Catholics are Christians

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So I was in my speech class today (at a Lutheran school) and I turned in a topic for a persuasive speech saying “Persuade on differences of Catholic Church” I was called after class by my teacher and she told me that “This school is ecumenical so you can’t really persuade us to like the Catholic Church or convert because of a lot of hatred probably towards Catholics. How about do convincing people that Catholics are Christians since I’m sure a lot of people don’t think Catholics are Christian.”

This shocked me extremely that she would have the qualms to say that because I get where she is coming from but in this class are me and one other Catholic. So, just to try and get as many words in about the Catholic Church, I will do the “Convince people that Catholics are Christians” argument.

I was thinking of starting by reciting the Nicene Creed to begin with but after this…i need some help. Please give me some ideas, hopefully using Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to reveal to this class that Catholic’s are Christians.
 
What do the persons in question think a Christian is? It might depend on who you are talking to for your approach.
If you are at a Lutheran school, you might preach best by having confidence in your own faith and answering for your faith with sound answers.

I also remember reading a good book back in the day called Catholic & Christian by Dr. Alan Schreck.
 
It’s always shocking, and often angering, to see how horrifically misinformed the protestants sects are about the Church which they chose to abandon in favor of their own worldly and woefully incomplete versions of it.
 
It is sad to say but some Catholics do not portray a very good image of being Christian.

This makes life difficult for Catholics who are trying to live loving humble Christian lives to be a witness to Christ.

As in any walk of life we are all ambassadors for whatever organisation we belong to.

When I was at Convent secondary school I remember being taught that while we wear our school uniform…we are representing the school and our every action,or lack of, reflects directly on the school.

So when we are ‘in the world’ and we tell the world we are Catholics our every action represents the Catholic Church.

By our actions people will come to know of the Church Jesus established here on earth.
We can speak as many words as we like,but actions speak far louder.

We have to overcome the damage of Catholics who have given a poor representation of the Church.

I wish you well and may God guide you to give a good message of faith

God bless
 
ProdglArchitect said:
It’s always shocking, and often angering, to see how horrifically misinformed the protestants sects are about the Church which they chose to abandon in favor of their own worldly and woefully incomplete versions of it.
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Not just protestants.
As a child at CATHOLIC school, I had CATHOLIC friends (who had been at the school for 8 years) that said things like “I’m not Christian, I’m Catholic!” I had to use the “Catholics are Saint Bernards, Baptists are chihuahuas, and Presbyterians are toy poodles. All of them are ‘dogs’ or Christians” (forgive the awful analogy- I was 12)

OP- You might talk about how Catholics compiled the Bible.
 
I never like having these conversations in real life, because they can be so pointlessly divisive. Just respond with your favorite Bible verse, whether it’s the Golden Rule (Mathew 7:12), the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7), etc. Try not to get into a debate, and don’t bash their beliefs. Whoever is saying this to you is probably just repeating something they’ve been told by someone else, and anything negative you say will likely reinforce their negative views of you. But if you can keep your head and respond with the positive Bible-based stories or passages you believe in, I think you can prove your point. I encourage you to respond with the love and patience that Christ teaches us, and hopefully you can open this person’s eyes to the fact that your beliefs are just as worthy of respect as theirs.
 
Peter12rb said:
I never like having these conversations in real life, because they can be so pointlessly divisive. Just respond with your favorite Bible verse, whether it’s the Golden Rule (Mathew 7:12), the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7), etc. Try not to get into a debate, and don’t bash their beliefs. Whoever is saying this to you is probably just repeating something they’ve been told by someone else, and anything negative you say will likely reinforce their negative views of you. But if you can keep your head and respond with the positive Bible-based stories or passages you believe in, I think you can prove your point. I encourage you to respond with the love and patience that Christ teaches us, and hopefully you can open this person’s eyes to the fact that your beliefs are just as worthy of respect as theirs.
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👍
 
landon13 said:
So I was in my speech class today (at a Lutheran school) and I turned in a topic for a persuasive speech saying “Persuade on differences of Catholic Church” I was called after class by my teacher and she told me that “This school is ecumenical so you can’t really persuade us to like the Catholic Church or convert because of a lot of hatred probably towards Catholics. How about do convincing people that Catholics are Christians since I’m sure a lot of people don’t think Catholics are Christian.”

This shocked me extremely that she would have the qualms to say that because I get where she is coming from but in this class are me and one other Catholic. So, just to try and get as many words in about the Catholic Church, I will do the “Convince people that Catholics are Christians” argument.

I was thinking of starting by reciting the Nicene Creed to begin with but after this…i need some help. Please give me some ideas, hopefully using Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to reveal to this class that Catholic’s are Christians.
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Well, it’s disgusting alright, but since you went with the new topic…

Your at a Lutheran school, so topics you could cover could probably include how the Church put the Bible together (Sola Scriptura), also the importance of God’s grace in the Catholic Church, how it precedes and is part of all Catholic acts, since Lutherans like the emphasis on grace. Using St. Augustine is never a bad idea, and the JDDJ signed by the LWF and Catholic Church in '99 wouldn’t be bad to use either. Maybe talk about the sacraments too. 🙂

Using any ancient Creed would work well, since you have to establish what it means to be Christian too (belief in the Trinity). But you could also add how Catholics are also similar to other Christians in other ways besides belief in the Trinity. That’s where talking about grace and sacraments with the Bible could come in handy.

