Protestants joining Catholic Church and Lay Catholic joining Protestant Churches

[Mannyfit75]

Read this article. It’s pretty interesting. It kinda balancing things out between Protestants and Catholics.

ascensioncatholic.net/TOPICS/misc/evangelization.html

I’ll quote some of the text:

Many of you reading this column have a family member, co-worker or friend who was raised Catholic and is now active in another Christian church. It is probably accurate to say that in the past 30 years, large numbers of Catholics have left the Catholic church to join another Christian church.

While we have large numbers of Catholics leaving the Catholic church to join a more ‘spiritually alive church’, a more ‘bible based church’, we have in the past 20 years a growing number of Protestant ministers being led by the Spirit to convert to Catholicism. We also have a number of lay evangelicals joining the Catholic church and a number of people who were raised in the Catholic church, join an evangelical church for years and now are returning home to the Catholic church.

 

[rtconstant]

Interesting. This has been my experience as well. Most Catholics I know who converted to evangelical churches usually don’t know much about their catholic heritage. While almost all of the evangelicals I know who converted catholicism were very active in their churches and usually were teachers or ministers of one stripe or another. Also, their conversion tended to be preceded by intense study.

 

[Titus03]

No doubt, the Catholic history is quite alluring. It is much more rich and indepth than our quote unquote Protestant history. Oft times I find myself doubting my own church and my own beliefs when I do my studies on Catholicism.

 

[allischalmers]

And on the other side of the coin I have a book in my libaray called “Far from Roman, Near to God” by fifty Catholic Priests who were lead be the Holy Spirt to leave the Catholic church to become Protestant ministers.

Proud to be Baptist
allischalmers

 

[JohnnyReb]

Interesting. This has been my experience as well. Most Catholics I know who converted to evangelical churches usually don’t know much about their catholic heritage. While almost all of the evangelicals I know who converted catholicism were very active in their churches and usually were teachers or ministers of one stripe or another. Also, their conversion tended to be preceded by intense study.

Sounds like me. While I have not decided to convert yet, I am in the midst of study of Catholicism (with the possibility in mind). I have held ministerial credentials within the Assemblies of God and graduated from a Pentecostal seminary. I am currently attending a Vineyard church.

 

[Atreyu]

And on the other side of the coin I have a book in my libaray called “Far from Roman, Near to God” by fifty Catholic Priests who were lead be the Holy Spirt to leave the Catholic church to become Protestant ministers.

Proud to be Baptist
allischalmers

From here:
Among the most venomous of enemies of the faith are former Catholics, especially former priests. Catholic Answers was originally begun to counter the disinformation spread by a failed priest. Now anti-Catholic Fundamentalists have an entire book of such propaganda in their arsenal: Far from Rome, Near to God, which assembles the “testimonies” of fifty apostate priests. (To find fifty they are forced to dig up renegades from past centuries, including arch-apostate Charles Chiniquy, author of such gems as The Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional.)

Co-edited by former priest Richard Peter Bennett, the book is distributed by groups such as Christians Evangelizing Catholics, Bart Brewer’s Mission to Catholics International, and Mike Gendron’s Bold Truth.

Bennett tells his own story in “From Tradition to Truth.” It isn’t difficult to understand how Bennett, who sounds like a sincere man, came to leave the Church. Describing his “conversion,” he says, “I suffered for fourteen years, no one ever having the courage to speak the truth to me. . . . I pray that the Father will give you grace that you may accept that Christ died in your place on the cross, and know that his atonement is sufficient to make you a new creature in him.”

Bennett trots out the worn canards: He was disturbed by the “outward pomp” and “inner emptiness” of Rome. He was taught only “rote, set prayer” and discovered “direct personal prayer” by accident. “I did not know my way through the Bible,” he acknowledges.

One is baffled by the notion that any Catholic, much less a priest, could have so failed to grasp the essentials of the faith. **But Bennett’s most serious gaffe, in the opinion of our resident observer of religious life, is his remark that he spent eight years in the Dominican Order “studying what it is to be a monk.”

Dominicans aren’t monks. They are friars. **Monks live in monasteries, usually in the same monastery for life. Their chief work is prayer. Friars are apostolic religious who are sent on mission as needed, to preach, teach, and give other service.

