To Protestants: Why aren't you Catholic?

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Hello,

Well, I’m going to go back to answering the original question, rather than participate in the argument that developed.

In many ways I’d like to become Catholic, but I’m held back for the present for several reasons.

First, both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches claim to be the one true Church; and the Orthodox claims also seem reasonable. When I become one or the other, I’d like to be convinced that it is the correct choice of two eclesial bodies that both seem to be one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

My 90 year old father is living with my wife and me; and is actively involved in the same Episcopal parish that we belong to. He’s not in the least anti-Catholic either, but you really can’t expect a 90 year old who would like to expect his funeral to be held in the same parish as his late wife to swim the Tiber.

While I’m not bothered by Catholic doctrine, I am bothered by how many Catholics; both lay, religious, and priests don’t seem to hold to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

I read in This Rock (on the Catholic Answers site) about Catholics who also consider themselves Budhists; including a priest who is also a zen master. I realize that that is an unusual thing, but why doesn’t the Church tell a priest like that that he can’t be both at once. Then there is the Trappist Abbey that has a building that they call a Zen Prayer Center. Why doesn’t the Church enforce it’s own teaching? There’s only so much that can be done about lay people, but people who are in orders should be expected to follow orders.

I expect that my wife and I will become Catholic eventually, since the Catholic Church is part of our own culture, whereas the Orthodox Church just isn’t.
 
Except…it is a freedom of religion thing. I see no reasons why this Church is better than their Church. Might as well ask why you don’t go Protestant…because you don’t want to.
 
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jwehlitz:
Hello,

Well, I’m going to go back to answering the original question, rather than participate in the argument that developed.

In many ways I’d like to become Catholic, but I’m held back for the present for several reasons.

First, both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches claim to be the one true Church; and the Orthodox claims also seem reasonable. When I become one or the other, I’d like to be convinced that it is the correct choice of two eclesial bodies that both seem to be one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

My 90 year old father is living with my wife and me; and is actively involved in the same Episcopal parish that we belong to. He’s not in the least anti-Catholic either, but you really can’t expect a 90 year old who would like to expect his funeral to be held in the same parish as his late wife to swim the Tiber.

While I’m not bothered by Catholic doctrine, I am bothered by how many Catholics; both lay, religious, and priests don’t seem to hold to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

I read in This Rock (on the Catholic Answers site) about Catholics who also consider themselves Budhists; including a priest who is also a zen master. I realize that that is an unusual thing, but why doesn’t the Church tell a priest like that that he can’t be both at once. Then there is the Trappist Abbey that has a building that they call a Zen Prayer Center. Why doesn’t the Church enforce it’s own teaching? There’s only so much that can be done about lay people, but people who are in orders should be expected to follow orders.

I expect that my wife and I will become Catholic eventually, since the Catholic Church is part of our own culture, whereas the Orthodox Church just isn’t.
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I pray for you on your journey to Rome! I am a convert myself! I just wanted to say that many Catholics are CINOs, that is Catholic In Name Only! True Catholics are not the cafeteria Catholics, picking and choosing what doctrines they will submit to. No, true Catholics submit to them all, even if they are difficult teachings to submit to. Then they pray about them (the difficult teachings) and eventually find peace. I hope this makes sense. Don’t let the CINOs affect your journey home to the truth! God Bless!
 
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Liberalsaved:
Except…it is a freedom of religion thing. I see no reasons why this Church is better than their Church. Might as well ask why you don’t go Protestant…because you don’t want to.
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It is about a search for clarity and the truth…not about feelings…being “better” does not equate to being “true” or original
 
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St.Eric:
It is about a search for clarity and the truth…not about feelings…being “better” does not equate to being “true” or original
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Let me rephrase it.

This Church is no truer to them than theirs is to your Church. This forum seems to find it logical that everyone who beleives in God should be Catholic. Many, many people disagree. You have no more right to say they should change than, well, they have a right to tell you to.
 
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Liberalsaved:
Let me rephrase it.

This Church is no truer to them than theirs is to your Church. This forum seems to find it logical that everyone who beleives in God should be Catholic. Many, many people disagree. You have no more right to say they should change than, well, they have a right to tell you to.
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Hmmm…I was a “born again fundamentalist”…I finally came to the truth of the Roman Catholic church. I have seen and lived both sides. If they are truly seeking, they will find the truth as I have. But, none of this matters. The OP is simpli asking why the protestants are not Catholic.

Speaking of rights, I have every right to “say” people shold change. Why, well number 1 because the Roman Catholic Church is the true church of Christ and I want everyone to come into the one, true fold. (you should know this since on your profile you profess to be a Catholic- speaking of which, I would like to know the meaning behind your screen name) Number two- it is my right in this country to say what I beleive!
 
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St.Eric:
Hmmm…I was a “born again fundamentalist”…I finally came to the truth of the Roman Catholic church. I have seen and lived both sides. If they are truly seeking, they will find the truth as I have. But, none of this matters. The OP is simpli asking why the protestants are not Catholic.

