alpha course

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My parish is also big into Alpha and I actually participated in the course. Many aspects were good, but I was amazed how Protestant the User Guide was. A 66 book Bible and Protestant Bible references throughout (the bibleinoneyear site is even touted which is not only based on the Protestant Bible, but then gets you into Nicky’s site which has Protestant teachings), becoming a child of God when we receive Christ (rather than at Baptism), asking yourself when it comes to interpreting the Bible (rather than the Church), calls out a misconception of church as belonging to a particular denomination (the Catholic Church is the one true Church), and states that “on questionable points, liberty” as if unity should come before the truth. I get the need to evangelize, but not to do so and sacrifice the truth. To teach this version in a Catholic Church was shocking to me.

So then I found the Catholic version of the User Guide and was very heartened by this until I read it. There is no way a Catholic wrote that guide. Within it again contains references to Protestant Bibles as well as the bibleinoneyear site (and it doesn’t have the guts to cite the Bible having 73 books), refers to justification “just as if I’d never sinned” which is straight from the Protestant playbook (and contradicts Catholic teaching on Purgatory), refers to eternal life through repentance and faith (rather than state of grace), basically recites “the sinner’s prayer” and states that after stating this prayer we now have a relationship with God (as if we didn’t have one before), still no Catholic Church in the practical steps, no mention of The Eucharist, sacraments, etc…I could go on. To call this version of the guide Catholic is sad and deeply concerning. Who wrote this version!?

To sacrifice even one truth, even for the sake of evangelization, is just not something we should stand for as Catholics. If Alpha is the answer for evangelization then a truly Catholic version must be created.
 
@Ernie07

Wow, thanks for contributing this to the discussion. Yeah, there have been many faithful Catholics who have taken Alpha and come away from it feeling deeply conflicted, precisely because of the sheer amount of Protestant hogwash that gets carted in along with a dash of lowest-common-denominator Christian belief.

I’ve said it before, but still I insist: It’s shameful that we as Catholics can’t come up with an engaging evangelization program on our own. We’re sitting on the freaking wellspring of Truth – and now we need to pay royalties to Protestants for them to teach us what the kerygma is about? How can anyone not see how low we’ve sunk?

Here’s a very sobering report from Church Militant, where they crunch some numbers to show just how appalling the consequences of this evangelization crisis have become:

youtube.com/watch?v=7IaDKiFVn9Y

Moreover, anybody who is interested can watch a full half-hour discussion from the CM panel explaining the various problems with Alpha:

churchmilitant.com/news/article/the-downloadalpha-is-not-catholic
 
Ernie07 said:
To sacrifice even one truth, even for the sake of evangelization, is just not something we should stand for as Catholics. If Alpha is the answer for evangelization then a truly Catholic version must be created.
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The Church continues to accommodate to the world- even to heretics- for the sake of increasing the flock. And this continues to fail and Catholics make up a smaller and smaller percentage of the U.S. and the developed world. Interestingly, where Catholics are increasing in number, Alpha is nowhere needed nor found.

Don’t get me wrong- I have nothing against my Protestant brothers and sisters. But they need to come back to the Catholic Church unless they are “invincibly ignorant”. And we certainly don’t need Protestant evangelization programs for Catholics.

Again, if Alpha brought you closer to the Church and then you really dug into Catholic teachings and solidified your faith, then great for you! But why have such a fundamentally deficient program to begin with?

And why on Earth do our Churches have to pay for this program when a perfectly good meal and talk can be had by a knowledgeable Catechist at any Catholic Church? This is also about money, folks! And lots of it!

Here’s a new gem about Alpha: churchmilitant.com/news/article/protestant-pastor-to-lead-alpha-program-in-florida-diocese

Now we have a Protestant program being led by a Protestant pastor at a Catholic Church. Why not go the next step and print commemorative stamps for Fr. Luther’s rebellion against the Catholic Church and her teachings… Oops, I guess we’re there already!!
 
Cherripeeps said:
@Ernie07

Wow, thanks for contributing this to the discussion. Yeah, there have been many faithful Catholics who have taken Alpha and come away from it feeling deeply conflicted, precisely because of the sheer amount of Protestant hogwash that gets carted in along with a dash of lowest-common-denominator Christian belief.

