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Jimmy Akin wrote:
A special kind of anti-Catholic you might meet is the ex-Catholic....They are taught to say things like, "The Catholic Church never taught me about Jesus--or my need for grace, et cetera." A good response to this kind of claim is, "Really? When you went to Mass, didn't you say the creed, which talks extensively about Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection? Didn't you say things like, 'Lord, have mercy' and 'Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,' signaling your need for grace? The Church was so concerned that you understand these things, it wrote them into the Mass itself. Was the problem that you weren't really paying attention? Maybe you should take a more sympathetic look at the Catholic Church. From Disorientation: The 13 "isms" That Will Send You to Intellectual La-La Land
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I've nearly finished reading
Disorientation, and have been mostly impressed (review perhaps to follow). Most of the essays I've read have been solid, and the writers with whose work I am familiar have not disappointed. Mr Jimmy Akin has written the essay about Fundamentalists and other anti-Catholics among the protestant groups. The passage I quote above especially stands out to me, because it seems a pretty good synthesis of the Catholic response to certain accusations made by many Protestants, and especially by "ex"-Catholics.
Not only do we recite our creeds every Sunday, but we also have a weekly Gospel reading. Who were the gospels about, again? Who is the central figure to the central reading of the Mass? And that's not even getting to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As Dr Scott Hahn notes in his 'The lamb's Supper," the entire Mass is based upon scriptures in general, and presents a good interpretation of Revelation in particular. More than a few of the more intellectual Catholic converts I've known have told me in some form or other that the Mass is the first time they've ever known Revelations to make sense.
Of course, the Liturgy itself is not the only place in which Christ is made known (nor any of these other points). Indeed, I've often wondered myself Who the ex-Catholics thought was depicted hanging from the cross above (or behind) the alter in every Catholic parish. Saint Dismas? It was Saint Thomas Aquinas who once stated that he had learned more from contemplating the crucifixion than from any book. Moreover, Monsignor Charles Pope refers to a well-designed church building as "The Scripture in stone in wood, and stained glass," noting that
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Monsignor Charles Pope wrote:
My own Parish Church is a sermon in stone and wood and glass. It is designed around the book of revelation, Chapters 4 and 5 in which John is caught up into heaven and describes it in detail. The fundamental design of the sanctuary drawn from Revelation 4 and 5 includes the throne-like altar (Rev 4:2), seven tall candles around the throne (Rev 4:5), the four living creatures in the clerestory windows above the altar (Rev 4:6-8). At the center of the altar is the tabernacle wherein dwells the Lamb once slain who lives forever, Jesus (Rev 5:6). Around the throne (altar) are seated the twenty-four elders (Rev. 4:4) symbolized by the 12 wooden pillars on the back sanctuary wall and the 12 stained glass windows of the Apostles in the transept windows. The multitude of angels who surround the throne (Rev 5:11) are symbolized by the blue and gold diamonds on the apse wall.
In effect the builders of my Church (built in 1939) were saying, when you walk into this church, you have entered heaven.
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Maybe some of these ex-Catholics mean only what my friend Mr Nathanael Blake states as one of his own criticisms of the Faith: which is that as practiced, it is not always faithful. There are some practices which are over-emphasized, others practiced improperly, others with at times the wrong intentions. Indeed, there perhaps are some such wrong practices in the Church, and there will always be so long as the Church is a universal Church consisting of men. There are any number of false fads and strange (to outsiders) rituals practiced by Protestants, too, some with the blessings of the pastors. The existence of seemingly strange practices in the Catholic Church--and the abuse of some of those practices--no more disproves that Catholics are sincere followers of Christ as Lord and Savior than the fads of Protestantism (or any subdivision thereof) disprove this about Protestants.
Perhaps instead these ex-Catholics meant only that the priests themselves did not talk enough about Jesus, or sin, or our need for grace. Fair enough: there are some parishes in which this is a problem; but the priest, while teaching with the permission of the Church, does not teach all that the Church teaches. The liturgy itself is a part of the Church's teachings (indeed, it forms one of the most important ways in which Tradition is transmitted). The Catechism of the Catholic Church, a compendium of the Church's teachings, is available freely online, and most Catholics are familiar with this or the older Baltimore Catechism (or the Penny Catechism, etc.). These documents tend to draw most heavily on such articles of our faith as the Creeds (the Apostles' Creed in particular), the Lord's Prayer, the Sacraments, and the commandments (to name a few of the "biggies"). Each of these sources, in turn, brings our focus back to The Source, that is, to the one God in three Persons.
The Church, flawed though she may be, has not wavered in her mission to preach the Gospel. She is, in fact, preaching constantly, though using more than mere words. The question is whether or not her members (and her "ex" members) are listening. I suspect that Mr Akin's essay will inspire a few slumbering souls of Catholics who are slowly slipping from the Faith to be more attentive to the Church's preaching. Then they will discover that she really does have quite a lot to say about such things as grace, salvation, and the Savior Who brings them.
Note: this post originally appears on my Equus Nom Veritas blog.
Tags: Apologetics Quotes Religion
