Reformation Day

On Oct. 31, 1517, the notorious Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis on the Wittenberg door. Thus, Protestants celebrate Reformation Day.

Rome has come a long way since the 16^th century. Last year, Benedict XVI bowed towards a Lutheran altar and prayed alongside a woman bishop inside a Lutheran church in Germany.

Since the Second Vatican Council, Rome now calls heretics and schismatics non-Catholic Christians or separated brethren, and even denies that they are heretics and schismatics: “The children who are born into these Communities and who grow up believing in Christ cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation, and the Catholic Church embraces upon them as brothers, with respect and affection…. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body, and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.” [1]

My local so-called Catholic radio station promotes Protestantism. On the Mike Allen Show, which Bishop Gainer blesses, Mike has common ground Wednesdays where he invites one of his many Protestant pastor friends from their own denominations to speak about their faith. Since the show is more secular than religious, they usually spend more time talking sports than religion, but anyway… Mike always asks his pastor friend to lead a prayer either at the beginning or end of the program. He then wishes his friend well in their particular religious faith and allows a short promotion of the respected religious church by the pastor. [2]

When Mike Allen was asked how his and Vatican 2’s views flow in continuity with the pre-Vatican 2 Church, he quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church (838) [3] and stated, “I do not see the difficulty in understanding that the Catholic doctrine has developed around the understanding of baptism’s salvific nature, keeping in mind the concept of invincible ignorance, that we are responsible for obedience only to the degree that we understand. For non-Catholic Christians, they are not fully initiated members, but have a ‘certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.’”

In reply to a question I asked on his radio show and to his above statements, I wrote to him: “To say that all baptized persons deserve to be called Christians is to deny the existence of heretics and schismatics unless you change the definition of these terms to mean something other than how the Catholic Church has always understood them…

You said that you believed that your Protestant pastor friends are members of the Body of Christ the Church, but not with the fullness of the faith which comes with Catholicism. You even said that their religions are part of the Body of Christ, but not fully. Are you suggesting that they all are invincibly ignorant? In the external forum they are not members since Protestantism is not part of the Body of Christ. It’s anathema on many levels! Yet, at the end of your common ground shows, you actually wish them well in their false ministries which contain lies, half-truths, and heresies repeatedly condemned by the Church. We may wish non-Catholics well in their health and other things, but not in their false religions! Why would Christ say to shake the dust off our feet from those that don’t listen to the words? Because once you hear the truth, you’re no longer invincibly ignorant. Christ didn’t say to wish them well in their rejection of the Gospel, and Protestants do reject the Gospel!”

Of course Mike never replied to my email, but I did send him one more email today. It read:

Monsignor Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston, related this following true story at St. Michael’s College at Brussels, in November, 1862.

General X. (one of the ablest generals of the Northern Army in the war of 1860), first a Protestant, had had the happiness of hearing a simple, clear explanation of the Catholic religion. It was sufficient for the upright and noble man to make him see the truth and embrace Catholicism with all his heart. From that time, full of faith and fervor, he devoted himself, not only to living as a true Catholic, but also to procuring for other Protestants the grace of conversion. In a short time he won over twenty officers and wrote a book destined to furnish instruction for soldiers. We can well understand that he had not forgotten his wife, who was a Protestant, but he had the grief of see all the efforts of his zeal fail in this direction. Meanwhile, God permitted Madame X. to be attacked by an illness which reduced her to the last extremity. The General, after having exhausted to no purpose all the resources of faith and charity, seeing the sick woman on the point of dying in her obstinacy, recurred to a last means. He called in four Irishwomen whom he had in his service, and, with tears in his eyes, said to them: “My friends, you know my wife is a Protestant and that she is unwilling to hear the Catholic religion spoken of. She is going to die in her obstinacy and fall into Hell. I shudder at the thought of such a misfortune; it must be absolutely prevented if it is possible. Let us pray, then, to the Holy Virgin and do violence to her merciful heart.” Thereupon, the General drew forth his beads, and began to pray on his knees; the poor attendants did as much, and the whole five continued to pray for one hour. Then the general went to the bed of the invalid and discovered her in a sort of coma, out of her senses, without consciousness. At the end of some time, returning to herself and looking at her husband, she said to him in a very intelligible voice: “Call a Catholic priest.” The General believed at first that she was delirious and made her repeat what she desired. “I beg,” she said, “for a Catholic priest without delay.” “But my dear, you would not have one.” “Ah! General, I am entirely changed. God has shown me Hell and the place that awaited me in the eternal fire if I did not become a Catholic.” So the sick woman had the happiness of returning to the bosom of the Church. She even recovered here health and lived afterward as a fervent Catholic. Such was the narrative of the venerable Bishop of Boston; he had these details from General X.’s own mouth. [4]

CONDEMNED IN SYLLABUS OF ERRORS BY POPE PIUS IX: 17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ. — Encyclical “Quanto conficiamur,” Aug. 10, 1863, etc.

Popes Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII taught that Protestants are not in the true Church of Christ.

In 1875, the great Catholic writer Michael Mueller published the book Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine, which carried the imprimatur of Archbishop Roosevelt Bayley of Baltimore, which was apparently approved by Rome and praised highly by all. He wrote:

Q. Have Protestants any faith in Christ?

A. They never had.

Q. Why not?

A. Because there never lived such a Christ as they imagine and believe in.

Q. In what kind of Christ do they believe?

A. In such a one whom they can make a liar with impunity, whose doctrines they can interpret as they please, and who does not care what a man believes, provided he be an honest man before the public.

Q. Will such a faith in such a Christ save Protestants?

A. No sensible man will assert such an absurdity.

Q. What follows from this?

A. That they die in their sins and are damned.

Father Mueller was simply reiterating the Church’s teaching on the matter as solemnly defined by the popes.

END

What shall we conclude about the baptized non-Catholics based on Mike Allen’s reply and Vatican 2’s teaching? It’s quite simple really.

We must conclude that all of them are just invincibly ignorant. That’s all.

In other words, we should ignore or reject the teaching of Christ found in Matt. 10:14 and Mark 6:11 since it can’t apply.

[1] (Second Vatican Council,Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, Chapter 1, para. 3)

[2] 1380 AM or 94.9 FM, The Mike Allen Show played at 5 to 6 pm Mon. through Fri.

[3] 838 “The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.”³²² Those “who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.”³²³ With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound “that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist.”³²⁴ (818, 1271, 1399)

[4] (The Dogma of Hell, Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J., PP. 98-100, TAN Books)

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