Question to Protestants about interacting with Catholics

[Lenten_ashes]

Thanks for the props my friend. I think you are a very pleasant non-Catholic Christian and am thankful for people like you. It’s a real breath of fresh air in comparison to all the anti-Catholic folks I have dealt with over the years.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Oh, I might add that nominal Catholics were a contributing factor as to why it took me many years to finally convert. So many of them do not know their bibles or the catechism and seem to bear no fruit and generally come across as too carnal.

It was not until I started finding properly formed Catholic Christians, full of God’s joy and Spirit, that I finally realized the RCC’s doctrine isn’t the problem, it’s people’s overall unwillingness to use the tools given to them by the Church that is the issue.

I’ve also come across those cradle Catholics who do practice their faith yet come across as extremely prideful and at times disrespectful towards non Catholics. I’ve yet to figure out why these folks act like that – my only guess is they came across a bigoted type Protestant who ruffled their feathers some and so now they walk around always on the defensive. Just a educated guess there.

 

[Tolle_Lege]

That was definitely not my intent, but I get your point. My experience has been that most Protestants who come to CAF to pick a fight don’t last long because they get suspended after a short time (and rightly so if they are disrespectful of Catholicism) or they realize that Catholics on CAF “know their stuff” and know how to deal with typical Protestant misconceptions.

The Protestants who have been here a long time are more respectful and are usually able to engage in dialogue with Catholics in a more civil manner.

Excepting dogmatic teachings such as the sacraments, intercession of the saints, veneration of Mary, etc., I feel I share more of a common worldview with a conservative Protestant than with a progressive Catholic. I have read some Protestant theologians and will listen to a couple of the local Protestant radio stations and have learned from them.

 

[TULIPed]

I feel the same in reverse, i.e. I have more in common with a well catechized Catholic than I do with a liberal Protestant (theologically speaking). Way more.

 

[OddBird]

Now I’m thinking about it, the majority of Catholics I know in real life, except my own family, are people I work with or made friends with because we had common training sessions (I’m a Reformed pastor, and we have quite a few bi-confessional training opportunities). The exceptions would be the religious brothers or sisters I meet on retreats, and the parishioners I’ve had an opportunity to get to know.

So, the Catholics I know are mostly priests (with few exceptions, really good and holy men) and pastoral assistants (with few exceptions, really good and holy women – I know there are male pastoral assistants out there but I haven’t met one yet).

I’m slowly headed to Rome, and the priest friend who was most influential, and is helping me through the process, probably guessed early on that I was struggling within my own church and thinking about going home someday. But he never said a word and wouldn’t have approached the subject if I hadn’t ended up telling him a few months ago. He just silently and steadily prayed for me.

To tell the truth, I wouldn’t have told him anything (and we probably wouldn’t be friends) if he had had an aggressive and controversial approach to Protestantism. I don’t think we would be friends either if I had had an aggressive approach to Catholicism, or disrespected his own knowledge and authority as a priest.

That said, I’m pretty sure that in the pews, people are like anywhere else : nice people, not so nice people, people I’d get along with really well, people I’d prefer to avoid.

I wouldn’t make that a reason to convert. At the end of the day, my own reasons are the Eucharist, the sacramental life, a desire to do my part for restoring Christian unity and a desire for the fullness of truth, a conviction that Protestant churches in my neck of the woods are slowly dying by their own doing, Mother Mary and the communion of saints, the Apostolic succession, and a deep appreciation for Church teaching and magisterium.