How to counteract local Protestant evangelism crusades?

[posh6921]

I do not think that protestants believe in protestantism the same way catholics believe in catholicism.They don’t believe in formulas that preserve them from hell fire or purchase them from purgatory. They don’t really believe in a Church as much as they believe in a person. To them, tradition is the tradition of the original Apostles not subsequent replacements.They don’t think like catholics.

 

[Sarah_Angel]

So please! Stop with that “Catholicism is the only one true religion” stuff. You insult yourself and your church leaders by spewing that inclusive falsity.

Hmmm…

I think someone pointed out earlier that we shouldn’t condemn others who have at least some of the Truth. The problem is that they don’t have the fullness of truth. And while whatever truth they believe can still save them, how much better would it be to live in the fullness of truth while living in this life?

That being said, I do know that sometimes calling the Catholic Church “the one true religion” can feel condescending to people who don’t believe that, so in that regard I watch my tongue.

When we evangelize, we want to do what we can to turn people on to Catholicism. Although sometimes saying that the Catholic Church is the one true religion to people who are looking for a church that claims that, but for a lot of people I know, they believe that claiming that a particular religion as the “one truth” is arrogant and it just leaves them more reason to believe that Catholics are naive and stick their heads in a hole.

Certainly if anyone asks, we should say, “Yes, it is the fullness of truth,” but it might not be the first thing that should come out of your mouth when talking to a non-Catholic.

 

[CalCatholic]

fkjuliano and others, I disagree. The true Church of Jesus Christ is the Apostolic Church founded on the day of Pentecost; the Apostolic Church which existed before the Catholic Church of Constantine; the Apostolic Church which the Holy Roman Church persecuted; the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ that still exists today. Neither Jesus nor the Apostles were Catholic – in fact no one was until the fourth century AD.

There is one problem with this statement and that is a lack of knowledge of the ‘Early Church Fathers’ and the early Church, who followed the apostolic age. Ignatius of Antioch was a bishop in the Church a few years after the death of the apostle John (90-95 A.D.?). Ignatius wrote this in approx. 110 A.D.: “Let all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father, and the priests, as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Apart from the bishop, let no one perform any functions that pertain to the Church. Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to whom the bishop has commited this charge. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God.” (Letter ot the Smynaens, Chap. 8).
Does this sound like your church?

 

[kkelley]

There is one problem with this statement and that is a lack of knowledge of the ‘Early Church Fathers’ and the early Church, who followed the apostolic age. Ignatius of Antioch was a bishop in the Church a few years after the death of the apostle John (90-95 A.D.?). Ignatius wrote this in approx. 110 A.D.: “Let all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father, and the priests, as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Apart from the bishop, let no one perform any functions that pertain to the Church. Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to whom the bishop has commited this charge. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God.” (Letter ot the Smynaens, Chap. 8).
Does this sound like your church?

:clapping: Well said.

 

[I_Fortuna]

By helping to support better education of Catholics about their faith. I’m not yet twenty. Went to CCD since kindergarten. Leaned next to NOTHING Catholic. Learned a bunch of protestant mumbo-jumbo, or generic Christianity about how God loves me, how there is a heaven and hell, and bad people go to hell when they die. But I didn’t know ANYthing about being Catholic. So if a Baptist had come up to me a year ago preaching sola scriptura and sola fide, I would buy right into it, because NO ONE TAUGHT ME BETTER.

it is not the fault of the Baptists that Catholics are leaving the church. I see it as largely the fault of church educators for not teaching good Catechism.

Do you go to church regularly?

If you did, you would know about the CCD and RCIA programs offered. Perhaps your church is lax in that area if you have a church you attend regularly.

I am a brand new Catholic. I converted and was baptized into Christianity in January of 2007. One year later I converted to the Roman Catholic Church. I have never been happier.

Even as a new Catholic (3 years), I go every Wednesday to bible study and serve on the RCIA committee. We have RCIA meetings every week to help and support those wishing to convert. Every year we have former Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, etc. converting to the Catholic faith.

If you think more should be done, why dont you do it? Go see your RCIA director and volunteer to help increase membership and teach the Catechism and Word of God. We all have that choice, don’t we? If they don’t have a program, why don’t you start one?

It is all very fine to come on blog sites and gossip and complain, but point someone in the right direction to get involved and people back off. I am talking to you cradle Catholics who take the church for granted and may go every Sunday but do little else to support the church and further its growth.