I’ve said it before, but still I insist: It’s shameful that we as Catholics can’t come up with an engaging evangelization program on our own. We’re sitting on the freaking wellspring of Truth – and now we need to pay royalties to Protestants for them to teach us what the kerygma is about? How can anyone not see how low we’ve sunk?

Here’s a very sobering report from Church Militant, where they crunch some numbers to show just how appalling the consequences of this evangelization crisis have become:

youtube.com/watch?v=7IaDKiFVn9Y

Moreover, anybody who is interested can watch a full half-hour discussion from the CM panel explaining the various problems with Alpha:

churchmilitant.com/news/article/the-downloadalpha-is-not-catholic
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I guess to pile on…I participated in an Alpha Administrators webinar today. There is something crazy going on right now. Here are a few things I actually heard with my own ears:
  • When asked a question about why we are teaching that Catholics become a child of God other than at baptism the answer was that the majority of people who have been baptized aren’t Christians because they haven’t been converted.
  • A priest (who was introduced as being an Orthodox Catholic) that was the guest speaker said that “there are no heresies” in the Alpha program
  • The beauty of Alpha is not in the videos, not in the theology, but in the environment that enables friendships to be made and eating food together
  • Many Orthodox Catholic leaders have endorsed the Alpha program
  • Have only heard of people experiencing a deepening of their faith. No one has left the Catholic Church because of Alpha
  • Emphasis on the “mystical body of Christ” as an answer to why the Catholic Church isn’t mentioned as the one true Church
The session made me sick. I’m seriously starting to think it’s a cult. There has to be a hidden reason for this spiritual blindness.
 
I posted this in another thread related to Alpha and thought it would be appropriate here as well…

I guess to pile on…I participated in an Alpha Administrators webinar today. There is something crazy going on right now. Here are a few things I actually heard with my own ears:
  • When asked a question about why we are teaching that Catholics become a child of God other than at baptism the answer was that the majority of people who have been baptized aren’t Christians because they haven’t been converted.
  • A priest (who was introduced as being an Orthodox Catholic) that was the guest speaker said that “there are no heresies” in the Alpha program
  • The beauty of Alpha is not in the videos, not in the theology, but in the environment that enables friendships to be made and eating food together
  • Many Orthodox Catholic leaders have endorsed the Alpha program
  • Have only heard of people experiencing a deepening of their faith. No one has left the Catholic Church because of Alpha
  • Emphasis on the “mystical body of Christ” as an answer to why the Catholic Church isn’t mentioned as the one true Church
The session made me sick. I’m seriously starting to think it’s a cult. There has to be a hidden reason for this spiritual blindness.
 
This! I have heard Father John Riccardo’s alpha talks on EWTN numerous times. They are wonderful!
 
JanetF said:
This! I have heard Father John Riccardo’s alpha talks on EWTN numerous times. They are wonderful!
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My pastor and every single person who praises Alpha talks about the endorsements from Catholic leaders. No one discusses it’s doctrinal flaws…and no one seems to care. I’ve heard everything from “it’s not perfect” to “the good outweighs the bad” to “Alpha is not meant to be an exhaustive Catechesis”. And nearly everyone states that “Alpha is the best program I’ve seen for introducing a person to Christ”. Therein is the big lie about Alpha that people either ignorantly or purposefully perpetuate. If Alpha was just a simple introduction to Jesus then I would be all in. But, in reality it is an introduction to Jesus, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the Church. And the flaws are so numerous that to call Alpha Catholic is an outright lie. I use this word specifically because those who endorse this program should know better.

Earlier in this thread I pointed out the errors related to the Bible (66 books, private interpretation, Protestant Bible references and endorsements), becoming a child of God (through a prayer vs baptism), no mention of the Church guiding us, The Church being defined as a body of believers and that no church has the fullness of truth, etc. My pastor even used the phrase “yes, maybe the Alpha program is incomplete, but you’re missing the bigger picture of evangelization”. With all due respect, “incomplete” is the Alpha program as it relates to Mary and the Eucharist as those topics aren’t mentioned. But, when Alpha takes a stand on a topic (Bible interpretation, defining the Church, etc.) then it is no longer “incomplete” but erroneous and has no place in the Catholic Church.

I have no idea why or how these church leaders could endorse such a program. Being charitable I will assume that in their panic over the decline of the Catholic Church numbers in the U.S. they are trying anything to evangelize the faithful. I will assume that their heart is in the right place, but to introduce Catholics who don’t understand their faith to blatant error is not the way to do it.

