This is just my personal theory, but I think that one of the best ways to bring Protestants “home” to the Catholic Church is to get them to attend mass, not just once, but over and over again.
My husband and I were extremely involved evangelical Protestants for over 40 years. When my youngest daughter was in high school, she was a member of a world-ranked synchronized skating team that practiced in the Big City 65 miles away from our hometown. Her practice times were Saturday and Sunday from 5:30 AM -1: PM. (There were other practice times during the week–it was and still is one of the best teams in the world.)
That meant we couldn’t attend our Protestant church on Sunday mornings. We tried going to church in a church near the rink in the Big City, but spent most of the service wondering if our daughter was alright. (Synchronized skating is dangerous, and it’s better if a parent is around when there is an accident. Our older daughter had to be taken to the ER when she was bladed in the nose; thankfully Daddy was there to take her.)
So one weekend I announced that I would go to the Catholic Church down the road, since they had a Saturday EVENING service. (We didn’t know at the time that it’s not a “service.”)
My husband and I went to the Catholic Church, and said, “We should keep doing this. The Bible says that we’re not supposed to forsake assembling ourselves together with other believers. Even though it’s Catholic, it’s still Christian, and it’s important that we obey God’s Word, even if we don’t agree with everything they teach.”
Bottom Line–we started attending Mass out of OBEDIENCE to God’s Word. We had always been taught to obey God’s Word, and we did so.
And God honored that obedience.
We went week after week, seldom missing a mass. Within a few weeks, we made an appointment to talk to one of the priests, and asked him to explain all that was happening in the mass, and what a Protestant could and couldn’t do. (We knew we shouldn’t take the Communion.)
He recommended that we attend the church’s Apologetics Class, which we did, and discovered that the teacher was a former member of one of the evangelical churches we had attended!
Within a few months, we both “recognized” Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I think we recognized Him all along, but prejudice against Catholic teaching prevented us from admitting it. But we had known Him as Savior and Lord since childhood, so of course we recognized Jesus when we saw Him, even though He was “veiled” as Bread and Wine.
It was so exciting to see Jesus, even veiled. If I may make an analogy, it was like recognizing your favorite movie star in an airport! But Jesus is so much more than a mere movie star! He is the LORD.
I think both of us said the same thing–“It is the LORD!”
That’s when we really started studying the Catholic Church–when we KNEW that Jesus was there waiting for us.
I think if Protestants had the opportunity to attend mass, many of them would also “recognize” Jesus, their Lord and Savior. After all, it’s really, truly HIM! It’s not just a “teaching,” it’s HIM!
The problem is, many Protestants are committed to various ministries in their own churches, and they simply can’t miss those ministries for more than a few weeks. (E.g., Sunday School teacher, Children’s Church teacher, choir member, nursery aide, kitchen helper, communion preparation, etc.). So they might go to a Catholic Church once for a wedding, but they simply aren’t going to go week after week.
We are very thankful that our daughters were synchronized skaters, otherwise, we might never have visited the Catholic Church! Isn’t it neat the way God worked that out for us?
There is more to the story than that. About a year after we started going to mass at the Catholic Church, we were kicked out of our evangelical church when a woman pastor made accusations against me that were not true. (A year later, she was fired after being caught in a lie.) It was terrible, awful, but thank God, He had a Church all ready for us!
BTW, both of my daughters attend Catholic churches, even though they aren’t Catholic. But in recent months, both of them have stated that they think they should become Catholic.
So my theory might be true. Get Protestants to come to mass week after week, and they will see the same Jesus that they “accepted into their hearts.”
What do you think of my theory?
BTW, since that time, many Protestant churches have started doing Saturday evening services. So if God’s timing hadn’t been perfect, my husband and I might have started attending a Sat. night Protestant service, and we would have missed coming home. Again, thank God!