Also, instead of coming here for answers, why aren’t you talking to your deacons and priests? If your priests and deacons won’t listen take your concerns and ideas to your Bishop. Go to the Cardinal if you have to.

I am here to evangelize and point people in the right direction if I can, in case you are wondering why I am here. I wear a Catholic crucifix and saint medals which advertise my faith and evangelize even when shopping or out and about on other tasks. The best way to evangelize is prayer first and setting an example for others.

It is not just Baptists who have spread gossip and lies about the Catholic faith either. Get educated so you can refute the lies. Check out websites to see how other faiths are attacking the Catholic church and become involved in protecting and supporting our faith.

 

[Katrina5]

My experience with this type of thing is that they ARE anti-Catholic, but it isn’t always obvious at first.
These crusades try to scare (mostly) teenagers into “accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior”, which sounds good, but it is based on faith without works, Bible alone, no Eucharist, no authority-- all the elements of the original Protestant Reformation.

I have noticed that my favorite EWTN host, Marcus Grodi, has been saying recently that part of the reason the Protestant Reformation took hold (besides the secular, political reasons) was that “people were inadequately catechized.”
Since they didn’t know their faith, they went along with the crowd.

I think kids today are barely catechized. Marcus Grodi gave a speech on this subject recently in my city. We tend to leave teaching the faith to the experts-- the teachers, priests, DRE’s, when it should begin at home, and be practiced at home, and enhanced by formal teaching.

One of my cousins moved back to town and said she was looking for a church. I didn’t ask her to come to my church, because she has always been some form of Protestant. After several of the churches didn’t work out for her-- there was always something she didn’t like, and I don’t mean doctrine-- she said, “Why haven’t you invited me to your church?”
I honestly felt like she would just criticize us and I didn’t want to hear it. It didn’t take long into this conversation before I got to hear it anyway when she started complaining about the kneeling, standing, etc., and how she just couldn’t understand why we didn’t sit still and listen to the preacher.

Back to Protestant “crusades”. They appeal to people who want a simple answer. I drove past a church with a sign out front that said “Salvation: Jesus, Pure and Simple”. (Like a product advertisement)
Not just simple, but also EASY. They don’t have to even try to be “good” because they believe they are saved and that’s it! After they Get Saved, all they do is Get others Saved.

I know many protestants who don’t believe Catholics are Christian! They think we are going to Hell, we worship Mary, and never read the Bible.

They also appeal to young people because their “faith” is very emotional-- fear of Hell, and being led by the Spirit. Faith is not a feeling, but I have friends who believe it is.
Several years ago I went to a Billy Graham event, and it would be easy to get caught up in all the emotion, especially if you are feeling lost, lonely, sad, etc. People were crying and going down to the “altar”. (Why do they have and altar when there is no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass anyway?)

As for “counteracting” them, I don’t know. I think we have to have a good foundation, a solid family,a peer group that is like us, and a supportive community to prevent kids from being led astray into something that is emotionally appealing.

 

[roveau]

The only way to counteract it in a Christian way would be to hold and equally attractive Catholic evangelism crusade/play. It sounds like they are having a lot of success, so why not hold a Catholic one?

I am also one who thinks that they are doing this to convert people to Christ.

 

[Katrina5]

I just read an article about Bishop Sheen that brought back memories-- such as his beginning the show writing J.M.J. on a blackboard. I was pretty small when his show was on TV, but I also remember other definitely Catholic programs such as The Christophers. There was no attempt to please everyone by not mentioning God, faith or religion.

And this was on regular network television! There were also movies like The Ten Commandments, Song of Bernadette, Bells of St Mary’s and Going My Way.

I hope this isn’t straying from the topic, but when you said to have plays to counteract the Protestant ones, these came to mind.

It seems to me that TV producers don’t want to “offend” anyone and so they strip regular programing of any defined faith. ABC’s Brothers and Sisters had an episode where the uncle did the blessing for Yom Kippur, but it was shortly after he announced his homosexuality.

Where do you start? How can you come up with a script that would entertain young people and also make them think? And for TV, right now we have EWTN, and the protestants have about ten cable channels. Not a good balance.