I love the Catholic Church, I love my pastor even though we vehemently disagree about Alpha…but that doesn’t mean I have to blindly follow. I know that it sounds arrogant for me to even question or challenge church leaders (believe me I have struggled with the “who am I” question) but I believe if I stand for truth then how can I go wrong? I’m not interested in endorsements or false claims that it IS Catholic, but does it teach 100% truth. If not then it shouldn’t be used in a Catholic Church.

To think that in order to evangelize people we need to water down the truth or mix it with poison is incredibly sad. But, it also raises up an anger in me to fight. Here we have the fullness of truth; a differentiator that no other church or denomination has and yet we squander that advantage in the spirit of evangelization. How dare we not come up with a way to evangelize the Catholic way!!!

-Ernie-
 
JanetF said:
Again, The present version used by Catholic Churches IS Catholic. It is endorsed by the USCCB. usccb.org/beliefs-and-tea…-ev-krisak.pdf Those who are posting contrary views have not been through the present version and are basing their opinions on outdated information.
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With all due respect you again use an endorsement, this one from 2012 by the USCCB, as a basis to claim that Alpha is Catholic. I have a copy of a “Catholic” Users Guide and to be honest it is worse then the Protestant version because at least the Protestant version doesn’t pretend to be Catholic. Here’s a sampling of some of the things you’ll find in this “Catholic” version:
  • Still many references to Protestant Bibles and the endorsement of the bibleinoneyear site which not only uses a Protestant Bible but then gets you into Nicky’s website where you can then peruse all of the other Protestant based teachings he espouses.
  • Becoming a child of God still when we receive Christ and not at Baptism
  • Still told to “ask yourself” when it comes to interpreting the Bible…not what the Church teaches
  • Still no mention of the Catholic Church when it comes to seeking guidance
  • Still focused on unity rather than the Catholic Church being the one true Church
We all know the endorsements for Alpha, but if you wouldn’t mind, please refute that these and other non-Catholic beliefs are in the Catholic version of the user guide. Please provide something other than endorsements and give us some facts in which to test for ourselves. Saying it is Catholic doesn’t make it so. Endorsements even by church leaders doesn’t make it so either. I’ve seen with my own eyes the errors of the “Catholic” version of Alpha.

Everyone reading this don’t take my word (or anyone else’s for that matter) but see it for yourself. Go to alphausa.org/catholic. Then click on the Blog link alphausa.org/blog/. Now scroll down to the bottom of that page in the Useful Links section and hit the Guest Guide link, alphausa.org/alpha-guest-guide.

Then download this “Catholic” version of the user guide and make the determination whether it is Catholic or not. There are other items I didn’t mention that any practicing Catholic will see is a non-Catholic teaching. Then make up your own mind. Until proven otherwise by actual facts I will continue to speak out against this erroneous program.

-Ernie-
 
Or said a different way…

Ernie (and others) don’t like when the Catholic Church introduces error into our parishes. Some other people don’t know this is happening or don’t mind.

Many bishops (not Cardinal Burke!) have endorsed error.

End of another version of the story.

-Ernie-
 
Thank you for the information in both of your recent posts, Deacon. And I wanted to be respectful of the information you provided so I did read the survey. There were many good results (e.g.91% of regular Mass go-ers have a more intimate relationship with Jesus, 65% non-active Catholics now more committed to regularly attend Mass, and 81% of non-Christians now followers of Jesus), and a few questionable things (20% drop out rate, sample size of 161 from 51 parishes). And the endorsements are again duly noted. But, I’m not arguing any of the above and that’s where we seem to be having a bit of a misunderstanding.

My basic premise is that the Catholic Church should not allow any errors or beliefs that have been declared anathema to be legitimized…regardless of the results or endorsements. I’ll assume that you didn’t read the “Catholic” user guide that I described in a previous post where you could see them for yourself. Please read and comment on the errors. For some truly bizarre reason no one that promotes Alpha ever wants to talk about the errors or they brush them off like it’s just not a big deal. Kind of like a parent saying, “I’m good with my 8 year old swearing a bit because for the most part he or she uses good language”. Did Jesus or His apostles mix truth and error when they evangelized? Would they have taken the attitude of the good outweighs the bad?

