Posted on 05/29/2008 10:50:48 AM PDT by NYer
Ping!
Is it within your world view to admit that the Holy Spirit can behind the wave of Catholics converting to Protestant denominations?
Let’s turn that around: Is it within your world view to admit that the Holy Spirit can [be] behind the wave of Protestants converting to the Catholic Church? And if so, why aren’t you yet on the path to conversion to the Catholic Church if you do believe the Holy Spirit is behind the conversions?
I would suggest you google the the name Richard Bennett and go from there.
(John ch 10).. a few of the sheep come out of the sheep pens into the pasture to graze by the shepherd (Ps 23)..
????? There are still twice as many Protestants as Catholics in this country. The only thing keeping the Catholic population at its current levels is all the illegal immigrants coming into this country. It is not a major shift from Protestant to Catholic, although anecdotal evidence for any claim is always available.
Does the author have any numbers of the Catholics converting to Protestantism? I suspect the weight is on the side of the Protestants!
What is the number of Catholics who just sort of “deconvert” - period? I’m guessing that that is the biggest number of them all.
You said: “Is it withing your world views to see people leaving RCC, EO and protestant denominations to a member of THE FLOCK?..”
My point was the the original question was just plain stupid. If you are Catholic (or Protestant) and someone is moving in the other direction then you have to believe that while the Holy Spirit may have moved the person, they did not respond the way the Spirit wished them to. I would caveat that though. For instance there are cases like this one: http://www.envoymagazine.com/backissues/4.6/diplomaticcorps.htm where the convert from Judaism originally became evangelical and then finally came to the fullness of faith in the Catholic Church. A Catholic would say that the Holy Spirit kept prompting her.
So to answer you. No it is not “withing” my world view to believe the Spirit wishes people to leave Christ’s Church...the Catholic Church... “to a member of THE FLOCK” whatever that means.
And the news is that the pope will be hosting Akma-nut-job at the Vatican soon. What’s up with that?
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.2203931225
Yes if they were lukewarm Catholics who truly held back their passion for God because of doubts about the Catholic faith and are now fully serving the Lord in their Protestant church.
There may be Catholic converting to Protestantism, but these are usually done by aggressive Proselytizing of Protestants who in many cases, missrepresent what the Catholic Church teaches when doing there preaching. This is particulary true in areas in the 3rd world.
Now, on the other hand, Catholics need to do a better job of clearly teaching the unwavering orthodoxy of the Catholic faith, so that is a “we problem”.
Now, while there may be many ex-Catholics in Protestant circles, many of those Catholics once they leave the Catholic Church will find themselves in a different Protestant Tradition every few years, always searching for the newest fad in Protestant Christianity.
The Protestants that have come into the Catholic Church includes many of the leading academics and theologians of the Protestant world, including man former Protestant clergy. For example, on a recent Journey Home program, an former Anglican clergyman stated that after the Anglican Communion voted to ordain women, he new that he, as an Anglo-Catholic, had to come to Rome. Since 1992, some 750 former Anglican clergy in England have come into full communion with Rome, and of those 450 were ordained as Catholic Priests, and some 180 of those were married.
In the U.S., some 100 former Anglican/Episopalian clergy have come into Rome and been ordained, including Fr. George Rutler, and Fr. Dwight Longeeker, who blogs and Standing on my head. In addition, one of the leading Lutheran Theologians, Fr. Richard Neuhas, editor of First Things, came into full communion in the late 1980’s. Other Lutherans have as well. Thomas Howard, a leader of the evangelical movement in the 1980’s, along with Prof. Scott Hahn, Prof. Francis Beckwith, just to name a few, have come back to Rome.
In summary, while there may be a few Catholic priests who leave Rome, for Protestant traditions, those are few and far between, vs. the number of Protestant Clergy that have, as the Anglicans say in England, decided to “swim the Tiber”.
Regards
I notice you didn’t answer my question.
Now Pope Benedict were to lay the Cat-of-Nine-Tails unto the bare backs of certain Southern California Bishops and a certain Cardinal or two :^)
Perhaps the Tiber would be seen a bit warmer.
I would think one of the best things someone could do to learn how to welcome people from very non-Catholic backgrounds would be to understand how they may speak with an entirely different theological language, and have very different cultural presumptions when it comes to religion, despite having so much culturally in common in other areas.
As recently as five years ago, the largest religious body in the US was Catholic and the second largest ex-Catholic.
All the mainstream Protestant denominations are losing members; the Episcopalians are determinedly self destructing before our eyes and the Lutherans and the others are slowly fading.
Individual megachurches are coming and going. The Catholics would be slowly growing if it were not for the immigrants. But Catholicism world wide is growing fast, not just here.
Yes, it within my world view. I don’t feel the Spirit leading me there.
Hosting? According to your news link:
Tehran has also given the Iranian Embassy to the Holy See, instructions to ask for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, said a report in Italian daily La Repubblica.
We will have to wait and see if the request is granted.
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