 

[Bengoshi]

Hi everyone. Although it is now too late to act on this, a local independent fundamentalist Baptist church in my area recently held a play every night for three nights called “Heavens Gates and Hells Flames”. This is a fundamentalist Protestant evangelism play. They receive many “commitments to Christ” through this prayer and even a few baptisms. This is all well and good but I am concerned that they may be deceiving local Catholics in to believing in Protestantism. What can one do to mitigate the influence of such Protestant evangelism crusades against the Catholic population in one’s area?

First, nobody is “deceiving local Catholics in to believing in Protestantism.” They are just doing what they sincerely believe is their part in fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”

Second, how sure are you that they are “fundamentalists”? Not all Protestants/Evangelicals are fundamentalists. I myself take offense at being called a fundamentalist. It has a certain negative ring to it.

 

[Bengoshi]

In response to the original post, it may be enough to point out that the Church teaches that associating with Churches and attending events which teach docrines contrary to the Catholic faith is a sin.

-Tim-

Wow, so just merely attending these “non-Catholic” events and programs is sinful now!

 

[Bengoshi]

By helping to support better education of Catholics about their faith. I’m not yet twenty. Went to CCD since kindergarten. Leaned next to NOTHING Catholic. Learned a bunch of protestant mumbo-jumbo, or generic Christianity about how God loves me, how there is a heaven and hell, and bad people go to hell when they die. But I didn’t know ANYthing about being Catholic. So if a Baptist had come up to me a year ago preaching sola scriptura and sola fide, I would buy right into it, because NO ONE TAUGHT ME BETTER.

it is not the fault of the Baptists that Catholics are leaving the church. I see it as largely the fault of church educators for not teaching good Catechism.

Very good! I agree! Now this is a very constructive comment! I know a lot of Catholics who don’t even know the basic teaching of the Catholic Church! What a shame! My mom’s friend, who claims to be a devout Catholic even said that she doesn’t believe in eveything that the Bible says! How can a person be a Catholic without believing in the Bible?!

 

[Bengoshi]

Excellent post and I indeed agree with this statement. Thing is though, a lot of baptist and especially 7DA guys are a bit anti Catholic. I was invited to go to a Campus Crusade for Christ Bible study thing and I do enjoy it as I feel I am with fellow Christians, whether or not they are Catholic. However, there was some anti-Catholic stuff being said. One guy even said “they arent saved” That being kind of strange, being the primary requirement for salvation(from Scripture) is believing that Christ is the Christ being that he was crucified, died, and rose again from the dead being the Lord in the Flesh. Well everything after that is icing on the cake. But it seems that Catholics have a **** load of Icing! Thing is I havent met a Catholic that doesnt believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, and if he didnt he wouldnt be Catholic and I wouldnt refer to him as such. I have to admit however, I have protestant tendancies. I have reservations about the also canical books being canical, All the praying to Mary is heritical as well. Yeah according to Doctrine your not supposed to pray to Mary but ask her to pray for you, but how many people in effect pray to Mary mistakenly? Id say a good number. I used to. Yes I went to CCD all those years ago too.
Mass can seem strange. On Good Friday we paid homage to the wood, that is almost like idoltry. Its unnerving to me.
But if you have ever attended a protestant mass, its so deprived of anything sacred or reverent its almost not a mass(well I guess it isnt a mass but a sermon). Its just like a bible study in its atmosphere only you throw in a few Hymns, Its really pathetic. And the churches are a joke. “Well thats just material things not as important as what goes on inside.” Well protestantism always seemed to be like it was missing something, Its intangible but you can just sense it. And to the material superficiality of Churches, well you look at the fruit of the vine to see the quality or truth of the vine itself. What the Catholic Chruch produce is a beautiful product, the curches, the spirit of love as opposed to legalism you see with the fundamentalists, the music and art(Im talking like Bach and Gergorian Chants, and oh yeah take a look at the works of Raphael, Michelangelo,etc… how bout Chesterton[the most underated modern philosopher of our time] and Tolkien you wont see that from fundys). Not to mention the uniformity of the Catholic Church. Fundys and Prots have no uniformity and differ from parish to parish in whatever they teach even with the supposed Scripture Only stance. All the various little sects are insane and all these things are why I think Catholicism is the true church. Its not I do not see problems and things I disagree with, the alternative just isnt one. And anyhow, Lets say nearly all the Clergy was corrupt in Luther’s era. So what? You just leave all the sheep you promised to the Lord be shepherd to? “Nah I dont like it Im out of here.” Im not even talking about protesting the Bishops and Cardinals, Im talking about leaving your parishioners. Lame. Luther probably had many valid arguments, I just don’t think he went about it the right way.