We are knowingly spreading weeds among the flowers. We know that there are errors among the truth. We’re just hoping that the weeds (errors) don’t take root. And the big problem is that we can’t control what people do on their own. As a result of Alpha, do they visit the Nicky Gumbel site, read the Bibleinoneyear, read his recommended books and blog entries that have Protestant beliefs and go down that path? Do they start reading the Bible interpreting it on their own because that’s what they learned and start to question the Catholic Church’s teachings? Do they start to believe, over time, that there really is no such thing as a universal Church? That Alpha is right…we’re all just one big church where each of us have some portion of the truth?

I won’t pretend that I can answer those questions. What I do know is if any of those things happen to even one person and the seed that was planted was Alpha and I had a part in that then I will be judged for having known better. For having known there were errors among the truth. Our Protestant friends don’t have that issue because I’ll assume that they have “perfect ignorance”…not something we as Catholics can use as an excuse.

I get the survey results, the millions that have gone through Alpha, and the endorsements (minus Cardinal Burke). I really do. I just don’t agree with doing it without using purely Catholic teaching. You mean the US Bishops couldn’t have paid Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, or some other awesome Apologist to make a truly Catholic Alpha? It’s not rocket science. Feed people, have them watch and listen to a dynamic Catholic speaker, get them in small groups, and talk about their Catholic faith. It’s just not that hard especially if someone truly wanted to make that happen. Or are we afraid that our Catholic faith might be too restrictive? God help us…

-Ernie-
 
Respectfully, It may be the “end of story” for you, Deacon, but some of us like dialog. Your appeal to authority is misplaced, especially these days, when Church leaders don’t seem to be able to agree on even basic Catholic doctrine and we the laity have had to remind them of it. Ernie, others and I don’t merely state a subjective opinion, but also good arguments for having that opinion.

Alpha is flawed for the many reasons already stated in this thread. Besides that, it’s not Church dogma- It’s another commercial product among many. And it is shameful that we must (literally) buy into a protestant program (it is protestant as in it is designed by a protestant and prioritizes protestant beliefs and excludes specifically Catholic doctrine, at least initially) to evangelize.

I mean how on Earth can you claim a protestant-made program to be Catholic? What’s next, a program developed by Mormons, or maybe even atheists, that is “fully Catholic”? It’s incredible that I’m having to post this on the forums of Catholic Answers- home to some of the best Catholic apologists out there! Use their work to evangelize, defend and explain the faith, not the work of someone outside the Church who doesn’t even fully agree with our doctrines.

As I said, use it if it works. But this does not seem to be the best option out there. I wonder if St. Peter or St. Paul would consider a course written by brothers who have separated from the Church to be the best option for evangelization and the best use of Church funds.
 
First of all I wanted to sincerely thank you for your open, insightful, and respectful comments. You prove that we can have hotly debated discussions in a respectful manner, which is a great testament to you. On the other hand, I must admit that I have a personality flaw where I present myself a bit too aggressively sometimes!! I’m working on this!! Haha!

I’ll leave this post to just list what I believe to be “errors” in the “Catholic” guide that I downloaded based on my previous post. I’ll reply to your other thoughts in a separate post. My definition of “error” is either a teaching contradictory to the Catholic faith (e.g. Protestant Bible) or not listing a Catholic belief among the examples given (e.g. not including The Church in the examples of guidance). Here are the errors (sorry there are many) that I noticed in the “Catholic” guide with page references:
  • Protestant Bible references - Pages 2, 21, 24, 40, 62
  • Recommendation of Protestant Bible - Page 38
  • Endorsement of bibleinoneyear.org - Page 36, 38, 86
  • Justified defined as “just as if I’d never sinned” - Page 21
  • Become a child of God when we receive Christ (rather than at baptism) - Page 24
  • Romans 6:23 is referenced as free gift, but when you look at the passage it reads “…free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” that is followed in the guide by "receive it (eternal life) through repentance and faith…that’s Protestantism…- Page 25
  • Bible…what does it say to me, what mean, how apply with no mention of Church - Page 36
  • How Holy Spirit Guide us…Scripture, Holy Spirit, Counsel of Saints, Common Sense, Signs…is it in line with the Bible…where is the “is it in line with Church teaching”? Common sense but no Church!? - Page 41
  • Holy Spirit enables us to understand God’s Word…rather than the Church…- Page 52
  • How do we defend ourselves…no mention of the Church…a Catholic version would have found the Church to be essential - Page 68
  • Church…removed denominations so that was good…universal church being unified, diverse, and mutually dependent clearly not teaching the 1 True Church - Page 81
  • Start of relationship with God by saying a prayer - Page 84 (page not listed in guide)
  • Encouragement to go to Alpha websites (Alpha, bibleinoneyear, social media) where they will be exposed to Protestant based material - Page 86
  • Many references to Nicky Gumbel (websites, books, resources…)…not knowing any better I would seek to read more material from him, which will be quite Protestant in nature
The above are what I would call direct “errors” while the following are a bit more subtle:
  • “Sure of your faith” referencing 1 John 5:13 “knowing that you have eternal life” - Page 24- “Sinner’s prayer”…only thing missing is “you are now saved” - Page 26
  • Took 66 books out and didn’t replace with 73 books but just left blank…weak… - Page 34
I look forward to your response. Thanks!

