801 million Protestants and 1.2 billion Catholics.1 One day,
these numbers might well be even. When that happens I bet that a great cry will
go out in celebration of freedom of religion. Perhaps the numbers won't matter come 2017, the 500 year anniversary of the Protest. But what is it exactly that will
be celebrated? What I see are 801 million individuals who can’t agree on any
matter of doctrine who are being forced into a demographic that they are
oftentimes offended to be called! If the day comes that Protestants outnumber
Catholics, it will only go to show that more Christians than not are in discord
about their faith. The number 801 million Protestants cannot really explain
anything and does nothing to unify non-Catholic Christians. When someone says
that there are 1.2 billion Catholics however, they are saying something. They
are saying that a single and universal Church community exists throughout the
world that say the same Creed, believe the same things, and participate in the
same Sacrifice of the Mass. That statistic says that there are 1.2 billion
unified people from every race and station in life who agree on matters of
doctrine and faith. There are several Catholic Americans who don’t always
display this sentiment, but nonetheless it is true. When we say that there are
801 million Protestants, what are we really saying? We are saying that there
are 801 million individuals each interpreting the Scripture as they see fit,
regardless of how problematic the interpretations are. A prideful assertion is
being used to exhaustively re-invent the wheel and deny Christian traditions.
What it is really saying… is that
there are 801 million non-Catholic popes.
I am a Catholic, and I will not defend the Pope to a pope. What I want
a non-Catholic to defend to me is the unity of Protestantism, or the
justification of radical individualization when Jesus demanded that we be one.2
When I was in high school, I went to a non-denominational Bible study. The lady
who led it always started each session by asking us, “how many churches are
there in this town?” The silence would fall as some started trying to count and
others realized it was probably a trick question. Then she would slowly raise
one finger, look really serious, and say, “One church. There’s only one church
here.” I appreciate her sentiment. Christ prayed that we would be one, just as
He and the Heavenly Father are one.3 But we would leave the Bible
study on Saturday night, and wake up Sunday morning each going to a different
building erected as a pillar of truth which claimed to possess the ‘real’ way
that you encounter the Risen Christ. Some had good preachers, some had good
music, and some thought it was good they didn’t have music! And still others
didn’t go to church at all because ‘they could find Jesus anywhere’ (but
apparently they were only going to look for him during the camera pans to the
crowd during the football game). To claim that Protestants are unified is an
absurd denial of reality that is no truer than Bruce Jenner’s womanhood. The
ONLY thing that Protestants agree on is that at best Catholicism is not as good
as whatever they are doing. But alas, because this is an argument of sheer
survival, it makes it a desperate thing upon which to agree, and brings them no
closer to the unity which Christ3 and St Paul4 demand of
those who bear the name Christian.
In focusing on American Christianity (the bastion of Protestantism) we
see the enigma of de-centralized Christianity at work and we can also see the
fruits of that work. A perfect example just recently occurred! When the Supreme
Court ruling on gay marriage was handed down, everyone had something to say about it and 99% of it was on
Facebook. We no longer live in a Christian majority country, and the secular
majority (as well as a contingent of self-proclaimed Christians) was very much
in unity when it came to legalizing “gay marriage.” The #lovewins and the
rainbow flag profile pics were very indicative of that. Complete unanimity. But
what did we hear from the Christian community? Utter chaos. The vast American
papacy was in one giant, dissonant uproar. There were posts and pictures from
‘God hates fags’ to a gay guy making out with the crucified Jesus. If something
was shared or re-posted, the sharer got something different out of or completely disagreed with the reasons
of the original poster! No two Christians on Facebook that day spoke in one
accord as to why they as a Christian could not reconcile their faith with this
decision. If I might make the crude analogy, picture for a moment the
Protestant movement as a chain of manufacturing facilities. The ‘widget’ they
produce is theology, or the practical understanding of Christianity. With over
30,000 locations (denominations) and counting! They are the largest producer,
which sounds nice. However, the business model is to interpret the corporate
legal code to the best of their ability. Whose head of quality control!? It
means that no two widgets they produce are the same because every employee is a
CEO cranking out widgets in their own image with no oversight! The claimed CEO
(Christ) said that they should be ONE
in Spirit and one in ‘production’ of their theological widgets. But at
Protestant Corp, if my one doesn’t look like your one, then we just need to
trudge forward perceiving the boss’ words as a mere illusion or suggestion.
