While you maybe can make a case here of rejecting Church teaching, rejecting Christ himself is a bit of a stretch. He was participating in a Christian ritual in a Christian Church. I believe Christ is present in more than just the Catholic Church. Nobody was rejecting Christ in this situation.
Mike, rejecting Church teaching is rejecting Christ. The Catholic who knows that the Church forbids him to receive communion in protestant churches and does it anyway is rejecting teaching authority which Christ gave his bishop through apostolic succession. This is rejecting Christ, just as all sin is rejecting Christ. You are, however, correct that Christ is present in more than just the Catholic Church.
Um, how about Christianity as a whole being his body? Here is a way to illustrate it. The trunk being Catholicism, and the arms, legs, head, and so on being the other Christian denominations. As a whole, we are all one body. Christianity.
I agree with you here (except traditionally Christ is portrayed as the head). All baptized Christians are members of the Body of Christ. When I think of the Body of Christ, I also like to think of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church his Bride. In unity of marriage the Bride and Bridegroom become one flesh - one body. But if one spouse turns against the other one, that unity is broken and they’re not truly one. Luckily they’re still held together by the bond of marriage, which will hopefully give them the grace restore that unity.
In the same way when individual members of the Body of Christ turn against Christ, our spouse, we separate ourselves from the unity which makes the body a whole. Yet we are still bound to Christ through the sacrament of baptism, which will give us the grace to return to full communion if we choose to accept it. This goes for everyone, whether Catholic or Protestant. When we sin and turn our backs on God, we disrupt the unity that makes us one with Christ.
You see here is the problem, each slice, denomination or whatever you want to call it feels they are right. Here is a novel concept, why instead of concentrating on the differences, concentrate on what we all have in common, and I bet thats at least 80%. All Christians are followers of Christ and his teachings. Yes, there are some significant interpretation differences in some cases, but we are all Christians.
You are right that we are all Christians and followers of Christ and his teachings. But we don’t all follow him completely. Don’t look at denominations, they just throw you off. Look at individuals.
If you’re suggesting a dichotomy between concentrating on what we have in common and not receiving communion in protestant churches, you’re creating another false dichotomy. A Catholic can fully participate in a protestant service without receiving communion, just as a Catholic can fully participate at Mass without receiving communion.
Also, Christ gave us a solution for the people who have contradicting opinions about His teachings: His Church. In a mystical sense the Church is all baptized Christians and saints, but in the physical sense it is also the institution that Christ founded to teach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. It’s important not to separate these two. You’ll be surprised to find that once you accept orthodoxy there’s actually a lot of freedom of thought.
Ah, but I’m sure the Episcopalians believe the Holy Spirit is guiding them as well, and who is to say thats not true?
As long as what they’re doing/saying is in accord with the Church, we know that the Holy Spirit is guiding them. Where it is not, they are following their own will. It doesn’t matter what denomination you are, look at people as individuals. Whenever they follow the Church, they follow the Holy Spirit who instructs the Church and prevents Her from falling into error.
If your own honest opinion mirrors that of the Church, fine. However, none of us are required to check our brain at the door when we join the Church. Nobody should be afraid to voice their concerns about a Church policy, if they have one. The Catholic Church is not a dictatorship, and this is a forum. If you can’t offer a true opinion in this setting, then you might as well shut it down because obviously either everybody agrees with each other or are afraid to say anything.
I started practicing my faith again after years away from the Church when I stopped checking my brain at the door. I finally realized that all the different denominations teach some things that are directly contradictory to what others teach. It’s not logically possible for them all to be right. So I started searching for the Truth and found it in the Catholic Church.
We should always question in order to understand better. This is what the OP did. You, on the other hand, have not been asking questions in order to gain a deeper understand of Catholic teaching. You have knowingly offered the OP advice that goes against church teaching and could lead him/her astray. You don’t want to learn, you just want to convince others to follow your way. Follow the OPs example and search for the Truth rather than people to back up your personal opinions - I think you’ll find that discovering the Truth requires you to use a lot more of your brain than finding friends to agree with you does.