-Ernie-
 
Hi Deacon Jeff,

I wanted to now reply to some of your thoughts to my earlier e-mail.

I apologize if I’m wrong, but it seems that you’re OK with omissions and exclusions when it comes to certain Catholic beliefs (i.e. Church excluded from guidance or Bible interpretation). In my opinion the problem with that line of thinking is that I can tell you, “Try the steak it’s delicious” while leaving out the fact that I laced it with arsenic. Sometimes excluding a key detail is so misleading that I’d call it “error”. Excluding the truth because it may cause conflict or isn’t open enough for everyone seems to be something that Catholics shouldn’t fall into. If we believe we are all called to evangelize let the Protestants evangelize what they believe to be the truth while Catholics evangelize the real truth. No offense meant to Protestants…it’s just what Catholics like me believe.

You stated, “after consultation with our local Alpha representative (a Catholic) that they are “no big deal” if handled properly during the course by the CATHOLIC facilitator (ME).” Think about that for a minute. I believe you just admitted that there are errors (or at the minimum saw something not quite kosher with Alpha) that you needed to “handle properly”. I’ll assume you did a great job, but what about others? What about my parish where they gave me the Protestant version of the users guide (although the “Catholic” version is worse…pretty ironic!)? You have to do unnatural acts and “handle properly” because of the errors. So did all of the church leaders who endorsed Alpha similarly recognize that Alpha needs to be “handled properly”? I’ve never seen a disclaimer on any endorsement.

You then stated, “Actually it exists. It’s called “Christlife” and the problem is - it stinks, its boring, the production quality is poor and the speakers are bland, and it doesn’t work nearly as well. I have been through, and am a trained facilitator for both Alpha and Christlife. Alpha is 1000%better, and the minor omissions in Alpha can be filled in by the facilitator (which I do) The alternatives, Christlife (which is a poor program though Catholic), or do nothing, are not acceptable.” I’ve heard of Christlife, but I’ve never seen it. If it is as you say then I blame whoever led that project. With something as important as evangelizing the faithful it should have been a Scott Hahn-like speaker or nothing. If funding was an issue then set up a Go Fund Me account if you had to…or just reach out to people like me who would have gladly contributed for a stud like Hahn or Staples to be the lead speakers. I have a feeling we’ll agree to disagree when I say that I’d rather do nothing then to introduce error. It sounds like you personally recognized and addressed the errors, but I’m positive that others turn a blind eye because that’s what my parish does…knowingly! And that’s the problem you run into when you allow erroneous teaching into the Church. There will be well intentioned but lazy pastors who will use it just because of “success” and endorsements.

And finally you stated “results matter”. Yes, but at what cost? A good grade with only a little cheating? Meeting a grocery budget with just a little stealing? You’ve mitigated the risk at your parish, but “results” can never ever come at the expense of truth. If you need to hide, work around, disregard, make excuses, or “handle properly” than you need to find something else.

One final thought…God makes lemonade out of lemons all the time. I don’t think many Catholics would call what Martin Luther did “a good thing”, but God has turned it into something good for many. God is just awesome and can make “good” out of anything, but it doesn’t mean that it was right to begin with. The ends or “results” don’t justify the means.

Thank you for the continued dialogue. God Bless!