Speaking of rights, I have every right to “say” people shold change. Why, well number 1 because the Roman Catholic Church is the true church of Christ and I want everyone to come into the one, true fold. (you should know this since on your profile you profess to be a Catholic- speaking of which, I would like to know the meaning behind your screen name) Number two- it is my right in this country to say what I beleive!
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But not to impose those beleifs on others.

My screen name means I’m extremely liberal. Pro-choice, anti-war, what-have-you.
 
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Liberalsaved:
But not to impose those beleifs on others.

My screen name means I’m extremely liberal. Pro-choice, anti-war, what-have-you.
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One cannot be a Latin Rite Catholic and be pro-choice. Anti-just war, pro-contraception, what have you…
 
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Liberalsaved:
But not to impose those beleifs on others.

My screen name means I’m extremely liberal. Pro-choice, anti-war, what-have-you.
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Who is imposing their beleifs on others? Surely no one here. If you disagree, you can leave this forum. No one is imposing anything here. This is no Gulag or Nazi concentration camp where you are forced to digest a doctrine.
 
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St.Eric:
Who is imposing their beleifs on others? Surely no one here. If you disagree, you can leave this forum. No one is imposing anything here. This is no Gulag or Nazi concentration camp where you are forced to digest a doctrine.
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I never said there was. But it does seem very conceited to me to assume that everyone should accept the Church’s viewpoint, especially when the differences in the Churches are so minimal.

I prefer to offer help to people in the form of things they need know. Money for disaster releif, donations to doctors without borders. That’s just me. The spiritual is of little importance to a mother in Kenya whose children are dying because there isn’t enough food to go round. Others wish to guide people to what they perceive as truth, and if they genuinely are concerned for those people, that’s fine by me. It’s not my way.

Edit: I am not assuming you are conceited. Merely noting my opinion of a certain viewpoint, or how it appears.
 
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LilyM:
Wasn’t Moses filled with God’s spirit, and didn’t he stutter so badly that Aaron had to go with him to Pharoah? And when Jesus was in front of Pilate and Herod was he not several times SILENT and not saying anything? I have seen and been to a number of non-Catholic services and yes, they are good speakers, but so is every politician. If they live the Word as well as they preach it then I have no objections to their doing so, but preaching is NOT all that Christian leaders are commanded to do.

The purpose of the Catholic Mass is for us to participate in the sacrifice of the Last Supper and Calvary - after all Jesus fed the Apostles his own flesh and blood in the form of bread and wine, didn’t just preach and pray with them, and THAT is what he commanded us to do in remembrance of him.
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Moses made God angry when he told him he could not speak. He lacked the faith to believe that God would help him to speak. So through God’s infinite mercy he cut Moses some slack and permitted his brother to speak for him. Aaron was a priest and Moses wasn’t. So what is your point here? Jesus says to feed his sheep with the word of God. That is what spirit filled preaching is about.
 
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Liberalsaved:
. But it does seem very conceited to me to assume that everyone should accept the Church’s viewpoint, especially when the differences in the Churches are so minimal.

.
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The underlined statement above really betrays you. The differences are huge my friend. You should try going to Mass and then going to a Nazarene church service. Or go to Mass and then go to a JW Kingdom Hall meeting. Go to Mass and then attend a Mormom service. Oh es, the differences are immense. And again, the OP is asking why the protestant is not a Catholic- merely asking why- not forcing Catholicism down the throat.
 
I used to be Catholic and I suppose some part of me still is (certain devotional practices common to the monastic tradition still resonate with me).

I guess the main reason I am not Catholic anymore is because I believe they have completely sold themselves to pluralism and with Lumen Gentium have, for all intents and purposes thrown over all the exclusive claims Our Lord made about His Work and His Church.
 
**Been off the boards for a time. But here is my 2cents worth.

IMHO One of the reasons that many people don’t become Catholic is because of the public image many of us Catholics make or don’t make. We tend not to tell about our beliefs and how we practice them in our own lives. We tend to keep quiet that we hear a larger percentage of Holy Bible readings at the weekly Mass then most other religions teach. Some of us preach one thing and do some things that don’t follow those teachings. We are poor examples.

Many of us can’t tell others what we believe and resort to the old “I’m Catholic and you should know what we believe” tactic. CCD is not the end of learning about OUR Church. It should be the starting place of learning. I have talked to many people that are “Cafeteria Catholics” and most of the ones I know stopped reading and learning about our wonderful Catholic Church when they stopped going to CCD. Unless you were an adult when you attended CCD, you learned about Holy Mother Church as a child not as an adult. This is a good foundation to build on. But, a foundation is just what it says it is, the basis of further building.

People will not seek what we have we don’t show joy and happiness in our lives. We need to show our joy and let others see in us what it is to be Catholic in every way.

