Convince Anglican to become Catholic

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yawnernonner

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Quick rundown on the guy: hates modernism, but doesn’t see a reason to become Catholic because he sees denominations as interchangeable (thinking God loves all Christians, which is true, but not in the sense that he means). He is open-minded in the good sense, and he is willing to consider what I say. What should I tell him tomorrow?
 
The fullness of the truth is found in the Catholic church, the church Christ Himself founded and he physically endures here with us today in the Eucharist. He can’t get the full truth or the Eucharist elsewhere.
 
This is difficult for Catholic-minded Anglicans. Some people in the Anglican tradition believe in the “undivided church” theory, or view Christianity as a tree with many branches all part of the catholic Church, as in “universal”, small-c catholic.
 
Ask him if he believes it’s important to be in the Church that Jesus founded. Ask him if he believes we should obey Jesus- this means that, if He told us to eat His flesh and drink His blood, to do so. This means that, if He desired us to go to confession to a priest, to do so. This means, if He desired for us to be under the care of the Pope, to be so. Then ask him if he thinks it’s OK to exchange what Jesus actually said for what we wish He said.
 
Ask him if he is aware that the Anglican Church started because king Henry VIII did not get a divorce from the Pope? So at first, there were no doctrinal differences only the fact that this Church would no longer acknowledge the Pope as its leader! does that make sense to him?
Yes over time the Anglican Church adopted doctrinal changes, became more ‘Protestant’ as it were… but one should always look to the origins for discernment.
 
Great post! I hadn’t seen the ship analogy posting it’s excellent thanks for sharing!
 
I’d point out to your friend that within Anglicanism, there is much dissension on things like same-sex marriage. When two groups hold diametrically opposed ideas, they cannot both be right.

In the case of the Catholic Church, there are factions that advocate for same-sex marriage but they are seen as renegades.
 
That diagram is not relevant to the Anglican. Anglicanism sits on a three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition and Reason.

The metaphor of the three-legged stool is in fact Anglican.
 
There is no such thing as “the Anglican Church”. And the Church of England was not founded by Henry VIII. He separated the CofE from the Church of Rome, but the English Church had existed for more than a thousand years.
 
It’s not your job, nor do you have the ability, to “convince” anyone to become Catholic…that is the job of the Holy Spirit…all you can do is evangelize, catechize, and pray…leave the rest to God!
 
“Ask him if he is aware that the Anglican Church started because king Henry VIII did not get a divorce from the Pope?”

It was in fact an annulment Henry sought.

And if the fellow is Anglo-catholic, I would caution you in opening that can of historical beans.

He’s not only likely to be quite aware of that event, it is highly probable you would find your arguments politely eviscerated, a la Saepius officio- style.

Probably in Latin, too.
 
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I mean NO offense to anyone here please but Anglicanism was founded by King Henry because he wanted the church wouldn’t give him an annulment for his marriage to Catherine. Out of all the protestant religions (which I have great respect for!) it’s among the easiest to “debunk” and see how false it is. Please, no offense to Anglicans!
 
yawnernonner said:
Quick rundown on the guy: hates modernism, but doesn’t see a reason to become Catholic because he sees denominations as interchangeable (thinking God loves all Christians, which is true, but not in the sense that he means). He is open-minded in the good sense, and he is willing to consider what I say. What should I tell him tomorrow?
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As a former Anglican believer, i’ll tell you one thing: the Church Fathers. If you could convince anybody to read on them and their teachings long enough, it is almost impossible for one not to become a Catholic.

“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”

― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
 
I understand that you, as a Catholic, must take that view. No offense taken.

The Church of England, however, maintains a different historical view.
 
OKComputer said:
I mean NO offense to anyone here please but Anglicanism was founded by King Henry because he wanted the church wouldn’t give him an annulment for his marriage to Catherine. Out of all the protestant religions (which I have great respect for!) it’s among the easiest to “debunk” and see how false it is. Please, no offense to Anglicans!
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Please correct me if i’m wrong, however the way i remember the history, it is unfair to credit King Henry VIII for the foundation of the Anglican Church per se. While it is true that the king gave consent to it by taking the full advantage of it (i.e., annulment, free investiture from the Pope by becoming the head of the church, keeping church tax, etc) as far as he was concerned himself, it is more so that his cabinet and high officials primarily Cromwell, the Chancellor, who benefitted immensely from it by gaining tremendous power, freedom and confidence of the king himself, as well. Lutheran ideas had already been promoted through a secret link of believers in and around Germany, and had already made its way into England at the time.
 
Fr. Mike did a great video explanation. I would ask if he’s open to seeing some of his videos. 🙂
 
Thanks for understanding. I have great respect for all of my fellow believers in Christ!
 
OKComputer said:
Anglicanism was founded by King Henry because he wanted the church wouldn’t give him an annulment for his marriage to Catherine. Out of all the protestant religion
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I’m certainly not going to defend Henry’s break, but this juxtaposition is amusing.

Henry can be accused of many things, most correctly, but protestantism isn’t one of them. He actually continued to persecute protestants after the break.

The English church was merely in schism at that point; it wouldn’t be infected with protestantism until after his death.

Not all non-Catholic Christians are protestant; there are a few other varieties.

hawk
 
I believe when I was Episcopalian, they used the 3 legged stool also. However, in place of Magesterium, I believe they wrote reason. However, I came to realize that reason was up to each individual and how they wanted to believe in the scripture and tradition.
 
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