-Ernie-
 
Fischli said:
Catholic Answers recommends Alpha:
catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/alpha-kerygma
youtube.com/watch?v=W4cULzIFo7o
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Yeah, I saw that Catholic Answers recommended Alpha and was very disappointed in that. If anything I would have thought they would have seen the many errors themselves and might even put out a Catholic evangelization program rather than side with an obviously Protestant one. Not one person has ever explained away the many errors that are present in the Alpha course. It’s sad that we as Catholics must dummy down or even allow error to creep into our teachings in order to evangelize.

-Ernie-
 
Hi Deacon Jeff,

In a separate thread you responded to my post #86, but that thread was deleted for some reason. I greatly appreciated your response and thankfully copied 4 of your 5 responses so that I could respond in kind. I’ll do that now with my responses as well (your response in black and mine in red font):
  1. Being a Child of God: I recognize that as children we were all taught that in baptism we become "children of God. But the Catholic Church actually uses that term in a much broader sense. The catechism says:
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

Accordingly, it through “grace” that we can become “children of God”. Grace comes in various ways, including of course the sacraments, in which we receive sanctifying grace, but also undoubtedly in opening our hearts and minds to God i.e. “receiving Him”. Therefore this reference is not “error”. It is simply not the way we as Catholics tend to think about the term “child of God”. However, it isn’t wrong.

In my opinion you are confusing justification with baptism. I agree that it is only through grace that we are justified (only by grace we have faith, do good works, etc…it is all through the grace of God), but the Catholic Church is very clear when it states: “The Symbol of the faith confesses the greatness of God’s gifts to man in his work of creation, and even more in redemption and sanctification. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate: by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become “children of God,” “partakers of the divine nature.” (1692)

It is through baptism that we become a child of God. It is a key tenet of our faith and defense against those that believe that baptism is unnecessary. If we start to believe that baptism is unnecessary and that you can become a child of God without it then why do it? I’m not speaking about those who of no fault of their own don’t understand what baptism means, but rather those of us that do know better. To teach people, in a Catholic setting, that baptism is not necessary is not only error, but heresy in my opinion. In no way is this purely omission but rather deception and error.
  1. Justification “as if we never sinned”. Obviously the issue of “justification” has been hotly debated by Catholic and Protestant theologians, and the bottom line is we simply use the same words to describe different things. It isn’t a fundamental theological dispute, as the recent agreement on justification between Lutherans and Catholics demonstrates. However that said, the catechism teaches:
1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.39

1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God’s merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals.

I don’t think it is too much of stretch to say that these passages can be somewhat casually simplified to say “just like we never sinned”. Not an error, maybe just a bit too casual in phraseology.

This won’t be a shocker, but I again couldn’t disagree any more. Since Alpha is ideally for beginners in the faith it is that much more important that we don’t give people a wrong initial impression of the faith. “Just like we never sinned” is in direct opposition to Purgatory. Every knowledgeable Catholic knows that and shouldn’t be treated as just “too casual”. Add this to how Alpha interprets Romans 6:23 as eternal life through repentance and faith and you are down an excellent path to becoming a Protestant.

Rather, Catholics believe in how the Catechism defines it: Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man. (2019). Alpha provides a point of view on justification and because it is a Protestant based program it leaves out or omits how justification is truly defined. Yet, as Catholics we know that this isn’t an omission, but rather a key tenet in their heresy. They “omit” because they don’t believe. And by allowing this to be taught in a Catholic Church is at the minimum disingenuous, but I call it what it really is…error.
 
Deacon response in black font, mine in red…

4.Church - The reference to the “universal” church is completely consistent with one of the models of Church that the Catholic church acknowledges. I suggest you read Models of the Church by Avery Cardinal Dulles. amazon.com/Models-Church…/dp/0385133685 The “church” being the body of all Christians is not error. It is consistent with 1.Cor. 12 as well. Admittedly, Alpha does omit the model of the Catholic church with its necessary authority as part of the section on “church” but again, omission, not error.

I agree that one definition of “church” is the assembly of all who believe in Jesus. But, I like the definition in the Catechism better when it states, “The Church is the Body of Christ. Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body.” (805). And my issue isn’t necessarily about what constitutes “church” as much as what constitutes authority.

