did bring him peace with God! Hallelujah!! And he also found that when he had peace with God, he then was free of the awful guilt which sin brought, and by the power of the indwelling Christ he could do good works, springing out of love for his God and Saviour!

Titus 3:5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Praise God, His salvation is complete, He cleanses us by the blood of Jesus, He imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ our account, and He gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us to do His will and fulfill His purposes, which, of course would be classed as good works!

Brother Megev Bullen, you write, "Martin Luther (and his "by faith" Scripture selection theological theory)..." You imply that Martin Luther kind of "cherry picked" scriptures at random and built his doctrines on those isolated verses. That is not the case. The "Justification by Faith" in Romans 5:1 goes the whole way back to the foundation of the Bible in Genesis 15:6, which reads, "And he (Abram) believed in the LORD, and He (the LORD) counted it to him (Abram) for righteousness." The Hebrew word translated "count" is "chashab" and is an accounting term, (which we also have in Arabic as "hesab" since Hebrew and Arabic are sister languages), and could well be translated as "Abraham put his faith in the LORD, and because of Abraham's faith, the LORD applied righteousness to Abraham's account."

God bless you all!
Christina
10 months ago
This was amazing. As a Catholic revert from a "protesting" family, your words really resonated with me.

I especially liked this: "It's [Protestantism's] whole theology and worship and liturgy and ecclesiology and therefore its whole understanding of God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the world and everything is a reaction against the Catholic world view."