A small distinction? Maybe. But one to which any Benedictine or Carmelite-or Dominican-would be keenly sensitive. The problem with these “converted” priests is that one never knows the full story. Were they dismissed from the ministry for misconduct? Were they even really priests? A little investigation revealed that Jack Chick’s “Alberto” was never a Jesuit. We wonder what we’d find if we explored the histories of the contributors to Near to God, Far from Rome.
(emphasis mine).

The book sounds slightly questionable to me.

 

[Nurse_Joy]

I see a tidal wave out of and a trickle into the CC. I think its just as likely that there are so few converts at all that the high profile ones stand out more.

Is there any evidence/data besides anecdotes to support the OP’s quotation?

 

[Mannyfit75]

I see a tidal wave out of and a trickle into the CC. I think its just as likely that there are so few converts at all that the high profile ones stand out more.

Is there any evidence/data besides anecdotes to support the OP’s quotation?

I pulled it off from the website. It does contain some facts about Protestants converting to Catholicism, and Catholics converting to Protestantism.

I know Ex-Catholics who are now Protestants, and their excuse to leave the Catholic Church is out of misunderstanding about the basic understanding of the Catholic teachings. Many are poorly catechized. Many are coverted by Protestants because they ask questions like, 'why do you pray to statues, Mary, and saints?" Most are dumb founded or tongue tied, so they are force to look into their own faith by reading the scripture themselves.

Rather than ask a priest they go ask Non-Catholics or Ex-Catholics. They say go by the Bible alone. Say the sinner prayer…

I have been questioned by Non-Catholic Christians, mainly from Evangelicals, or Born Again Christians and said I should read the Bible myself and interpret it myself.

I could not do that. I keep in mind to what St. Peter in 2 Peter Chapter 3 verse 15-16, which states, “And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.”

Scripture cannot be interpreted by our own. We could be lead to heresy, and to our own destructions. The only authority who can interpret is the Church. 1 Tim 3:15 supports this, "if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

 

[jmcrae]

I do not think that Richard Bennett could ever have been a priest, since one of the requirements of the priesthood is to memorize the four Gospels. How could someone memorize the four Gospels without ever opening a Bible?

In our Diocese, we have more than a thousand converts every Easter Vigil. It’s easy to count them since they have to be presented to the Bishop before they can receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

They do this on the first weekend of Lent. Our Cathedral holds 1500 people, and they have to do two reception ceremonies each year. The Cathedral is packed to the walls at both ceremonies each year, so even taking into account the fact that half of those present are sponsors, and that 200 of those present are priests, the remainder are converts, so taking half of 3,000 (the total estimated number present) we get 1500, and taking into account the priests, this gives us 1300 converts, more or less, every year. About two thirds of them are candidates for baptism, and the other third of them were previously baptized in a non-Catholic church.

I understand from reading various on-line forums that this is typical of most large centres in North America.

 

[rr1213]

I do not think that Richard Bennett could ever have been a priest, since one of the requirements of the priesthood is to memorize the four Gospels.

Do you mean literally memorize, word for word, the entire four Gospels or just the teachings thereof?

 

[jmcrae]

Do you mean literally memorize, word for word, the entire four Gospels or just the teachings thereof?

I’m reasonably certain that they have to memorize them word for word. I remember watching a movie about a Saint who became a priest, and when he was studying for his test, he was in a total panic because he only knew chapter 15 from the Gospel of Luke. He even went to a friend for tutoring, but it was of no use; he couldn’t memorize anything.

As it turned out, on the test, they asked him for Luke chapter 15, so he was off the hook.

His friend who was tutoring him failed the test because they asked him Matthew chapter 1, and he got some of the Patriarchs in the wrong order, which shows that they were looking for every word of the chapter in order, and not just the concept behind it.

 

[MariaG]

And on the other side of the coin I have a book in my libaray called “Far from Roman, Near to God” by fifty Catholic Priests who were lead be the Holy Spirt to leave the Catholic church to become Protestant ministers.