In his video Nicky Gumbel states that “no one has the whole truth…we need each other and only together do we get a better view of Jesus…” Again, he’s taking a stand by professing his belief and that belief is in absolute opposition to the Catholic Church who in fact claims to be the sole Church of Christ possessing the fullness of truth. This is not omission on his part, but rather opposition. If you allow Catholics to believe what Nicky is preaching the Catholic Church comes crumbling down like a stack of cards. It is all about authority; the authority given to the Catholic Church by Jesus.

On Sundays Catholics profess that there is one, holy, catholic/universal church. And that one church is the Catholic Church. If rather, Catholics started to believe that the “universal church” simply means “all of those who believe in Jesus” then the authority of the Catholic Church can and will be called into question. A great (but sad) example of this is when a fellow parishioner invited me to a bible study at a Protestant church. I jokingly stated that I better not attend because I’d probably get into a fight over doctrinal differences. She replied, “now Ernie, remember we are all one church”. I said, “But we’re not. Yes, we are all a community of believers, but there is but one Church and that is the Catholic Church and all it believes”. That is the mindset that can develop with Alpha and I can’t be a party to it.
  1. What bible to read. As I recall, you had a whole thread on this issue. Bottom line: the “protestant bible” is “incomplete”, not “wrong”. Moreover, nowhere in the actual presentations is there any recommendation to any specific bible, just to the “bible”. Admittedly the materials reference a protestant bible, but in the training for “Alpha in the Catholic Context” the facilitator material (which I got) make a point of bringing up the differences between the 66 book and 73 book bibles and gives facilitators a list of Catholic bibles to share with folks. It is in fact a teaching opportunity (which I used) in a program that is not really designed to be about “teaching” but about “relationship”. Not only is this not error, it is a specific recognition that we need to treat this issue frankly in the actual discussion section. That said, it is a lot better if someone who has never read a bible, reads the KJV than no bible at all. Of course the Jerusalem, NABRE, Douey etc would be better still (and we tell them that)
I’ve heard the “incomplete” argument before and frankly in my opinion it’s a bogus argument. Would it be “incomplete” for me to say a human has only 1 ear or that a square has only 3 sides? Would anyone in their right mind say that those answers are incomplete rather than wrong? Protestants state the Word of God is complete with only 66 books. That is incorrect and not just merely “incomplete”. Anytime you present someone erroneous information there is room to make it a teaching moment, but why introduce the error in the first place? And Alpha goes farther than that by promoting the incorrect version of the bible via the bible in one year website. Again, it’s not merely omission when one takes a stand on an issue.

I tend to agree that it is better for a person to read the KJV bible rather than no bible at all, but if we have an opportunity why even give the impression, yet alone promote, an incorrect bible? Why not strictly recommend the real bible, the 73 book Catholic version? And why can’t a “relationship” be developed at the same time truth is introduced? Why are we so afraid to preach the truth? Has the truth become too divisive and too limiting? God help us if the Catholic Church believes that to be true.

I have a feeling that we are going to continue to agree to disagree. Your beliefs that Alpha simply omits the truth just doesn’t sit well with me. When I knowingly omit something to be true that is not just an omission, but a lie or error. If in a court room I testified to the truth, but left portions out I would be committing perjury, a crime. And that is what we’re committing by teaching Alpha to Catholics. We know better and yet are a party to this. By “omitting” the truth we are perjuring ourselves and committing a crime before God.

But, I do believe your heart is in the right place as well as mine. I have no ill feelings toward you or your convictions regarding the Alpha program. We both have strong opinions and I hope you and I (and those reading this thread) only grow stronger in our faith as I’m a big believer in iron sharpens iron. We will all grow in our faith as we passionately speak the truth and fight the good fight.

Thank you again, Deacon, for this continuing dialogue.

-Ernie-
 
With all due respect you keep stating that I’m looking for Alpha to be a teaching tool as if Alpha isn’t itself a teaching tool. Of course it is as it is teaching who Jesus is, what the Bible is, what the church is, etc. Alpha defines how to become a child of God and how to be justified. Let’s at least be honest about that.

My contention with Alpha has always been that in so teaching many of the items conflict with Catholic teaching. It misconstrues many teachings, which I’ve pointed out in previous posts. I imagine the church hierarchy endorses Alpha so readily because they are so concerned, rightly so, about the plummeting numbers of Catholics in the U.S. that they have latched on to anything, even a Protestant based program, to evangelize the faithful. As you’ve previously stated Alpha isn’t Catholic and if there was a good Catholic Evangelization program you would use that. I believe so would they and they should do all they can to create a truly Catholic Evangelization program.