Better yet, let’s pretend that we are one
in Spirit, but not actually put that unity into practice in reality. Luther,
the founder of Protestant Corp, viewed the Catholic Church as an ‘ecclesiastical
elite’ that had ‘no right’ to guide the body of believers, and wanted all
peoples to interpret Sacred Scripture for themselves. This was to bring about
clarity among the body of believers, yet even before Luther’s death there was
wild discord among those interpreting God’s word for themselves. It only got
worse from there, and the conflict has yet to cease.5 So much for
enlightenment.
Why would I take any group of people seriously who can’t even agree on
what they stand for? Much less why they stand for it? And if I want the truth,
why would I go to a group of tinkerers who are going to crank out a “truth
widget” that is merely their most current opinion? That is the fruit of
decentralized Christianity. And why Christ very passionately prayed to His
Heavenly Father that we (Christians, the Church, the Body of Christ) would ‘be
one, just as He and the Father are one.’ Why? The reason why is just as
important! ‘So the world would know that I AM.’ Dissention begets doubt, and
accepting doubt begets relativism, and relativism ultimately begets nothing.
Why is it so easy for us to see the faults of David Koresh, but not the exact
same (though less exacerbated) problem with the life-coach mentality of Joel
Osteen? Why do we admire the preacher down the street that is ‘doing his best
to discern God’s word,’ a wisdom and truth which cannot be understood in a
hundred lifetimes? We don’t admire the boss who doesn’t see the big picture,
won’t take input from his employees or superiors, and thus stunts our
professional careers with his failings. Where are these people’s authority? who
is checking these people? Christ?! This becomes merely an excuse because Jim
Jones’ Kool-Aid was divinely inspired too.
Look: the Church is not an end in itself and life is not an end in
itself. Life is God’s divine plan to draw us to himself, the revelation of
Christ and the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy makes us all the chosen— and
called—people of God. We are called to God through one source: the Holy
Trinity.6 We might better understand how our diversity in charism
and talents flow into one divine communion of charity
in the contemplation of the unity which flows forth from the diversity of the
Godhead. The Holy Spirit, who moves and breathes in the Church, is a living and
active Spirit who invokes Christians in every age. This one Spirit calls us to God through
Christ, to profess one Faith, one Baptism, and one Salvation through Jesus Christ. This is the Church which Jesus
founded and left for us. The Church is nothing more than the
believer’s acknowledgment that being a Christian is a very specific and real
thing; that we can’t simply make it up as we go. And that Christianity has
unique markers and signs of its reality, chief among them is the full
understanding of Christ in typology, prefigurement, prophecy, fulfillment,
sacrifice, resurrection, his place in the divine Godhead of the Trinity, and
our relationship with God through Christ. There is only one place where we can
find all of this not only spelled out, but practiced throughout the ages, and
that is the Catholic community of believers. There is only one historical group
of believers that have taught the same theology throughout the ages, so that what
mere men cannot accomplish in one hundred lifetimes (the full knowledge of God)
might be fulfilled through the Holy Spirit by a thousand generations of believers
preaching the Truth in unity. The
rest of the Christian community has diverted and devolved, and faded away, for
they are not the nominated Church of Christ protected by the promise of Peter’s
ordination: “Peter, you are rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”7
The post-modern ‘non-denominational evangelical’ has come a long way
from the pilgrims. But, that is what happens when you don’t have a rock to
stand on: you start sliding down the relative scale. The fruit borne by the
Protestant experiment is all around us: “Christian” churches performing “same-sex
marriages,” New-ageism and life coaching is more than a prevalent preaching
style, and surges in fallen away Christians which this country has never seen
are just a few examples. The good news is: people are still hungry for the
truth! They just need to know where to turn. Thank God that American
Catholicism in particular is resurging in vocations, attendance, and a great
call to orthodoxy from its youth. We need to be a strong example for those
people who are burned out with the ‘spiritual high’ experience of worship and
are looking for something substantial. The real question which will define this
age goes out to all Catholics: Do you know the Truth in your own heart enough
to let it set someone free through you?
Can you answer the superstitious objections to our faith in confidence and
charity? Because there is something to be said about an original; there is
something to be said about the institution that has stood still and changed the
world around it. Raise your voice! Because it’s harvest time in the land of
de-centralized Christianity.
1 Pew Research Center, December 2011 http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/
2 John 17:21
3 John 17:21
4 1 Corinthians 1:10
5 Barron, Robert Bishop On
Protestantism and Authority https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWYwBDqFsuE
6 Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 796
7 Matthew 16:18
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