I'm wondering why, given your name of "CATHOLIC Exchange," you continually have articles — for us Catholics, no less — written by Protestants?
Example: today's "Does Marriage Have a Future?" by Terry Mattingly. He is listed on the bottom of his editorial as an "Orthodox Christian."
Just a few months ago, I read an editorial about youth pastors, written by a Protestant. What kind of Catholic site asks Protestants to help Catholics become more Catholic?! This is a serious question and I would like a serious answer, please.
Jennifer Sikora
Dear Ms. Sikora,
Thank you for expressing your concern so forthrightly. We at CE understand that Catholics are looking for trustworthy internet content and we want to keep your confidence. Every couple of months some reader will ask why we use non-Catholic writers, so I am happy to address that with you.
I suppose it would be logical to limit our editorial material to only Catholic writers. But would that be wise? Would it serve our readers well? And most importantly, as you mentioned, would that be the bet way to help our fellow Catholics to be good Catholics?
The goal of this website is to assist in the new evangelization by heeding the call of the Vatican to permeate the culture and media with the Gospel. This is why our tagline is: Your Life. Your Faith. Your World.
Terry Mattingly, to use your example, helps Catholics understand what is going on around the country when it comes to religion. Although he is an Orthodox Christian, his column is carried in a number of secular papers. We think that we lay Catholics can be better at spreading the Gospel to our neighbors and co-workers if we know something about what is going on in the world around us and especially with regard to religious matters.
Orthodox Christians are certainly not Protestants; they are members of apostolic churches. However we do use some Protestant columnists. They are not writing on Catholic theology, nor are they writing anything contrary to Church teaching. We feature them when we think they have something of interest and value to share with our readers.
God bless you,
Mrs. Mary Kochan
Senior Editor
CatholicExchange.com
