Posted on 10/04/2012 6:39:23 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
....When it comes to putting on a show, the Evangelicals have got us beat, and they always will. Face it. Nobody can be as good at Evangelicalism as the Evangelicals themselves. Why would I want to go to an entertainment knock off at a local Catholic church? When I could go to the very people who invented that genre of worship thirty to forty years ago?....
....When it comes to teaching like Protestants, again, the Protestants do it better. They have always done it better, and guess what? They always will do it better. You, as a Catholic, will never even hold a candle to them. You want a feeling of "inclusiveness?" You want a theology that doesn't offend? Hey, the Protestants literally invented that stuff!....
....Do you want to be an Evangelist? Do you want to help bring Protestants back into the Catholic Church? Then just be Catholic! Encourage your priest to bring back the old customs and apply them to the new mass. If you're a woman, dress modestly and wear a veil (or hat) of some kind to mass. If you're a man, put on some slacks and a nice shirt and scapular, crucifix or carry a rosary. Learn the catechism and teach your children the same. Kneel for communion and receive on the tongue, if you are physically able, as this is the normal way Catholics receive communion all over the world and at all papal masses. Take your Catholic Christian faith seriously, and start living according to its teachings. For I promise, no Protestant was ever attracted to Catholicism by the testimony of a "Cafeteria Catholic" or one who didn't practise the faith seriously.
My dad has a good friend who converted, and the reason he gave was that while growing up in the South, the definition of a sin seemed to change so much from town to town and church to church.
Where smoking was the most horrible sin in one place, drinking was in the next, gambling in the next, etc. And generally that got determined by the wealthiest family in town who gave the most to the Church.
What attracted him to Catholicism was its universality. What is wrong for one is wrong for all, be that in Texas, New York, Rome, Guatemala, etc.
Of course we’ve been losing it lately as bishops all run off in their own direction when it comes to pro-abort Catholic politicians. Plus converting our Liturgy into some cross between Latin and Middle English hasn’t done much to win new converts.
Personally, I don’t appreciate this post.
More than 10 years ago [Shane Schaetzel, 40, a respiratory therapist in Springfield, Mo.] abandoned his idea of becoming a priest in the Episcopal church, to which he then belonged. Instead, he joined the Catholic church and hoped to become part of an Anglican use congregation, but none was available. So last year Schaetzel and a dozen others in Springfield created the St. Augustine of Canterbury Society Anglican use prayer group, and he has been named its lay officiant. As a Catholic, he’s ineligible to join the new ordinariate, but could worship with a congregation within it........For now, Schaetzel and others wait: “Now I’m a lay officiant ... for the evening prayer office, and that’s all I can do right now [without a priest].” But one day he hopes thousands of North Americans will, through the ordinariate, join him as Catholics, though there are strong indications that an ordinariate for Americans may move forward more quickly than for Canadians.
When they stop praying to everyone but Jesus and stop with all this church bureaucracy and infallible Pope crap, I might actually consider it a valid thing.
I find it interesting that the author uses the traditions of the Catholic church as the “lever” to move Protestants to Catholicism. The reason that I find it interesting is that I use that very same “lever” to reform Catholics OUT of Catholicism by showing those traditions to be traditions of men and not found in scripture.
I do not have the time to get into a debate - just pointing out that the same tool is used both ways. I should also mention that I do not proselytize to Catholics. There are too many unsaved out there to fight within the Christian community over who attends what church.
Mr. Murphy,
Perhaps you should spend more time converting atheists to Christianity, instead of robbing sheep from another fold.
Unless, of course, you do not view Protestants as your brothers in Christ...
-K51
Exactly. I'm not Catholic and have no wish to become one. I see no need to let a Vatican Council try to direct my personal relationship with Jesus.
Further, the Catholic Church runs off a lot of people because they don't lead them to a relationship with Christ but a facade of religious traditions.
But the biggest sin is trying to convert the already converted when the harvest is ripe for so many that don't know or regard Christ at all.
I find this man utterly foolish and having failed in all his years of Christian study to grasp Jesus' central message which is to save the unwashed, not to have the more appealing church service.
If I encounter a Catholic, I don't try to convert them but I do try to help them find a personal walk with Christ which many Catholics don't receive instruction on how to do. I've met many wonderful born-again Catholics who clearly know Christ but I've also met many Catholics who are about as "Christian" as Obama. If that's what the Catholic Church produces, they are no better than the Protestants.
You just want converts to fill your coffers. Item number one in the Catholic Church, MONEY.
Beware of Idolatry
Deuteronomy 4:
15 “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. 19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land. 23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Yet, you insist on elevating Mary to Deity status. You put an idol of Jesus on your crosses. You make statues of Mary to worship, more idols.
Matthew 23:9
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
You call the pope “The Holy Father”, you call your priests “Father”.
Do you not read the bible? I've been told that you actually don't.
AMEN! Focus on those who are muslim, hindu, buddhist, animists, atheists, tribal, wiccan...this world SO needs Jesus, so just obey the Great Commission and take Him to the world.
As a former Catholic, I cannot return to the church that puts anyone between me and Jesus, tells me that I have to go to a person to confess my sins and be forgiven, puts excessive attention on Mary, and follows an earthly leader for however long he lives or chooses to be pope. Most of all, this church (like several Protestant ones) prohibits some from partaking in communion, and I believe that Jesus would NEVER do that. I do adhere to their prolife, pro-traditional marriage stance, but am discontented with the catholic church’s corruption and coverups. Inconsistent marriage annulments, pedophiles, undisclosed church budgets, arrogant and distainful monsignors and bishops, homosexual priests, lesbian nuns...the list goes on.
