Catholics need to Educate Anti-Catholics

Being brought up in a fundamentalist Bible church I can remember being given Chick tracts to read. I don't think we had them at home, but you'd pick one up at church or at some Christian event. Their pocket sized format, comic book artwork and lurid, sensationalist style made them attractive and easy to read. Most of them weren't particularly anti-Catholic. They were mostly about worldly sinners who faced the fires of hell and then got saved. However, the ones that were anti-Catholic certainly made a strong impression. There were pictures of fat, corrupt bishops, ugly priests worshipping pagan deities and unspeakable blasphemies against our faith.

The main problem with Chick tracts is not that they spread lies, half truths, slander and blasphemy about the Catholic Church, but that the authors, customers and people who spread the lies, half truths, slander and blasphemy don't think they are spreading lies, half truths, slander and blasphemy. They appear to be good Christian souls who think they are serving the truth, serving the Lord and helping to expose a demonic cult called the Catholic Church. These well meaning Protestants are only parroting the traditions they have received from their teachers who have received the same traditions from their teachers passed down for 500 years of anti-Catholic Protestantism.

Ironic then that these folks eschew the 'traditions of men'. What the authors, printers and purveyors of this anti Catholic trash never stop to do is to check their facts, challenge their sources and find out what Catholics really believe. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said there are very few people who disagree with what Catholics believe, but there are millions who disagree with what they think Catholics believe. Therefore it is important that Catholics engage in apologetics in an intelligent, compassionate and down to earth manner. We should cut through the sensationalism, the paranoia and the hatred with common sense, good manners and Christian charity.

Bishop Stika of Knoxville TN has done just this. His pastoral letter (see below) is an example of how to deal with the aggressive anti-Catholicism we still find here in the Bible Belt. In a way Chick tracts and the angry fundamentalists who write them, buy them and disseminate them are easy to deal with. Their anti-Catholicism is 'inyerface'. What is more difficult to deal with is what I term 'soft anti Catholicism'. Most Protestants now seem to be accepting of Catholics. Much of the old 'whore of Babylon' talk has faded away.

Some regard us as brothers and sisters in Christ. However, most mainstream Evangelicals regard us as targets for evangelization. In their minds we're rather like Mormons: good folks with strong moral values who have been lured into a cult. This is why they expend so much time, money and effort in evangelizing Catholics in Central and South America. The 'soft' anti Catholic Protestants smile sweetly when you tell them you are a Catholic and then proceed to tell you without the slightest embarrassment about their latest mission trip to Mexico where they helped hundreds of Catholics to become Baptists through their slick, well-funded mission work.

This type of Protestant anti-Catholicism does not seem as aggressive or ugly as a Chick tract, but it's more effective because far more Catholics in the developing world are likely to respond positively to a sweet Evangelical and leave their Catholic faith than they are to read a Chick tract and leave the faith. We should denounce Chick tracts, but we should be honest with our Evangelical brothers and sisters and also challenge them firmly but charitably on their continued aggressive Evangelistic enterprises amongst our Catholic brothers and sisters in the developing world. Like the people who distribute Chick tracts, they don't think they're doing anything wrong.

They think they're serving Jesus and saving souls. They need to be corrected.

Rev. Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic priest serving the people of South Carolina. He blogs at Standing on My Head.His other articles can be found at his eponymous website here.

Bishop Richard F. Stika of the Diocese of Knoxville has made the following statement in response to the recently publicized distribution of anti-Catholic tracts in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee:

"The Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville includes 47 parishes and 36 counties in East Tennessee, including Holy Cross Parish in Pigeon Forge. As bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, I wish first to state my deep respect and love for my Protestant brothers and sisters, with whom we acknowledge and worship but one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ-and for all the members of other faiths, with whom we also share certain foundational beliefs.

I also wish to acknowledge the many Christian denominations, including the many Baptist churches in East Tennessee, with whom we pray and work in solidarity, according to the truths of the Gospel, in order to promote a culture of life. This culture of life is based on a Christian anthropology that recognizes man and woman as images of God, an essential truth for the formation of a correct vision of society.

I am thinking also of our shared efforts in promoting and protecting the sanctity and dignity of every person in the womb and of the holy institution of marriage and the family as our Heavenly Creator designed them to be. At this moment, however, I am greatly saddened by the reprehensible acts of prejudice and hatred of a few souls who, out of ignorance of Catholic teachings, have promoted the distribution of anti-Catholic tracts. These tracts contain outright lies and blatant exaggerations.

The rationale one Baptist pastor gave in support of distributing these reprehensible, discriminatory, and bigoted tracts was that he was trying to point out the primary difference his church has with Catholics: the belief that a person does not and cannot work his or her way to salvation.

Unfortunately, this pastor does not have a correct understanding of what the Catholic faith teaches in this regard-and he even admitted as much. In Catholic theology, the term justification means the cleansing of a person´s sin and the communication - by grace - of "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22) through baptism. Additionally, Catholics take very seriously the Sacred Scripture, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" ( James 2:24).

Christians misinterpret both Paul and James, thus concluding that their statements about faith and works contradict each other. This is simply not true. There are differences in emphasis but no contradictions in teaching if one understands both properly.

Paul and James agree that both "faith" and "works" are essential to Christian life. Jesus himself makes this crystal clear in his description of the LastJudgment (Matthew 25:31-46). From his judgment seat, the Lord will welcome into his eternal kingdom those who fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned-in other words, those who saw Christ in the suffering and acted in response, inspired by the love of God. Those who did not perform these "works" of love will "go off to eternal punishment" (25:46).

Catholics take the "works" cited above very seriously. As an example, empowered by the grace of Jesus Christ, Catholic Charities of East Tennessee Inc. addresses the unmet needs of the most vulnerable of our region by providing shelter, nourishment, counseling, and education in order to foster human dignity. Catholic Charities of East Tennessee delivers 17 services through 24 programs throughout the region.

This agency´s services are provided regardless of religious affiliation, race, or ability to pay: fewer than 5 percent of the more than 20,000 clients served annually are Catholic. Regarding the reprehensible leaflet titled "The Death Cookie": The Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present-body and blood, soul and divinity-under the appearances of bread and wine. Some Christians attack this doctrine as "unbiblical," but Catholics believe that the Bible is forthright in declaring it (l Corinthians 10:16-17 and 11:23-29 and, most forcefully, John 6:32-71).

Catholics recognize that many of our Christian brothers and sisters do not share our belief in the Real Presence. Even though we may not share the same doctrinal belief, we are thankful that our Christian brothers and sisters of different faiths deeply respect the Lord´s Supper and what it represents. Even the Southern Baptist Convention states, "The Lord´s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming."

As bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, I pray that all Christian pastors will develop a spirituality of ecumenism, with a willingness to explore with other Christians the common beliefs of our Christianity-primarily our belief in the one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ-rather than focus on our differences.

The leaflets produced by Chick Publications and distributed locally are hateful, discriminatory, and full of prejudice and bigotry. Jesus warns that each of us will be judged by the same standard with which we judge others. If we are harsh or judgmental in our analysis of others, we will face harsh analysis. Those who are gentle and gracious toward others will be treated gently and graciously. Perhaps we should remember the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Matthew 7:12)."