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

Protestant apathy towards conversion of Catholics

1414. Are people heroes only if they turn fromProtestantism to Roman Catholicism?

Not necessarily. The taking of such a step does not alwaysrequire heroic courage. At times it does. There are many people whowould become Catholics tomorrow only for the fact that they havenot the heroism to face the consequences of taking such a step.However, heroism is not manifested only in the religious field. Itis quite often manifested in other fields also.

1415. Why are not the Protestant clergy as anxiousto convert Catholics as you are to convert Protestants?

At the time of the Protestant Reformation, of course, the earlyreformers were anxious to convert as many Catholics as possible totheir new Churches. And the Catholic Church was denounced as thework of Satan, whilst the Pope was branded as the Beast. This ideaof the Catholic Church still persists amongst some of the smallerand narrower Protestant sects. A Seventh Day Adventist booklet inmy possession declares the "great Roman System" to beAntichrist, and appeals most fervently to Catholics to leave it.This booklet tells Catholics that God is crying out to them,"Come out of her, my people." Judge Rutherford's"Witnesses of Jehovah" adopt the same attitude. But theseare relics or revivals of an ancient superstition. The Protestanttradition is dying fast, and more and more Protestant clergymen aredeprecating efforts to convert Catholics to Protestantism. Whereonce they declared that they had left the Catholic Church, they nowwish to say that they never really left it at all, and that theystill belong to it. And that makes it rather absurd to try toconvert Catholics from a Church to what these clergymen claim to bereally the same Church.

1416. How many Protestant clergymen would agree withyou in this?

Thousands. For example, Dr. Percy Dearmer, an Anglican, wants tohold that all professing Christians are really one. In his book,"Our National Church," p. 160, he writes, "We arenot divided; all one body we. We have to say this, and to mean it.And the acid test is that there should be no proselytism." Inother words, this Anglican Canon says that it is" definitelywrong to try to convert a Catholic to any other form ofChristianity. Dr. R. G. Macintyre, a Presbyterian, in his book,"The Substance of the Christian Faith," pp. 81-83, says,"We have laid far too much stress on the form, theorganization of the Church. . . . Each of us may find that aparticular form suits us. Well and good. But ... we are sharers inone common life, and union with Christ implies union with oneanother. There is no narrowness comparable with that whichunchurches any section of Christians because they follow not withus." On such principles, Dr. Macintyre is quite content thatCatholics should remain Catholics. And he is not moved by anydesire to convert them.

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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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