Grew up catholic, married in Episcopalian church, now Methodist. Have a much deeper and closer personal relationship with Jesus now then ever in my past.
Concur totally that there are so many people in the world who need to know Jesus, that it’s not important to try to win people over to one fold or another. I have to have faith that Jesus will handle all our differences as He sees fit. Cults are bad I know, but to get caught up in that totally ignores the greater number of people that Satan wants to claim as his. And, focusing on our divisions among us Christians is also Satan’s way of keeping us distracted. He is very clever and deceitful, so he will certainly use our words and beliefs against us. What is always most important is winning a soul for Jesus, not in the Christian label that person will wear!
Blessings and peace!
Exactly! If I had wanted all those things, I would have stayed a Lutheran. I converted after my husband, a cradle Catholic, and I went to a more traditional church where the old priest was allowed to be more “backwards.” I loved the way he did Mass. Now I tell fellow parishioners that I hate the “Protestantation” of the Church, and I and my daughters wear our veils. I do get a little tired of the looks of repulsion that I get from some priests, and other women will turn their backs on me.
As a recent convert to Catholicism, I can vouch for that. At first I thought my new friend was a bit nuts for going to Mass daily and praying morning noon and night. Every couple of hours his cell phone would chirp, ring, or buzz, and it would be time for another prayer. I joked about it but he took it all in stride. But the more time I spent with him the more sense it made. Eventually I told him I was ready to convert, he made a few phone calls, I met with a couple of Priests, and a few weeks later I was Catholic. Now I am almost as "nuts" as he is. I was a happy Protestant, but I am a much happier Catholic.
I know that the sacrament of Confession is difficult for many Protestants to believe in and it certainly was for me. But it has made a world of difference in my life. Its just too easy to privately confess to God and then go on doing the same old thing. But when you have to confess to a Priest you "think again" the sin. Plus, if you attend Mass daily and take seriously the prohibition of not taking communion while in mortal sin, and cringe at having to go confession again to clear it up, that has a powerful effect on behavior.
IMHO, God looks upon the heart rather than upon the form of worship. Accepting Christ as Savior is the key.
If Catholics will simply rediscover our tradition, and live according to who we really are, then I promise you, more Protestants will come into the Catholic Church. By that I mean not just a little more, but a lot more, and you might be surprised just how many.**
Hooray! Go Catholics!!!!!
Catholics always worship Jesus. Where did you get that idea.
The entire Mass is centered on Jesus Christ. Liturgy of the Word — with Readings from the Old Testament that tie into the Gospel, a Reading from the New Testament, and the Gospel.
Liiturgy of the Eucharist — totally focused on Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.
Why do you believe the pamplets and Catholic-hating materials you have been handed? Come into the light.
Wow! a great find. Ignore the nonsense and ...
The scandal of Judas ... a church filled with Judases .. ignore Judas, and you’ve found the church.
As I notice this article is now making its way around the Internet, (it’s actually going viral), I’ve been reading comments from various individuals on other media outlets.
The reactions were somewhat expected to me depending on the audience. Of course, the intended audience of this article is Catholics, and in particular those Catholics who mistakenly believe that acting more Protestant will bring in more Protestant converts. The article points out how misguided that notion is.
The article is also advice for Catholics to act more Catholic, and to stop trying to act like Protestants. Based on the number of “hits” this page has received so far, I think I’m getting that message out and it is starting to resonate.
What this article does not do is tell Catholics to go out and actively try to convert Protestants to Catholicism. In fact, quite the opposite is true. What I have laid out here is a formula that “if you build it, they will come.” Indeed, this is exactly what happened to my wife and I, as well as thousands of other Protestant converts to Catholicism. There is no need to actively go out and evangelise them, knocking on their doors, standing on street corners with a megaphone, or putting flyers on their cars while they unsuspectingly worship in their churches. No, that’s what they do! And that is not our way.
We, on the other hand, have our hands full trying to evangelise the third-world, the Middle East, and communist China. That’s not to mention trying to re-evangelise an entire generation of Europeans who have gone the way of secular atheism, and a growing number of Americans who are doing the same. That is where our evangelistic efforts lie, that is where they have always been, and that will continue to be our focus as Catholic Christians — sharing the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.
The subject of converting Protestants has come up in recent decades precisely because a large number of Evangelicals are entering the Catholic Church. The question arises as to “why” and what can be done to naturally attract more without actively seeking them out. I can attest, that nobody sought my wife and I out for conversion to the Catholic Christian faith. We came on our own, and it was for no other reason than what the Catholic Church already had — namely her ancient traditions.
The title of this article was meant to be provocative, but to understand it, one must read the full article. The mission of the Catholic Church is to seek and save the lost, and that is what she does. As for Protestants, who already have a portion of the gospel, I have made it clear in other articles that they are our Christian brethren whether they like it or not. It is not our business to seek them out and convert them, and I’ve never suggested that, but if on the other hand you want to attract more of them to the Catholic Church naturally, on their own initiative, then I have above laid out a formula that has proved to work. Just be more Catholic.
I could not understand why these romancers never took the trouble to find out a few elementary facts about the thing they denounced. The facts might easily have helped the denunciation, where the fictions discredited it. There were any number of real Catholic doctrines I should then have thought disgraceful to the Church . . . But the enemies of the Church never found these real rocks of offence. They never looked for them. They never looked for anything . . . Boundless freedom reigned; it was not treated as if it were a question of fact at all . . . It puzzled me very much, even at that early stage, to imagine why people bringing controversial charges against a powerful and prominent institution should thus neglect to test their own case, and should draw in this random way on their own imagination . . . I never dreamed that the Roman religion was true; but I knew that its accusers, for some reason or other, were curiously inaccurate- G. K. Chesterton
And boy, are they in for a disappointment!
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