Is it better to be a lukewarm Catholic or an on-fire Protestant? Is it better to casually saunter up and take the Eucharist while mentally pre-occupied with the point-spread of the afternoon football game, or to once every three months take Protestant communion by sipping diluted grape juice from a tiny plastic cup while in tears over Christ's blood shed for your sins?
That was the question Jack and I mused as we chewed our Egg McMuffins after an early morning Mass. We each attend different parishes, but neither has an early morning mass, so we find ourselves at a third parish — Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC) in Plymouth, Michigan. Jack is the father of three teens who want their dad to let them attend the large and popular Evangelical fellowship. The youth group at their Catholic parish is small and mostly inactive. On the other hand, the Evangelical fellowship has multiple Bible studies, prayer groups, and socials for the youth. Could there be a good reason to let his baptized Catholic kids attend such a non-Catholic fellowship? What would be the right reason for saying "no"? And is there a wrong reason for saying "no"?
Using the Wrong Reasons
This series of articles is about the role of reason in the discovery of truth in Roman Catholicism. We arrive at truth through the application of faith and reason, which are like "two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth." (John Paul II, Fides Et Ratio). Truth does not come to us solely through faith, nor does it come by reason alone. To rely on one to the exclusion of the other is to fly with one wing, mostly in circles, as we misapply the ordered rules of one or the other and introduce fallacies into our thinking.
This article briefly examines one of those fallacies called Using the Wrong Reasons, which falls under the category of irrelevant objective appeals. Using the Wrong Reason occurs when evidence is presented that may sound right but does not support the claim.
When my wife asks me euphemistically "Stan, why is the grass so long?", my favorite response is usually "Because it rained a lot last week." I know she's asking why I haven't cut the grass yet, but, being a smart-aleck, my reason has nothing to do with why the grass was not cut. I am "using the wrong reason."
The idea that a person has to experience something to be a good teacher of it is a frequent example of Using the Wrong Reason. Talented actors, opera stars, and artists all have teachers who themselves cannot act, sing or draw at a professional level. Bela Karolyi, the Romanian born Olympic gymnastic coach of the Russian and later the U.S. teams, comes to mind. Although his teaching methods met with some controversy, to claim that the large, heavy set Romanian cannot instruct because he never performed the delicate, quick moves that those petite, razor thin teenage girls executed to win dozens of Olympic metals is using the wrong reason. In reviewing this article, Dave Armstrong wrote: "If experience was necessary for expertise, I'd like to meet the expert in ancient history!"
In terms of Catholicism, a Protestant friend once challenged me that priests should be married so they would make good marriage counselors. While Protestant pastors often act as marriage counselors, I explained that a priest is trained in theology to bring the Sacraments and true teaching of God's Word to the people. There are professionally trained clinical psychologists and marriage counselors to whom priests and pastors should be referring married couples. My friend was using the wrong reason to object to priestly celibacy. To drive the point home, I asked him if he thought Jesus would be a good marriage counselor?
"Of course, he would be," my friend chuckled.
I reminded him that Jesus was never married.
He thought about that for a moment and offered this rebuttal, "Yeah, but Jesus could read minds."
"Are you saying that to be a good marriage counselor you have to read minds?" I asked.
"It would help," he laughed.
I pushed. "So, a man, to be a good marriage counselor has to read a woman's mind — and being married would allow him to do that?"
My friend grimaced. He had been married twice, and he still had no clue how his wife's mind worked. If marriage is a requirement in order to be a good marriage counselor, then using the wrong reason is to blame.
Closer to Jack's problem, another friend, Judy, through a series of very unfortunate events, suddenly found herself without a husband. She's been in deep need of ongoing spiritual support and encouragement. At her Catholic parish, there is but one women's small group — "a faith sharing group." But its leaders make it clear (in writing) that the group "is not a personal support group." I talked with the group's leader and she made it clear that people like Judy were not welcome. I was uninvited as well because the group also claims (in writing) that its meeting are "not a time to discuss intellectual or theological insights." (Well, okay, there was another reason — I'm not a woman.)
Yet, at a different, yet large and active Evangelical church near Judy, a group of women in one of 20 different small Bible study and prayer groups, (that's 20 as in T.W.E.N.T.Y) reached out to her and asked her to come be with them on Tuesday mornings. They had heard of her situation and wanted to pray with her, and give her encouragement because of her personal problems. Should Judy, a Catholic, join the group, or reject their offer of support, prayer, and Bible study? Is the fact that they're not Catholic the right reason or the wrong reason for rejecting their offer?
The Church's Mission
To help Jack, Judy, and myself make the right decisions using the right reasons, it might be helpful to look into the heart and mind of the Church. In the Catechism we are reminded that the Church's mission is:
To preach the Gospel to all men: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (CCC 849) Indeed, God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (CCC 851).
That is to say, we are called to live holy lives here on earth — to begin to be saints here and now. That happens in a special way when we partake of the sacraments with the right disposition of heart. Without faith, or in a state of grave sinfulness, however, participating in the sacraments bring us condemnation. (1 Cor 11:27-32; CCC 1385)
The Catechism also reminds us that while all salvation comes from "Christ the Head through the [Catholic] Church which is his Body" (CCC 846) — and while all Christian division is the result of sin — still there are people outside the Catholic Church…
…who have been justified by faith in Baptism [and] are incorporated into Christ; they have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church. (CCC 817-818, italics mine)
In other words, the Catholic Church's mission can be partly fulfilled through Protestant and Evangelical fellowships, especially if they are faithful to the call of Christ to spread the Gospel and serve others through acts of charity and sacrifice.
