Dialoging with Non-Catholic Christians

Okay, there’s someone knocking on your door. You answer and find yourself face-to-face with someone asking if you have been saved. Or they want to come in and discuss the Lord with you.

Or you are seated at a lunch table with coworkers or friends, and the subject of religion comes up. Your coworkers are not Catholic, have little idea of what Catholicism is really all about, and they ask you a series of disjointed questions that make you feel as if you are on the defensive. You don’t know how to answer this question about Mary, that question about why Catholics go to a “man” to tell their sins, what is this thing called “Purgatory” and why do Catholics think they have a “second chance” after death, and why do they believe in the pope. If you’re even luckier than all of this you may get the bonus question as to why Catholics call priests “father” when the “Bible says” call no man your father.

I’m not going to take on and answer these particular questions for you. The reason is for every question I would answer, two more would spring up. No, I want to share with you what I believe is a better path.

Years ago I studied martial arts for a long time, rising to the level of second degree black belt. I did not earn this by learning specific reactions to specific attacks, but rather through learning and applying principles of self-defense I was able to learn how to react to an aggressor. Think about it – if every possible way someone could attack you had to be learned in detail, you’d never learn the principles, and you’d still be sweating away in a dojo when you were 92.

So let’s apply this same idea to dialoging with those who are ignorant of our faith. I don’t mean hit them, I mean use the same principles!

First – in dialogs with non-Catholics, I point out that Jesus Christ came to Earth more than 2,000 years ago and during His ministry on Earth He founded a Church. He did not found a Church in the year 1517 when Martin Luther scribbled his objections.

Second – Jesus Christ also said He was sending His Holy Spirit, and that He (Jesus) would be with us until the end of time.

If, then, what those who broke away from the Church during and after the Protestant Reformation say is true, that the Church had somehow gotten things wrong or had lost the correct course, then Jesus was either mistaken or He was a liar. There are no other possibilities. Again, Jesus said He would be with us until the end. So if those who broke away from the Church are correct, something is wrong with what Jesus promised.

Another point – it defies reason to believe that Jesus would have come to Earth two thousand years ago to form a community and then several centuries later reform it and get it right. Almighty God doesn’t make mistakes. Why, then, would Jesus simply not have come 1,500 years later?

This same logic should apply to anyone who bears current day messages which contradict the Church. Why would Jesus Christ come to Earth, form a community, die and rise, send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and then return to Earth to whisper something entirely contradictory in someone else’s ear? It doesn’t make sense. And God does not ask His believers to abandon common sense.

You have just been to a “faith-defense” (i.e., self-defense) seminar. I urge you to use these principles and stick with them. For any question, remember, Jesus formed His Church and promised not to leave it. You will no doubt get people who come back with other points. Stick to the basics.

Finally one more point. Inevitably in a discussion you will have someone run out of things to say back and they will draw themselves up and say “Well, I just don’t agree with you.”

Many Catholics will say something to the effect of “Well, that’s fine. You’re entitled to your own beliefs.”

I don’t say that, even though it is certainly the “nice” thing to say.

What I tell them is: “You don’t have to agree with me, but that doesn’t change the fact that what I’ve just told you is true.”

Think about it. We have had human beings die to preserve the wonderful faith we received through God’s grace. I don’t think we should give an inch when it comes to defending our faith.

P.S. There is also a set of basic principles to use for dialogs with non-Christians and non-believers. I’ll cover that in another blog.