Proud to be Baptist
allischalmers

From here:Among the most venomous of enemies of the faith are former Catholics, especially former priests. Catholic Answers was originally begun to counter the disinformation spread by a failed priest. Now anti-Catholic Fundamentalists have an entire book of such propaganda in their arsenal: Far from Rome, Near to God, which assembles the “testimonies” of fifty apostate priests. (To find fifty they are forced to dig up renegades from past centuries, including arch-apostate Charles Chiniquy, author of such gems as The Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional.)

Co-edited by former priest Richard Peter Bennett, the book is distributed by groups such as Christians Evangelizing Catholics, Bart Brewer’s Mission to Catholics International, and Mike Gendron’s Bold Truth.

Bennett tells his own story in “From Tradition to Truth.” It isn’t difficult to understand how Bennett, who sounds like a sincere man, came to leave the Church. Describing his “conversion,” he says, “I suffered for fourteen years, no one ever having the courage to speak the truth to me. . . . I pray that the Father will give you grace that you may accept that Christ died in your place on the cross, and know that his atonement is sufficient to make you a new creature in him.”

Bennett trots out the worn canards: He was disturbed by the “outward pomp” and “inner emptiness” of Rome. He was taught only “rote, set prayer” and discovered “direct personal prayer” by accident. “I did not know my way through the Bible,” he acknowledges.

One is baffled by the notion that any Catholic, much less a priest, could have so failed to grasp the essentials of the faith. But Bennett’s most serious gaffe, in the opinion of our resident observer of religious life, is his remark that he spent eight years in the Dominican Order "studying what it is to be a monk."

**Dominicans aren’t monks. They are friars. **Monks live in monasteries, usually in the same monastery for life. Their chief work is prayer. Friars are apostolic religious who are sent on mission as needed, to preach, teach, and give other service.

A small distinction? Maybe. But one to which any Benedictine or Carmelite-or Dominican-would be keenly sensitive. The problem with these “converted” priests is that one never knows the full story. Were they dismissed from the ministry for misconduct? Were they even really priests? A little investigation revealed that Jack Chick’s “Alberto” was never a Jesuit. We wonder what we’d find if we explored the histories of the contributors to Near to God, Far from Rome.(emphasis mine).

The book sounds slightly questionable to me.

So again, we have people who used to be Catholic, claiming to be priests no less who don’t even know enough to learn the correct words about what they were for how many years?

Never knew personal prayer?

How can these people, who never knew Christ while in the Catholic Church ever talk about the teachings of the Catholic Church when Christ and His sacrifice is central to the teachings of the Catholic Church?

IF these men are who they say they are, it says less about the teachings of the Catholic Church and more about a lack of openness to the working of the HolySpirit than any falsehood in the teachings of the Catholic Church.

This is the same old story, just with priests instead. ex-Catholics who did not have a personal relationship with Christ leave the Catholic Church.

Yet the protestants who become Catholic have an alive and vibrant walk with Christ in the first place.

 

[estesbob]

And on the other side of the coin I have a book in my libaray called “Far from Roman, Near to God” by fifty Catholic Priests who were lead be the Holy Spirt to leave the Catholic church to become Protestant ministers.

Proud to be Baptist
allischalmers

Many of these “Priests” were attracted more by a desire to renege on their vows of celibacy than they were by “Jesus”

 

[estesbob]

Do you mean literally memorize, word for word, the entire four Gospels or just the teachings thereof?

This is not a requirement now. Whether it was in the past I dont know.

 

[Contarini]

And on the other side of the coin I have a book in my libaray called “Far from Roman, Near to God” by fifty Catholic Priests who were lead be the Holy Spirt to leave the Catholic church to become Protestant ministers.

Proud to be Baptist
allischalmers

And are you impressed by those stories? Do you find these priests to be full of joy and wisdom and the other fruit of the Spirit? I don’t. They almost all seem angry and bitter, and the Christianity they have embraced seems pretty thin for the most part. I don’t doubt their stories (for the most part)–I don’t doubt that Catholicism failed them and that they are better off as Protestants than as the kind of Catholics they were. But I’ve also read the works of wise, joyous, holy Catholics, and they seem to have a faith worth following. It’s too bad that the poor guys in FfRntG didn’t find that same faith.

Edwin

 

[rtconstant]

See that thing with the priests who left points to another difference I’ve noticed. Catholics who leave for the evangelical church are usually bitter against their former church. While evangelicals who convert into The Church (like me) are usually happy and have positive things to say about their former churches.

