Why is it better to be a Catholic? Because Catholicism carries greater continuity with the early Church, the Church of the Apostles, than does Protestantism.
In the early Church, bishops were held with great esteem. Sins had to be forgiven by the community, with public penance. Salvation required faith, but faith in love through works. The Eucharist was held to really be Jesus. Prayers were said for the dead. Martyrs and confessors were venerated. Baptism really was thought to transform the recipient. And Mary was claimed to be the New Eve.
Although some of the details are changed, can anyone honestly say that the above picture is more Protestant than Catholic?
But there is an experiential dimension to this as well, and this cannot be understated. Here are some key points in my experience:
(1) Absolution of sins. I used to be a Protestant, so I know what its like to pray to God for forgiveness. And that experience is powerful. But it cannot compare to the experience of confessing before a priest, who, acting in persona Christi, forgives you. Hearing the words adds a new dimension to the experience.
(2) The Eucharist. On a Catholic understanding, the Eucharist really is Jesus. You can share a moment of intimacy with your Lord unlike any other. Think about the offensiveness of eating Christ to human standards. To a human, this seems degrading, humiliating; but to Christ, it is his reward for his suffering at Calvary!! There is no greater love than this.
But the Eucharist is not limited to communion. There is also Benediction and Adoration. Adoration has touched me in profound ways.
(3) Saintly Intercession. Catholics do not pray to saints - rather, they ask saints to pray for them. When you are beaten down, you have a whole host of friends you can ask for aid and look up to as models of imitating Christ.
(4) Suffering. Protestantism all too easily slides into a prosperity gospel, where worldly success becomes a mark of divine election. By contrast, Catholicism stresses the need for suffering as part of the imitation of Christ. Suffering is part of our redemption; it forms part of our salvation.
Yes, Christ has paid the price of our sins, but he expects us to carry our crosses. I can speak from experience when I say that suffering is transformative. I went through a period of several months in which I lost all my friends, a girlfriend of 2 years, and received various threats on my life; a relative was being imprisoned; and I had a head-on car collision with a tree. By no means do I claim to be rid of all vanity, but this experience certainly did re-orient my mind onto what’s really important and taught me to be more content in all situations, as Paul stresses.
(5) Marriage. Although I disagree with some of the details, JPII’s theology of the body is profound articulation of the beauty of faithful, free, productive, lifelong, loving sexual expression. The heart of marriage is in the giving of persons to one another. It mimics the Trinity - for as the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father is the Spirit, so the child is the expression of the love between spouses. Moreover, it is a model of Christ’s love (the Bridegroom) for the Church (the Bride) - and that is Scriptural. Ephesians, I believe…
Nowhere in Protestantism have I seen articulated such a theology of marriage. Moreover, more and more Protestants treat children as optional within a marriage. This, I think, does great violence to the institution. Children are integral to the meaning of self-giving in sexuality.
All that said, I don’t believe a Catholic needs to be enamored with the hierarchy or agree with all the teachings. Some teachings are fallible, and I vehemently disagree with them; the hierarchy is often self-serving, as in the case of bishops hiding pedophiles and misappropriating Church funds. The Church is always in need of reformation. But the Protestant movement is less a reformation and more a revolution. Reformations occur within the institution; revolutions without.