So this in my opinion is why many people don’t become Catholic.
**
 
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St.Eric:
The underlined statement above really betrays you. The differences are huge my friend. You should try going to Mass and then going to a Nazarene church service. Or go to Mass and then go to a JW Kingdom Hall meeting. Go to Mass and then attend a Mormom service. Oh es, the differences are immense. And again, the OP is asking why the protestant is not a Catholic- merely asking why- not forcing Catholicism down the throat.
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The practices are different; the important bits are the same. And the important bits are what you beleive in. They could worship while kneeling in the dirt of new construction projects, and the important parts would be there as long as it’s still worshipping the same God.
 
Well, I’m currently on my quest for the truth. My protestant friends are quick to point out how we Catholics have “distorted” God’s commandments to “fit the way we worship”. I believe there are only 1 set of commandments. We’re either keeping his commandments or breaking them. There’s no in between.

Catholic version says:
  1. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Hebrew version says:
  1. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
According to the Hebrew version, my statues and images are forbidden.

Also, why do we have “Catechism of the Catholic Church” when the Bible is supposedly all we need.

Can anyone please shed some light on this?
 
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believers:
Well, I’m currently on my quest for the truth. My protestant friends are quick to point out how we Catholics have “distorted” God’s commandments to “fit the way we worship”. I believe there are only 1 set of commandments. We’re either keeping his commandments or breaking them. There’s no in between.

Catholic version says:
  1. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Hebrew version says:
  1. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
According to the Hebrew version, my statues and images are forbidden.

Also, why do we have “Catechism of the Catholic Church” when the Bible is supposedly all we need.

Can anyone please shed some light on this?
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What we normally call the ‘Ten Commandments’ actually appear TWICE in the Bible, and in neither case are they actually broken down and enumerated. Roman Catholicism simply uses a different system for differentiating the Ten Commandments than do Protestants, and Protestants and Catholics each have a somewhat different version of the Commandments than do Jewish people.

The Roman Catholic Church believes that it is the Church which is the Repository of the Faith, and that the Bible is simply part of that Repository. Your question presupposes Protestant assumptions about the Bible. Were you raised in your Catholic faith? You seem not well-catechized. You might do some reading either online at this site or by buying or borrowing some basic books on your faith.

I’m not Roman Catholic btw. I’m sure some of our Catholic hosts will weigh in shortly with some responses.
 
I am now in the process of finding my way Home thanks to the all Sovreign Lord.

I grew up in a Non-Denominational Church and even felt a call to “full-time ministry” when I was 7 years old. Upon my graduation from High School, I attended a private Bible College to achieve my “calling”. After meeting my wife in school and the school actually closing, it was more important for me to support my new wife than trying to find a school that would actually accept my 3 years of credits. My wife and I continued to remain in the Charismatic church until we realized that the church we were attending was just the Senior Pastors “kingdom”. After this, I had no idea where to attend church. One of my work associates had given me a CCC to read and also gave me a subscription of “This Rock”. Obviously not being raised in a Catholic Church I had many questions, so for me the natural thing to do was to make an appointment with a teacher of my Bible College who had left the Catholic Church in the early 70’s. He scared me enough to call off my quest and then take my wife and family into the Presbyterian Church (PCA) where we have remained for the past 4 years.

Last year upon the death of the Holy Father the many questions that I had came again to the surface. This time I went straight to the source. I started visiting Mass and making appointments with the Monsignor of my local parish. After many, many Scott Hahn books, and also many meetings with my Reformed Pastor, I have decided to continue in my journey Home.

I have left many things out, but I would say the main reason I am converting to the Catholic Church is that the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura to me now holds no water. It is (with all due respect) illogical. The main argument I get is that Scripture interprets Scripture. In other words A interprets B. In order for A to interpret B, then we must have a firm foundation for A. That is the only way that A can interpret B. In the Protestant Churches that I have been affiliated with, either small or large denominations, they are simply relying on their interpretation of Scripture and they have no guarantee that what they are saying or not saying is true. Not so in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has been given the gift of the Holy Father of the Church who is led by the Holy Spirit to protect the Church from error.

As John Cardinal Henry Newman says: “To go deep into Church history is to cease to be a Protestant”.

Pax Tecum
 
As John Cardinal Henry Newman says: “To go deep into Church history is to cease to be a Protestant”

**AMEN!

**That really applied to my situation. I can’t proclaim to be extremely well-versed in the early Church Fathers but just reading about the Church made me realize how ancient the mass is, what it’s roots are, etc. I think your average person in the popular culture just thinks mass is something Catholics invented out of the blue sky. Yes, there are many ways to worship God, but why not the method that dates back practically to His time here on Earth? After learning about the meaning of the mass, the Sunday service I grew up with just seemed to plain and empty. Protestants claim to have a personal relationship w/ Jesus but what’s more personal than the Eucharist and liturgy? Liberalsaved, as a convert, let me tell you. Don’t kid yourself into thinking there’s not a difference. There is.
 
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