I came from the SBC and I have nothing but love for them. Afterall it was in that church that I first heard of Jesus and grew to love him. It was there that I gained the desire to follow God’s will and to study His word. This in turn led me to the Catholic Church. So in a way I owe my now being Catholic (which I love) to having grown up Southern Baptist. How could I hold a grudge?

 

[RNRobert]

Many of these “Priests” were attracted more by a desire to renege on their vows of celibacy than they were by “Jesus”

I recall reading in one of Fulton Sheen’s books where a priest came to him and said he didn’t believe in the Real Presence. Despite several minutes of explaining the rationale for the doctrine, the priest said he still didn’t believe it. Bishop Sheen asked him “Blonde or brunette?” The priest was insulted but Bishop Sheen told him to think about it. A while later the priest came back and said, “Blonde.”

 

[Contarini]

One is baffled by the notion that any Catholic, much less a priest, could have so failed to grasp the essentials of the faith. **But Bennett’s most serious gaffe, in the opinion of our resident observer of religious life, is his remark that he spent eight years in the Dominican Order “studying what it is to be a monk.”

Dominicans aren’t monks. They are friars. **Monks live in monasteries, usually in the same monastery for life. Their chief work is prayer. Friars are apostolic religious who are sent on mission as needed, to preach, teach, and give other service.

A small distinction? Maybe. But one to which any Benedictine or Carmelite-or Dominican-would be keenly sensitive.

Yes, but Bennett isn’t a Dominican, at least in his eyes. He’s a former Dominican. He and his readers don’t care about that sort of thing. To them it’s all monkery.

Luther referred to himself as a monk repeatedly. It’s a common use, or misuse, of language.

The problem with these “converted” priests is that one never knows the full story. Were they dismissed from the ministry for misconduct? Were they even really priests? A little investigation revealed that Jack Chick’s “Alberto” was never a Jesuit. We wonder what we’d find if we explored the histories of the contributors to Near to God, Far from Rome.

But until you have explored it you have no right to speculate.

I will say this–Bart Brewer, one of the priests featured, admits in his autobiography to having had a romantic [but non-sexual] relationship with a young woman while a priest in the Philippines, and if I remember rightly he had another one later on. He definitely had problems with his vows of celibacy.

Other former priests, however, insist that nothing was further from their minds than marriage until long after they left the priesthood, and I see no reason to disbelieve them. (The same was true of Luther–Catholic polemicists have tried to claim otherwise, but there’s no evidence whatever that Luther had any particular problem with celibacy.)

I think this approach is highly counterproductive. Conversion is a fact on both sides. People convert because they come to devalue the goods of their own tradition and value the goods of some other. There are a million reasons why this can happen, some admirable, some contemptible, some just plain human.

Edwin

 

[estesbob]

Yes, but Bennett isn’t a Dominican, at least in his eyes. He’s a former Dominican. He and his readers don’t care about that sort of thing. To them it’s all monkery.

Luther referred to himself as a monk repeatedly. It’s a common use, or misuse, of language.

But a REAL Dominican wouldnt make that mistake

Other former priests, however, insist that nothing was further from their minds than marriage until long after they left the priesthood, and I see no reason to disbelieve them. (The same was true of Luther–Catholic polemicists have tried to claim otherwise, but there’s no evidence whatever that Luther had any particular problem with celibacy.)

Edwin

LOL-other than the fact he got married he had no problem with celibacy. In fact I believe just about all the priest in the book got married. Of course they are not going to say they left the Church becuase of sex-lot easier to claim its because they found Jesus

 

[Contarini]

But a REAL Dominican wouldnt make that mistake

Sure he would if the issue didn’t matter to him anymore. Ex-anythings can’t be trusted about their previous traditions (as a rule) because they have undergone a paradigm shift.

LOL-other than the fact he got married he had no problem with celibacy.

He resisted the idea for a long time after he had abandoned the principle of priestly celibacy.

In fact I believe just about all the priest in the book got married. Of course they are not going to say they left the Church becuase of sex-lot easier to claim its because they found Jesus

And of course you are not going to say that they had a genuine spiritual hunger that was not satisfied in Catholicism–easier to resort to cheap cynicism and chercher la femme.

Edwin