We have free-floating guilt, can identify the Ave Maria within thre notes, and likely have rosary beads somewhere in the attic. We also own at least one study Bible, listen to sermons in the car, and know that a ‘quiet time’ is different from a nap. We are followers of Christ who grew up Roman Catholic and are now Evangelical Protestants.”

That’s how Chris Castaldo begins his helpful, irenic, and humorous book, Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic. Chris was raised in an Italian, Roman Catholic family on Long Island, eventually graduated from Moody and Gordon-Conwell, and now serves as Pastor of Outreach and Church Planting at College Church in Wheaton. Talk about quite a journey. All roads lead to Wheaton I suppose.

Chris (I’m going to call him Chris since I’ve know him since seminary days) has written an extremely useful and needed book. Let’s be clear: this is not a book on what Catholics believe (though there is some of that); it’s not a polemic about why evangelicals are right and Catholics are wrong (though there’s no doubt who Chris thinks is right); it’s not a book about whether Evangelicals and Catholics Together has been a good idea (though that would be interesting). This is a book for ex-Catholics and for anyone with Catholic friends and family. It’s a look at why Catholics turn evangelicals and how Catholics-turned-evangelical can relate to the Catholics in their lives.

In Part 1, Chris explains–through surveys, interviews, and theological reflection–why some Catholics become evangelical. First, ex-Catholics appreciate an every-member ministry where all Christians are called to full-time service. Second, ex-Catholics are drawn to a personal relationship with Jesus that is more than just rule-keeping. Third, ex-Catholic evangelicals enjoy the direct access they have to God through Christ, without the need of any other intermediary. Fourth, ex-Catholics have come to see that only proper object of our devotion is Jesus Christ, not Mary or the saints. Fifth, ex-Catholic feel new freedom and joy in the salvation-by-grace-alone-through-faith-alone gospel that is championed in evangelical circles.

Underlying all of these differences between Catholics and evangelicals, Chris argues, is the issue of authority. Is Scripture our final authority or should we also put councils and encyclicals on equal footing with the Bible? With the possible exception of justification, there is no other issue that does more to separate Catholics and evangelicals more than this issue of authority.

In Part 2, Chris turns from analysis to praxis as he offers advice on how we can relate to Catholics. Because Chris can speak with an insider’s knowledge, I found it especially interesting to read his chapter on how Catholics view evangelicals. He explains that Catholics often think we are superficial, too chummy with God, hopelessly splintered, and only interested in “fire insurance.” In my experience all of these can be valid critiques of evangelicals, especially the first two. (I think “fire insurance” is pretty important, and I don’t for one minute think the Roman Catholic church is any less splintered over doctrinal and ethical issues than the Protestant church. The Catholics have more institutional unity on the face of it, but they have just as much dissension inside, not too mention plenty of people that flat-out ignore what the institution says.)

If I have a quibble with Holy Ground it would be that in one or two places I found myself wanting Chris to be just a little less accommodating and do just a little more to show how far apart Catholics and evangelicals are on some issues. But this does not detract from the overall value of the work. I have already recommended it to ex-Catholics and will again. The best part about this book is that it handles a controversial subject in way that manages to be both light and serious at the same time. This book is funny, smart, well-written, and full of grace and truth, with a healthy dose of common sense to boot. There really isn’t another book quite like it.

Holy Ground is the sort of book ex-Catholics will love to read and the sort of book they wouldn’t be embarrased to give to a Catholic friend. Chris is always respectful about his past, even as explains why he had to leave it. Many people will see their journey in this book. The rest of us will be helped to listen in on the story.

I mean seriously, who, upon accidentally tripping into the RF, would want any of what we have to offer?

Good point!

Matthew 15:16
   "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.

Matthew 23

1. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2. "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5. "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6. they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7. they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'
8. "But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9. And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10. Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11. The greatest among you will be your servant.
12. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15.   "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
16. "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
17. You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18. You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.'
19. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20. Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
23. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33. "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34. Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
38. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

Mark 7:26-27
26. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

And St. Paul chimes in...

Galatians 5:12
   As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

we have the naughty Pope list²

Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.^[1]

Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.

Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy

Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy

Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.^[2]

Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.^[3]

Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony^[4]

Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Popes

And you have replaced Our Lord

Incredible!

Bernadine: …all gifts, all virtues, and all graces are dispensed by the hands of Mary to whomsoever, when, and as she pleases. O Lady, since thou art the dispenser of all graces, and since the grace of salvation can ONLY come through thy hands, OUR SALVATION DEPENDS ON THEE.

Bonaventure: …the gates of heaven will open to all who confide in the protection of Mary. Blessed are they who know thee, O Mother of God, for the knowledge of THEE is the high road to everlasting life, and the publication of thy virtues is the way of ETERNAL SALVATION . Give ear, O ye nations; and all you who desire heaven , serve, honor Mary, and certainly you will find ETERNAL LIFE.

Ephem: …devotion to the divine Mother…is the unlocking of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Blosius: To the, O Lady, are committed the KEYS and the treasures of the kingdom of Heaven.

Ambrose: …constantly pray ‘Open to us, O Mary, the gates of paradise, since thou hast its KEYS.

Fulgetius: …by Mary God descended from Heaven into the world, that by HER man might ascend from earth to Heaven.

Athanasius: …And, thou, O Lady, wast filled with grace, that thou mightiest be the way of our SALVATION and the means of ascent to the heavenly Kingdom.

Richard of Laurence: Mary, in fine, is the mistress of heaven; for there she commands as she wills, and ADMITS whom she wills.

Guerric: …he who serves Mary and for whom she intercedes, is as CERTAIN of heaven as if he were already there…and those who DO NOT serve Mary will NOT BE SAVED.

Anselm: It suffices, O Lady, that thou willest it, and our SALVATION is certain.

Antoninus: …souls protected by Mary, and on which she casts her eyes, are NECESSARILY JUSTIFIED AND SAVED.

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