If Evangelization were the primary goal then we could hire a Christian band like Casting Crowns, invite a preacher like Joel Osteen to speak, and then have an altar call. That would be awesomely evangelistic!! I’ve been to those kind of sessions where 100s are “saved”. But, that wouldn’t be right. Why, because it’s not what we believe. As Catholics we need to be just as mindful of the means as we are about the results, especially when it comes to evangelizing.

Just my opinion Deacon. Thank you for the dialogue. I pray you take my strong opinions in a charitable way because that’s my intent.

-Ernie-
 
It looks like we’re coming to an end to our long dialogue regarding Alpha and I just wanted to make a few things clear. I believe we are not supposed to be blind followers. If we read through every single Church Ecumenical Council encyclical we will find several condemnations and reforms of church abuse. That doesn’t mean the Catholic Church taught error, but there were individual priests, parishes, and dioceses that engaged in erroneous practices that needed to be addressed. The Protestant Reformation was only the most famous case where church abuse needed to be addressed. These abuses do not constitute “the gates of hell prevailing”. You make it sound like church hierarchy can never make a mistake or have a wrong opinion and that is just false. We can and should question teachings or practices that are suspect.

Is any of the church hierarchy now teaching that a 66 book bible is equal to the real bible? No. Is the church hierarchy now teaching that you no longer need to be baptized in order to be a child of God? No. Is the church hierarchy now teaching that justification no longer includes sanctification? No. Is the church hierarchy now teaching that the Catholic Church is no longer necessary for salvation? No. I’m not saying the Church is falling into apostasy by teaching the Alpha course. What I am saying is that by allowing Alpha to infiltrate our Catholic parishes we are potentially leading people down a dangerous slippery slope through condoning what you call “omissions”. Let me explain.

Let’s assume your “Alpha only omits Catholic truth” argument is valid. And let’s also assume that there are those Alpha participants that do not attend a follow-on session where these omissions can be properly explained (my former parish doesn’t even have a follow-on session). Is it possible that through the Alpha program these many “omissions” take root in people without being addressed? Is it then possible that some may leave the Catholic Church since they heard there really isn’t a one, holy, catholic church and that we all possess truth (remember that the Alpha participants hear that “no one has the whole truth”)? Is it possible that they start reading the false 66 book bible, attend a Protestant-based bible study, and are then taught the “errors” of the 73 book bible and thus leave the Church? Is it possible that Alpha participants, now that Nicky Gumbel has been promoted to them, will start to read his books that espouse Protestant beliefs and in time become a Protestant?

There are many such examples that could be presented. I’m starting to get the sick feeling that some who support Alpha don’t think these are bad things. You and those that are proponents of Alpha are playing that scary game of looking the other way because of the “results”. You know of the results because the participants make it known to you. But, are you aware of anyone who now thinks like a Protestant or worse has left the Church after attending an Alpha course? Probably not because why would they tell you that? But I do and I’ve seen it. Are these casualties just the price to pay for the “results” of Alpha? Maybe in the mind of the Alpha supporter it is, that it doesn’t bother them, or that it’s not a problem. For me, when I’m standing before God and he asks me, “Why did you condone a program you knew could lead people away from My Church? When did I ever give the impression it was OK to potentially lead people away from My Church for the sake of spreading the gospel?” I’ll know that I knew better. I would expect to be judged for that. And that is why I can have nothing to do with Alpha regardless of its “results”.

Because of how much thought and prayer that has gone into this I am no longer “invincibly ignorant” regarding Alpha. For me, to condone Alpha, yet alone participate in it, would be sinful. You use the same arguments I have heard others use, “endorsement of church leaders” or “it’s just omission” or “but the results!” as it relates to why they are pro-Alpha. It’s all based on the ineffectiveness of Catholic-based evangelization programs and rather than address that issue we use a Protestant based one and hope that our faithful don’t reflect on the items that are misconstrued or in error (and never tell us about it!).

I’m not seeking perfection. I’m simply asking for the truth to be properly conveyed without any “omissions” or contrary-to-the-truth points of view.

God bless you, Deacon.

-Ernie-
 
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