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Little_Mary
Guest
Thank you for this information, Church Militant! I am going to print it and use it. How kind and generous of you!!
Be careful with labeling people. Someone might think you’re a liberal.Unfortunately, there is a hyper-conservative view going around that excludes non-Catholics from being Christians. The only schismatics were…The schismatics. The Reformers. Even they didn’t mean to split the Body into different churches, but it happened.
You’re right, people that are born into the heresy of Protestantism are not held as responsible as the founders of that heresy. They are considered material heretics. This does not mean that their salvation is not at risk! We must work to convert the world, period. It’s more black and white than you’d like to think.Some people are born into Protestant Christianity and its all they know. Some people leave the Catholic Church because they are POORLY CATECHISED or have had unsatisfactory experiences at a local parish. The circumstances are endless. Those who are guilty of deliberately causing schism, and forming heresies as conspiracies are at fault. This is NOT a black and white issue.
By “do your best,” USMC, the best I can do is 1) try to live my faith in such a way that it “attracts” him, 2) answer his questions honestly (which I do), and 3) pray for him. I have not been able to tell him anything along the lines of “you’re in danger” or “you’re going to hell if you don’t enter the Church.” For one thing, I’ve lived far too long in reverence and respect for him (for example, we, his family, thinks he really shouldn’t be driving, but I can’t bring myself to tell him that). For another, my grandmother, his wife, died firm in the same faith. That would lead to the question “so do you think your grandmother is in hell?”, which I do not (though I certainly know that only God knows). The best I could do (and it would have to be in the face of a direct question) would be to say, “In the end, Jesus will save who He will save,” which I think the Church would affirm. Beyond that, I’m helpless, unless God changes something.Not so JKirk. God’s grace can certainly change the heart of anyone - even your grandfather. Have confidence in God and do your best: that’s what God asks from you. God will reward you efforts and just maybe give your grandfather the grace he needs.
I look forward to hearing the story of the “miraculous conversion” of your grandfather. I will put him on my prayer list as well. But you have to promise to include my mother on yours.
If my mother was a Catholic she should most certainly be a saint. She is extremely good on the natural level. The only problem is that she is too indifferent in her religious thinking, but she is showing signs of coming around very gradually. Keep my mother in your prayers and I will keep your grandfather in mine.
God Bless