Hope that does you some good, if any.
 
I would take the top 5 of the 95 theses and show how the Roman Church reformed during the counter Reformation and that there is no reason for the separation. But then I like to stir things up a bit sometimes…
 
landon13 said:
So I was in my speech class today (at a Lutheran school) and I turned in a topic for a persuasive speech saying “Persuade on differences of Catholic Church” I was called after class by my teacher and she told me that “This school is ecumenical so you can’t really persuade us to like the Catholic Church or convert because of a lot of hatred probably towards Catholics. How about do convincing people that Catholics are Christians since I’m sure a lot of people don’t think Catholics are Christian.”

This shocked me extremely that she would have the qualms to say that because I get where she is coming from but in this class are me and one other Catholic. So, just to try and get as many words in about the Catholic Church, I will do the “Convince people that Catholics are Christians” argument.

I was thinking of starting by reciting the Nicene Creed to begin with but after this…i need some help. Please give me some ideas, hopefully using Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to reveal to this class that Catholic’s are Christians.
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Research the writings of the early Christians. There were no Protestants before the 1500’s. How they believed in sacraments, priests and the real presence in the Eucharist. A quick starter is called “The Apostolic Fathers” and it’s by Moody Publishing- a Protestant publisher. Here’s a link:

amazon.com/The-Apostolic-Fathers-Moody-Classics/dp/0802456596

Once you establish that the very people who were taught by Jesus’s disciples believed in Catholic beliefs, your argument should be clear. You could also bring up how a council of Catholic bishops, in the Council of Carthage (397 AD) decided what books belong in the Bible and which didn’t.
 
Hi Landon - You certainly are in a pickle and I don’t want to make this any more difficult for you than it should be. Here are my thoughts on the issue.

Martin Luther, the founder of Luteranism was a Catholic Priest and monk. As such he was a devout follower of Christ as were his peers before and after. By definition, that made him, his peers, and his predecessors (as well as future Catholics) Christians.

In simple non theological terms, Luther tried to reform the theology of the Catholic Church to fit his interpretation of parts of the bible and that is what started the Protestant Reformation.

So, instead of going through a lot of bible quotes, etc. I would use the historical record to show that Luther did not invent/discover Christianity, but was a Christian as a Roman Catholic.

Whatever you do be polite and respectful. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
Thanks y’all for your posts. I knew I would get a lot of feedback from y’all on this topic. I think I’m going to make a lot of use of my Catholic apologetics library I have here in my room 🙂 I’m using a lot from The Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin and the Essential Catholic Survival Guide by Catholic Answers. The speech is next week sometime (or the following week) and I will make sure I keep y’all informed on the happenings of this speech or of any questions I have. Please keep the info flowing!
 
We are Christians…have been called Christians since the first century

First members of the Church were called “the disciples”… (See Acts)

Later called followers of “the way” …and it seems “Nazarenes” (see Acts)

then at Antioch we started being called Christians. (See Acts)

Later in the first century the Church started to be called “Catholic” (see St. Ignatius --again at Antioch --use around the year 100–Catholic Answers will have various things on this)

So in time Christians began to be also called Catholics.

Now a days we have many sorts of Christians --who are indeed Christians and our brothers…whom we call Christians …though we are unhappily not yet in full communion.

Catholics are Christians who in full communion with the successor of Peter. We call ourselves Christians all the time…Pope Benedict XVI when addressing the faithful did not usually say “Catholics this or that” but called them Christians…for that is what we are (see his homilies or audiences)

Other Christians have various degrees of communion with us.

As one early Christian noted (375AD)

“If you want to know who I am,” he said, “Christian is my name, Catholic is my surname.”

St. Pacian
 
landon13 said:
So I was in my speech class today (at a Lutheran school) and I turned in a topic for a persuasive speech saying “Persuade on differences of Catholic Church” I was called after class by my teacher and she told me that “This school is ecumenical so you can’t really persuade us to like the Catholic Church or convert because of a lot of hatred probably towards Catholics. How about do convincing people that Catholics are Christians since I’m sure a lot of people don’t think Catholics are Christian.”

This shocked me extremely that she would have the qualms to say that because I get where she is coming from but in this class are me and one other Catholic. So, just to try and get as many words in about the Catholic Church, I will do the “Convince people that Catholics are Christians” argument.

I was thinking of starting by reciting the Nicene Creed to begin with but after this…i need some help. Please give me some ideas, hopefully using Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to reveal to this class that Catholic’s are Christians.
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I’m shocked as well. What exactly was your persuasive essay about?
Lutheran schools, at least Missouri Synod ones, are usually very welcoming of all students, while not hiding our Lutheran-ness. It seems to me by the title of your essay that this would be precisely the kind of essay a Lutheran school would look for, particularly a persuasive one. And if there is some hatred towards Catholics by some in that parish, the pastor probably ought to read it aloud and preach on it at divine service.

Jon
 
When people ask my religion, I simply say “I’m Christian.” I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and I believe Yeshua is the Messiah. It’s as simple as that.
 
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