From the Desk of Deacon Jim

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed – Dr Samuel Johnson

Over the years we have all heard or been taught, for us converts, a number of misconceptions about the Catholic Church.  For the next several columns I want to address some of these misconceptions.

The following is drawn from an Essay by Robert E. Brown, Society of St. Sulpice (S.S.), entitled The Fundamentalist Challenge. 

The challenge goes something like this: “The Bible teaches us that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, our sole mediator.  Why do Catholics contradict this by teaching that people can be saved through good works or by praying to the saints?” ???????? ???? ???? ??????? ????

This is what you may have heard referred to in more formal terms as Sola Fide.  The Catholic Church does not teach that we are saved by good works.   Brown states:

The Catholic Church proclaims to its people, just as the bible indicates, justification and redemption come though the grace given by  God because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Human beings cannot earn redemption or salvation.  Neither is it won through good works.  Good works are done through God’s grace in response to God’s redemptive work in Christ.  Accordingly Christ is the unique mediator between God and human beings.

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Christ’s commandment was to Love one another as I have loved you. See John 13: 34-35, John 15: 12-13 and Matthew 22: 36-39.  Love is the work of the faithful, the Church.  The actions we take are simply the result of following that command.

As to parying to the saints Brown states:

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Roman Catholicism has long recognized the intercession of the saints, the Church Triumphant.  This is part of the Church’s understanding of the biblical injunction that we must pray for one another.  However this intercession while useful and salutary it is not necessary as the mediation of Christ is necessary.  Any intercession by the saints must be accepted by God and joined to the supreme intercession of the one high priest Jesus Christ. See Acts 4:12. 

As a practical matter, ask the person if they have ever asked someone to pray for them?  Do they believe that those in heaven are still alive and aware of what is happening on earth?  So if the Saints are alive in heaven and aware, what’s the difference between asking your minister or friend to pray for you and asking a saint to intercede for you?

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People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed – Dr Samuel Johnson

Over the next while I will be preparing shorter columns. We are planning on shrinking the size of our bulletin so I have been informed by the editor-in-chief that I have to amend my verbose ways.  So here goes.

Over the years we have all heard or been taught, for us converts, a number of misconceptions about the Catholic Church.  For the next several columns I want to address some of these misconceptions.

The following is drawn from an Essay by Robert E. Brown, Society of St. Sulpice (S.S.), entitled The Fundamentalist Challenge. 

The challenge goes something like this: “Why don’t Catholics see the Scriptures as containing the fullness of God’s revelation instead of always running to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church for God’s truth?” ?????? ???? ???? ????

The Roman Catholic Church considers itself a biblical Church in the sense that it acknowledges and proclaims the Bible to be God’s word.  In the teachings of Moses and the prophets, and in the teachings of Jesus proclaimed by the apostles, to which the scriptures bear witness, the Catholic Church confesses that God has revealed himself to human kind in a unique way.  The Church acknowledges the sufficiency of the revelation witnessed by the Bible in the sense that no new revealer or no new special revelations are necessary for men and women to find the will of God and the grace of salvation.

If great attention has been given to the teaching of the ongoing Church in Roman Catholicism, that teaching is not presented in terms of a new revelation but as the result of the Church’s continuing task to proclaim the biblical revelation in light of new problems in new generations.  In carrying on this task, the Church regards itself as the instrument of the Paraclete-Spirit, promised by Christ which would take what he had given and guide Christians along the way of truth in subsequent times(John 16:13)

If you are looking for a scriptural basis for holding the Church as the teacher of truth, then I refer you to 1Timothy 3:14-15. “I

????? ???? am writing you about these matters, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” The New Jerusalem Bible calls the Church “the bulwark of truth.”   It is held by St Paul himself that it is the Church who is entrusted with the mission of maintaining the truth.  That is why we look to the teaching of the Church for guidance.

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