Such perspective! We're on the offense, aren't we?
Marvin Jose
10 months ago
I like this article for it shows how should we be open for everything. I as a Catholic strongly believes in the teachings of my religion, The Catholic doctrines. I am a believer of Mary and the Holy Rosary is my strongest prayer came from God.
abey
10 months ago
Said an Evangelist "They (the Catholics) make too much of Mary, whereas we make too little of Mary". The Truth is that the true Mary is the one who considers herself the least whereas the one(s) who consider as the most, passing off as what is called the "hail mary pass" be the false one.
Judith Dalmas
10 months ago
This was very well put. I am a convert with a large family and they all do not understand how I could have become Catholic. Actually I think I started becoming Catholic when I was Lutheran as a child and had questions, then as a young adult when I became an Episcopalian in my marriage. Seven years ago .I met a wonderful Mother Superior at Holy Annunciation Monastery in Pa.( We met because we had German Shepherd puppies from the same breeder) God does work in mysterious ways. Somehow it all came together for me and also in the process also to my husband. My children and my grandchildren can not and will not understand. I will try to share this article but they tend to close down at any mention of Catholicism. Thanks
Shelagh Dillon
10 months ago
Thank you so much for this article. It has helped to strengthen my faith a little more and given me a little more courage when talking to my evangelical protestant family and friends. I love the story about the Infant of Prague. I'd never given it a thought before but it makes perfect sense. From now on I'll do a lot more affirming and a lot less denying.
Theresa H
10 months ago
St. Paul tells us to "test" things and "hold fast to what is good..." (2Cor 13:5 and 1Thess 5:21). Sometimes we do come across "mistaken" beliefs of Catholics that need to be explained/corrected: e.g., "There is no purgatory [only heaven and hell] since Jesus died for us and went down and emptied purgatory [before his resurrection]." I don't know where that came from, but I heard an RCIA Catechist say that and I suspect she is not alone in her "view." Pope Benedict laments a certain loss of the "sense of the sacred" in our Churches since Vatican II--They are seen by many today more as our "assembly" place than God's "house of prayer"--especially after Mass. (In some Churches, the Tabernacle has been removed..., so I guess individual "prayer" is no longer in order there?)
Megev Bullen
10 months ago
Beuatiful, Father Longenecker, beautiful! That is how I tried to reconcile and survive in my personal relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Church having, long ago, gone for 5 years in an Evangelical (Assembly of God-sponsored) Christian private school in my hometown city of Bakersfield, California, though by ethnicity and natural culture, a Roman Catholic Filipino (first-generation American: you all could understand what I mean)!
It is true that just like Lucifer against God (political economics-yes-in Heaven), some post-Exodus leaders against Moses and on and on till the "superapostles" against, respectfully, St. Peter and St. Paul in their own seperate and distinct Christian ministiries (in the New Testament apart from the majority of disciples who got away after the famous Book of John Chapter 6 on Jesus' discourse of the Eucharist as His Eternal Presence on Earth) all the way to misguided, though sincere Christians such as John Calvin, King Henry VIII, and the quinessentially famous Brother (?) Martin Luther (and his "by faith" Scripture selection theological theory) against the Lord and His Church till the Renaisssance, the Enlightenment era, and ultimately, paradoxically, the American Revolutionary War, French Revolution, and the recent (and somewhat on-going) Arab Spring of 2011 has more than confirmed God's unceasing hand of love through His Son, in the Eucharist and Sacred Scriptures, Jesus, with imparting the Holy Spirit through His Church via the Pope, overall, spiritual AND human revolution is a natural part of Divine history. Of course, one must accept the premise and reality (reason AND faith) that God does exists, but that is why there is music for the heart (thus soul indwelling) does have a "mind" of its own (more so being anthropologically and sociologically and psychologically a Filipino after the Spanish-Japanese-American-multicultural colonization-globalization experience like all other races and ethnicities and all in-between). Protestants, in my humble and profound line of thinking and reflecting and praying, offer-in these modern times-excellent psychology, but TRUE power, true Spirit of God is what we Catholics offer in our Seven Sacraments (just like our Lord has shown us clearly in His Gospel preaching and its resounding effects afterwards since who in their right mind would die a horrible death, as historically documented by the Church, for a Faith in the unseen supernatural rather than live in the material world, right? It does NOT make sense in the early Church history nor does it now in modern day persecution areas like in Syria, the Christian parts of Israel and Iraq, and precisely due to Roman Catholic websites like these, India and Iran as well). So, therefore, Catholics offer the true Power of God (it takes alot of faith, reason, and human awareness to believe in the words I am both typing and saying from the bottom of my heart; no, I am not a PhD in Sacred Theology nor a gifted seminarian, though I humbly praise God for a Most Improved in Bible Studies and a Best in Theology 9 from my first Catholic high school which was in America before I went to a Filipino Jesuit one abroad).
This is an awesome and mind-blowing article that only those who are open-minded and/or true believers (yes, the vicious word by more secular-minded people-Catholic, Christian [Protestant or Orthodox] or not being "die-hard") would applaud and praise Christ in their hearts and souls in what I am typing and saying here. The world is SO secular even my family is somewhat divided on how to "evangelize" being pre-Vatican II Catholics while I am in the spiritual and actual era of post-Vatican II (for those Church history buffs among us like me). I am only 20 years old and am in Cebu, Philippines the new "Vatican" having the Infant Child Jesus originally from Spain as THE epiccenter of Christian faith in the historically first capital of the Philippines when it was a colony. Having said so, let me say that the most in-depth answer to the beauty and power of the athiestic-like Harry Potter books (though inspired by a struggling Anglican Christian named Ms. "J.K." Rowling) is in the image and icon of the blessed and supernatural Infant Child of Jesus (be it in Eastern Europe like Prague, Poland or my parents' country here in Metro Cebu, Philippines). I am speaking much, but need to pour it out for those, young and old, who are struggling, believing, and yes, doubting the Faith (or their best understanding and conviction of it if not a Roman Catholic or Catholic of all the 22 different Churches apart from the enormous Latin Church). God bless us all and may the Lord guide us all home! "The life of man is the vision of God."-St. Ignatius of Antioch AMEN!
For the weary and confused, here are two sites to read online, ponder, AND take action NOW: www.catholicplanet.com by the famous online lay theologian Ronald Conte Jr. and www.medjugorje.com about the miraculous and controversial apparitions and supernatural messages by the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ad Majoreim Dei Gloriam, my brethren in Christ from all parts of the greatest religion on the planet for ALL its goodness (though man has always twisted and distorted the wholesome truth of God as in ancient times and MORE so now!) and true progress of humankind, as well as always, without condition, pursue MAGIS for God, Church, Country, and Family no matter where we are in these dark and turbulent times.
(Being in an actual Great Depression 2.0 for our day; I can vouch for that to the World Bank being an Economics-Political Science double-major, formerly, at my public university in California, America, though once studied at the University of Asia and the Pacific which is a REAL Catholic university on the Church's view of economics and business by faithful Filipino Catholic Harvard PhDs in the distant past-circua 1960s era known then as Communication and Research Center-CRC). Pray, do the good, and BE the good which is Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN!
John Baysson
10 months ago
I think there is perhaps a mistake. You say

"That is to say, deep down he has a belief that Protestantism can't possibly be true."

I think you meant to say, Catholicism there.

Other than that, a great article father. If I may suggest, the great difficulty for most Protestants is that they made the faith simply a matter of faith. There is no place for reason in arriving at faith when it comes to Protestantism. In such a case, people tend to doubt more whether they got it right. But if one spends time understanding why they assent to the faith, then the problems faced by Protestant convert to Catholicism would not be different from that faced by a life time Catholic.

It all comes down to embracing ones faith with reason. If one has no reason, then one will always doubt throughout their lives.

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