My Good Protestant Friends are Unconsciously Catholic

[randybako]

Many times, as I listen to my protestant friends talk, I want to tell them " your Catholic". I hear them making statements like " in the end we all just have to pray for Gods Mercy" .When I ask them, “how can a man continue to be saved, if he claims saveness, but subsequently goes around acting and doing very sinful things,such commiting adultry, being indifferent to the poor” etc. They will kind of sarcasticly tell me "Well now, tell me, do you such a terrbile sinner really really wanted to be saved in the first place! They unconsciously admit that a " few words mean very little!!
P.S. Sometimes when I do thell them they are Catholic at Heart, they simply dismiss it,for refuting years of ones culture is very difficult and violent to embrace.

 

[ParvaDei]

Oh, I know what you’re saying, as I have a similar, yet different problem since he’s Deist (or as he calls himself, a “stem-cell monotheist” in terms of being open to different future possibilities like a stem-cell would ).

And funnily enough, while he basically believes in almost everything Catholic Social Teaching says up to the point of adopting Chesterton-style Distributism (hence my suspicions that he’s unconsciously Catholic), he would probably deny this in public as well.

But what are you looking for – apologetics, practical advice, or any other sort of solution?

Anyway, from what I know of your post so far, I think I can only offer two things:

1.) Here are some documents which highlight the Scripture passage from James dealing with faith and works (which is what I think you’re referring to here).

• catholicapologetics.org/ap020800.htm (Really good site – gives even more Scripture and Biblical Councils to back you up! )
• fallibleblogma.com/index.php/catholics-on-faith-and-works-clarified/ (This is from Matt Warner – a famous faithful Catholic in the blogosphere. He emphasizes more on Lutherans, but it’s still a good read nonetheless.)

2.) And the second (and most important) thing is to pray, pray, pray! Sometimes, they just can’t see the light, and all you can ask for is for God to give the guidance and grace necessary so that one day, they can be received into the fullness of Truth.

 

[Allegra]

Well, to some extent, aren’t all Baptised Christians unconsciously Catholic? The grace of God is working in them, even if they are misguided by some corrupt teachings.

 

[R_C]

Nice thread. Indeed, if there is only one Church, which is the mystical body of Christ, to which all the baptized faithful are directly incorporated…and the one Church is holy, catholic, and apostolic…

…also we know that the Church “subsists the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him”…

In 2007 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clearly stated:

it is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them.