Evangelization & Prosteletization

(12//09 - My Catholic column for Newman University newspaper The Vantage)

If anyone wants me to give them a brief lecture on the difference between a religion and denominations of a religion, just make the false distinction between Catholics and Protestants as belonging to “different religions.” Catholics and Protestants are not of “different religions,” of course, because they acknowledge the same God (as the Holy Trinity) and believe that we are ultimately saved through the same atoning sacrifice Jesus Christ. Now, how we envision the application of atoning grace may be different.

For Catholics, salvation comes by grace is freely given through the 7 Signs of the New Covenant (sacraments), which are gifts from Christ, not “Catholic works” as many mistakenly believe. For many Protestants, salvation comes by grace freely given to those who request it from God. On the other hand, many other Protestant groups are closer to the ancient teaching of the Church, recognizing the requirement of Baptism and the Eucharist. Still, for most Baptism is recognized as the rite (sacrament) that initiates one into the New Covenant.

Ultimately, because we believe in the same God and the same Christ who freely saves those who call upon Him, and because we share a common Trinitarian Baptism, Catholics and Protestants are of the same religion: Christian. Distinctions within that religion are historical anomalies and come from division.

As I’ve pointed out in the past, the Catholic Church (including those of the Eastern Orthodox schismatic rites) comprises the “whole church,” as their leaders have received legitimate teaching and governing authority from the Apostles. Protestant groups began dissociated themselves with the Church’s teaching and governing authority in the sixteenth century and thus began forming “denominations” within the Christian religion as distinct from the Catholic Church. In turn, losing that stability of an authoritative teaching and governance, the Protestant groups began to further divide over doctrinal disputes.

A Newman student recently asked me to address the difference between evangelization and proselytization and why Catholics don’t proselytize. As you can tell, I first felt the need to establish that Catholics and Protestants are of the “same religion.” I’m sure there are many reasons why many Catholics are not proselytizers, and the recognition that we are of the same religion may be one of those reasons.

However, many Protestants, especially Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, do not see it the same way, and have been theologically led to believe that the Catholic Church is off-base, and thus feel the need to proselytize Catholics out of the Church.

Yet, I’ve heard that false distinction between Catholics and Protestants mostly from older Catholics as a remnant of that historical anti-Protestant rhetoric of the Catholic Counter Reformation. The Counter Reformation sought to highlight for Protestants that their leaders had separated from historical Christianity. However, I would argue that Protestants did not lose the essence of the religion.

It appears that one of the major reasons why Catholics do not proselytize Protestants is based on a historical critique against Catholics; they’ve typically lacked a good biblical education, whereas Protestants pride themselves on this. Ironically, Catholics belong to the biblical Church, which might be why many have grown complacent over the centuries in their religious education.
Now the real question is, “should Catholics proselytize?” Again, some educated Catholics who recognize them being of the same religion may say “No” and choose to go on doing some other work for the Church. Other educated Catholics, on the other hand, would say “Yes, Catholics should proselytize. It is the essence of regaining Christian unity.” This second view is most appreciated by Catholic converts like me, who are glad to have discovered the “original Church” in the midst of the plethora of “Protestant denominations.”

What is also ironic is that the new movement of Protestant clergy converts I mentioned in the last two articles is due, in large part, to the great amount of historical, biblical, and theological resources now available in our modern “Age of Information.” And this spreading of information on the part of Catholics, such as through Catholic radio (1360 locally), cable television (EWTN), and extensive internet sites (vatican.va; catholic.com; ewtn.com) are products of the late Pope John Paul II’s call for a “new evangelization.” In this respect, one might prefer to say that Catholics are “more fully evangelizing” Protestants – teaching them about Christ’s historical Church – while Protestants are the ones who proselytize Catholics when they lead them out of Christ’s Church.

This leads me to another question, of whether proselytization is good or bad. If one comes to appreciate that the Catholic Church is the original Church founded by Jesus Christ upon the authoritative teaching and governing role of the Apostles, and that those who lack the fullness of the faith that Christ gave them, like all 7 sacraments, it is good to lead others to Christ’s Church. Herein, it would be done for the sake of the greater blessings the new converts would receive from Christ. In reverse, then, it would be clearly bad to lead less educated Catholics out of the Church.

This clearer distinction of Catholics “evangelizing Protestants” and Protestants “proselytizing Catholics” follows from the appreciation of the original historical religious integrity of the Catholic Church, the in-continuity of the Protestant divisions, and the continued commonalities between the two.

This distinction may also give insight as to why it is appropriate for Catholics to “proselytize,” or rather, “more fully evangelized” our non-Catholic family and friends. For such reasons Saint Francis de Sales is so well know among Catholics for having assisted the Holy Spirit in the conversion of thousands of Calvinist Protestants of Geneva, Switzerland, back to the Church. The brotherly love that Christian unity reveals strengthens the persuasiveness of the Gospel. From personal experience, having been raised a Protestant, I am glad I was proselytized, or rather, “more fully evangelized,” by such outlets as Catholic radio.