Big Concern
Now, look at a big concern of our Bishops in discussing the present condition of catechesis in the United States. This is from their statement Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us (1999, 35):
Many Catholics seem "lukewarm" in faith (cf. Rev 3:14ff.) or have a limited understanding of what the Church believes, teaches, and lives. Others may know about the gospel message but have not personally experienced the risen Christ. Still others are indifferent to the Church's guidance or see the Church's teaching in a negative light.
The descriptors here are telling: "lukewarm," "limited," "not personally experienced…Christ," "indifferent," "negative." But the condemnation comes cloaked in the Bible reference the bishops include. Not always comfortable with the confrontation that hard truth creates, the Bishops hope you'll discover what Christ says in the following ("ff") verses. Here's what it says:
I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (Rev 3:15-16).
Now, just exactly what does that mean? At the very least, it means that if Christians (including baptized Catholics) are lukewarm and indifferent about their faith, they're in for some serious rebuke from the Lord. This is not a blessing.
If the Jacks and the Judys of Catholicism are looking for reasons to avoid particularly vibrant Evangelical Protestant fellowships…the wrong reason is that "Evangelical is not Catholic." At the same time, avoiding Mass because it is boring is also using the wrong reason; just as is going to Mass simply because you always have.
Using the Right Reason
The parish you attend should vibrantly proclaim the Gospel; shepherd your family to passionately love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and body; and model for you how to lovingly care for your neighbors as yourself (Mt 22:36-40). When a Catholic parish, a priest, or a bishop seems to forget how to lead the flock to this end, or if they are unable to imbue in their flock an evangelical passion for the faith — then it is time to find another parish. If you can't find another Catholic parish that spiritually edifies and strengthens your family, then by all means plug into a Christian fellowship that will — even if it is not Catholic (although, even as I write that I whisper a prayer — "God forbid!"). The right reason for anything is because it will draw us closer to Christ, and in that way serve the mission of the Catholic Church. At the same time, never give up the Eucharist, regular Reconciliation, Baptism and the other Sacraments that offer you the tangible graces of salvation, thus connecting you with the fullness of the Church founded by Christ.
What Should Jack Do?
1. Never stop attending Mass or availing your family of all the Church's Sacraments, traditions, teachings, personal study, and private devotion.
2. Pray and work for the spiritual revival of your bishop, priest, and parish so that the members of your parish are "on fire" for the things of God. Daily adoration is a great help toward this end.
3. If it's just not happening at your parish, find another Catholic parish where it is, or where you can supplement your family's edification. As an Evangelical, I drove my family 30 minutes one way to attend a Christian "church" that challenged us. Today, I know one Catholic family that drives more than an hour to keep their 10 children involved in one of the oldest and most orthodox Catholic parishes in Detroit.
4. To supplement your spiritual life, if a vibrant Catholic Bible study and/or small group are not available, attend an Evangelical Bible Study or prayer group where there is a palatable passion for the faith and the Bible.
5. As you fellowship with Protestants, prepare yourself to humbly and accurately defend the teachings of the Catholic Church. Take on the mantle of the Church's mission and "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel" — even in your Evangelical Bible Study and prayer group. But do so only when asked, or when clearly anti-Catholic issues are raised. Don't turn the small group into a Catholic apologetics class, unless the class voluntarily takes you there.
If you need some help, share with your Evangelical brothers and sisters the DVD Common Ground: What Protestants and Catholics Can Learn From Each Other and its study guide. I know that comes off as a shameless plug for one of our products (and it is), but this DVD produced by a "Protestant-Evangelical" "church" is changing hearts for the right reason.
It is far better to be around Christians who are excited about their faith and studying the Bible, than to hang with ambivalent Catholics who lack enthusiasm for the things of God.
By the way, Jack, I hear that Sunday's 5:30 pm life-teen Mass at OLGC "rocks."
Postscript
After this article was written, Jack and I found ourselves again at McDonalds near OLGC. A young man who had recently graduated from high school sat down near us. Jack recognized Ted as a member of his home parish, but had not seen him lately. When Jack asked where he was going to church, Ted mentioned the name of the large active Evangelical church down the street that Jack's teens would like to attend. When I asked Ted why he was not going to the Catholic parish, he said:
The youth group at [the evangelical church] is really large and it helps me connect better with other people and with God. The youth group at [the Catholic parish] was really small and not very active or exciting. Besides, my parents have just stopped going to Mass altogether.
We want to be careful never to ever encourage any Catholic to ever leave the sacraments. But at this point in his life, Ted may be using the right reason to get closer to God. Perhaps someday he will return to the Catholic Church full of the excitement for God he found in Evangelicalism and infect those in Catholicism that are lukewarm. Please work and pray for the Church, that in our desire to be Catholic we will not fall prey to using the wrong reasons, but instead use the right reasons to keep our eyes, hearts, and passions centered on Jesus Christ, Our Lord!