I do think the Bible has all the fundamental keys to salvation(thank the early Church for keeping the sacred scripture). I also believe that it alone does not a complete Christian make, but that is a bit self evident I think.

Hey, isn’t it against the forum rules to use shortcuts such as fundys/prots?!

And by the way, Luther didn’t want to leave the Catholic Church, he was kicked out.

 

[Bengoshi]

You do not have to be Catholic to be a Christian or to be saved. With all this being said, I am not trying to say that Catholics are not saved…just not the only show in town (per se).\QUOTE]

Hi there,

I just can’t help but correct you on one point. A person has to be a Christian to be saved. The fact that a person puts his trust in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and especially baptized (in the Trinitarian formula) as you’ve said, then that person becomes a Christian already.

 

[Holly3278]

Make sure that the local Catholic Church is represented at all public events, have a tent, give away evangelization material. The Kof C has lots available, as well as material from places like CA. There should be a parish budget for this. Make sure that you parish has a well stocked pamphlet and CD rack in the hall. Make sure that there are plenty of ADULT Catechesis programs at the parish. Another thing that has seemed to work here are a Parish “Open House” with local adverising, inviting non-Catholics to “come and visit” with an open Q and A.

Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that any Protestant church in my area is going to allow the Catholic Church in my area to set up a tent or booth or whatever to distribute Catholic material.

First, nobody is “deceiving local Catholics in to believing in Protestantism.” They are just doing what they sincerely believe is their part in fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”

Second, how sure are you that they are “fundamentalists”? Not all Protestants/Evangelicals are fundamentalists. I myself take offense at being called a fundamentalist. It has a certain negative ring to it.

First, these people are deceiving local Catholics in to believing in Protestantism whether they intend to deceive or not.

Second, I am sure that the church I had in mind when I made the original post is a fundamentalist church because they openly admit to being a fundamentalist church.

 

[Holly3278]

Hey, isn’t it against the forum rules to use shortcuts such as fundys/prots?!

Yes, it is against the rules. However, the next time you see someone violating the rules, why don’t you report the post rather than taking the thread off topic (which is also against the rules) by publicly discussing the rule violation (which by the way, makes it more difficult for the moderators to deal with the rule violation in question)?

 

[Bengoshi]

First, these people are deceiving local Catholics in to believing in Protestantism whether they intend to deceive or not.

Second, I am sure that the church I had in mind when I made the original post is a fundamentalist church because they openly admit to being a fundamentalist church.

To deceive means to do it deliberately. To deceive is to have ill-motive. The word deceive itself is negative. Normally, Christians evangelize because they sincerely want to help people get saved by introducing them the Christ.

If they admitted to being fundamentalist, then that’s fine.

 

[Bengoshi]

Yes, it is against the rules. However, the next time you see someone violating the rules, why don’t you report the post rather than taking the thread off topic (which is also against the rules) by publicly discussing the rule violation (which by the way, makes it more difficult for the moderators to deal with the rule violation in question)?

Good idea! I’m just not sure how to do it.

 

[Holly3278]

Good idea! I’m just not sure how to do it.

All you have to do is press the button that looks like this: http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/report.gif (it’s in the upper right hand corner of each post) and then type in the reason for your report in the text box that comes up and then hit submit.

 

[Holly3278]

To deceive means to do it deliberately. To deceive is to have ill-motive. The word deceive itself is negative. Normally, Christians evangelize because they sincerely want to help people get saved by introducing them the Christ.

If they admitted to being fundamentalist, then that’s fine.

Okay, so perhaps you are right. Perhaps they are not deceiving others, at least not intentionally. However, they are, in some cases, causing Catholics to leave the completely true faith of Catholicism for the partly false faith of Protestantism.

 

[Bengoshi]

Okay, so perhaps you are right. Perhaps they are not deceiving others, at least not intentionally. However, they are, in some cases, causing Catholics to leave the completely true faith of Catholicism for the partly false faith of Protestantism.

Thank you for the reporting tip by the way!

As to the true faith, Protestants on the other hand honstly think that Catholicism is also partly false due to its Traditions, among other things. So I guess, it’s not right to say that either party is in bad faith or trying to deceive anyone.