Catholic Apologetics Online

Choose a topic from Vol 2:

God

Man

Religion

The Religion of the Bible

The Christian Faith

A Definite Christian Faith

The Protestant Reformation

The Truth of Catholicism

The Church and the Bible

The Dogmas of the Church

The Church and Her Moral Teachings

The Church in Her Worship

The Church and Social Welfare

Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

To and From Rome

From Protestantism to Catholicism

1388. Why are you so particularly hard on Protestantism?

I have no more reasons for the discussion of Protestantism than for the discussion of any other form of religion. But Protestants are more numerous than others in this country, and consequently more questions are submitted from the Protestant viewpoint than from others. Were I in a country where the Greek Orthodox Church is in the ascendancy, my discussions would have to do chiefly with the differences between Greek Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The Catholic Church is the same everywhere, but she has not the same problems to face everywhere. Conditions are much the same now as when St. Augustine wrote in the fourth century: "You will not find the same heretics everywhere, but still you will find heretics everywhere. Heresies are never wanting; but you will find one type of heresy here; another there. So you will find one sect in Africa; another in the East; another in Egypt; and yet another in Mesopotamia. But the heretics of one region have no connection with the heretics of another region."

1389. If faith has its rights, has not charity its duties?

Undoubtedly. But the demands of charity are not overlooked merely because the things that divide other Churches from the Catholic Church seem to be insisted upon. My particular duty happens to be to explain and defend the accuracies of faith; and the duties of charity do not diminish the rights of truth. In fact, in so grave a matter as religion, any tampering with truth would violate charity; for men have a right to the truth, and the truth in turn will be most beneficial to them. If, by clearing away misconceptions, I can help men to the realization of the truth of the Catholic Church as the one true Church of Jesus Christ in this world, then I have rendered them the greatest possible service—as those who have become Catholics so gladly and gratefully admit.

1390. Why do you prefer the Catholic Church to Protestantism?

The reasons are legion, whether from God's point of view, or from my own point of view, or from the viewpoint of Protestantism itself, or from the aspect of the Catholic Church. I shall try to summarize them for you.From God's point of view, He certainly has the right, not only that I should acknowledge and serve Him, but that I should do so in the way He commands. Not any way of my own choosing will do. And as He has commanded the Catholic way, I am obliged to serve Him in that way.From my own point of view, I want a religion that can really substantiate its claim to be the one true form of religion in this world; that knows its own mind, and can tell me definitely what is to be believed and what is to be done; and which can offer me the necessary spiritual helps in the way of guidance, inspiration, and assistance, to do these things. Catholicism alone can comply with these requirements.From the viewpoint of Protestantism, its origin in the sixteenth century was sixteen centuries too late to be the religion given to the world by Christ; it has no consistent doctrinal teaching; its services vary with the idiosyncracies of individual clergymen; those clergymen have no valid Orders in the Christian sense of the word, and therefore they lack the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the power to destroy sin by sacramental absolution in Confession. In a word, historically, Scripturally, and logically, no form of Protestantism can stand.On the other hand, from the aspect of the Catholic Church, historically, she alone goes right back to Christ, and can alone inherit His promise to be with His Church all days from His time till the end of the world; Scripturally, she alone is in complete accord with God's revealed word; logically, she alone is thoroughly consistent; as a teacher, she alone claims to know her own mind infallibly; and as a guide, she alone knows what discipline really means.

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MORE FROM VOLUME 2

• About the Author
• Introduction
  - Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
• Preface
  - John Gregory Murray
  Archbishop of Saint Paul
• Forward
  - Dr Leslie Rumble, MSC

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