Stix Hix Nix Mix
I am speechless. I am not sure what I want to say. I have been a Protestant since I was eight years old, with a little time out in college for bad behavior, when I accepted atheism for conscience’s sake. At the age of twenty-one I recommitted my life to Christ after reading Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. I broke up with my boyfriend because he was not a Christian, but I encouraged him to read this book. He read it, converted, and we are now married and have seven children.
We entered Christianity with fervor. Because we were encouraged to read and study Scripture, we actually did — thoroughly. Our knowledge of Scripture taught us that many of the things believed by our friends in Protestant churches does not seem to square with Scripture. There is a lot of sloppy exegesis. We particularly differed on the issue of “once saved, always saved.” My husband, a physician, wrote a book, Once Saved Always Saved, If You Don’t Fall Away. But long before we self-published this book we endured much criticism for our views. We even have been called heretics.
It has been very disillusioning to find that the very people who proclaim sola scriptura recoil at our views because they don’t square with the “traditional” teaching of the Reformers, particularly Calvin. For years we were convinced that our friends would understand and agree with us if we could just show them from Scripture why we believe what we do. Some of our friends agree, some have come closer, and some were repulsed. We were mystified at why Scripture was not convincing to them. We still don’t understand and have come to the conclusion that some people believe what they want to believe no matter what the facts seem to be.
The church we were in, an Evangelical Free Church, was quite tolerant. My husband was an elder. He was allowed to teach from the pulpit two to four times a year. His teaching sometimes caused controversy. Some elder meetings were devoted to trying to get him to avoid upsetting congregants with non-Calvinism. Finally, when some accused him of heresy and causing disunity, we decided it wasn’t polite to stay.
We found about the same view in all the other churches. I have experienced the distinct impression, while in certain churches and Bible studies, that “this is not my religion.” We have not known what to call ourselves. We don’t know where to turn.
Then, a few weeks ago, I bought Thomas Howard’s Evangelical Is Not Enough and Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism. I have long been intrigued by Protestants who convert to Catholicism, and probably because my daughter is a freshman at a Catholic university, I was motivated to find out the reasons. I will say I have never been convinced that Catholics are not Christian, but this view is taken for granted in many quarters. While anti-Catholic teaching rarely reached my ears, it always seemed extreme and repellant. Howard’s book is winsome. I am only halfway through Keating’s and am wondering if I am more Catholic than Protestant. You both really seem to know your stuff.
Well, anyway, I am not going to make any snap decisions. Next I will read James McCarthy’s The Gospel According to Rome. But, in glancing through it, I saw that he used the same technique used against my husband and me — while proclaiming sola scriptura, they denigrate any attempts at using Scripture to come up with an interpretation other than their own. Weird.
Pamela Forrester
Fallbrook, California
Vengeance Is the Lord’s
It was good to see one of my favorite books, Making Sense Out of Suffering, so favorably reviewed (December 1997). However, I wish the reviewer had stated a disagreement with Vincent Bugliosi’s belief in “the justice the victims and their families deserved. ”
Whether one calls it justice for the victim and family, or closure, of whatever, it appears to be vengeance, which can be gravely sinful.
The opponents of the death penalty have long criticized it as vengeance, but this applies to all criminal law; no penalty may be applied for purposes of revenge. According to The Catechism of the Catholic Church, “To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution ‘to correct vices and maintain justice.’ If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is a mortal sin ” (CCC 2302).
Justice may be commutative (what citizens owe each other) or distributive (what they owe the community) or legal (what the community owes its citizens in proportion to their contributions or needs) (CCC 2411). It appears that the community owes it citizens peace and tranquility in which to conduct their affairs and must impose sanctions to do this. “Punishment is to redress the disorder caused by the offense . . . preserving public order and the safety of persons . . . correction of the offender ” (CCC 2266). I don’t see a duty or even a right for the community to exact the vengeance which is forbidden to the individual.
Joseph G. Kelley
Fountain Valley, California
Editor’s reply: To be quite precise, the individual is not allowed to impose any of those penalties that are reserved to the state. You can’t impose the death penalty on your own, and you can’t imprison a person at your own whim.
Believe, Then Promote
Several months ago Karl Keating, in “Quick Questions ” (September 1997), responded to this question: “I’m shy. What’s the alternative to my trying to promote the faith? ” He answered, “No faith. ” This must have been a difficult question to answer, and, as terse as the reply was, that is exactly what it comes to.
The apostles, after our Lord’s death, were fearful and doubtful. Although they loved Jesus and believed in all that they had witnessed and heard during their three-year sojourn with him, they felt this terrible unease. Would his promise to return in three days be fulfilled? Would the fulfillment of this promise, if it should happen (they were so full of doubt), overcome their temerity?
It did happen! Christ arose from the dead and appeared many times to his apostles. He spoke and ate and touched them. The fulfillment of the prophecy of the Resurrection certified their belief in Christ, and they became bold and fearless witnesses to all they had experienced and had learned from him. There are many ways to “promote ” Christ, but, if we do not have the certitude of our faith, we have “no faith. ”
Barbara Rodriquez
San Diego, California
Thanks — Your Check Is in the Mail
In an era when many Catholic periodicals are in the hands of timid conformists or heterodox subversives, This Rock remains fearless and unequivocal in orthodoxy. It is obvious from my reading of over three years’ worth of issues that This Rock has this as its goal: faithful adherence to the teaching of the Catholic Church. Issue after issue, the magazine clarifies the debates, states the teachings of the magisterium, and proposes practical actions for daily living.
In a time when many Catholics, often through no fault of their own, are confused about the teaching of the Church on faith and morals, This Rock performs a valuable service by presenting the Church’s doctrine with clarity. Your staff is to be commended for its loyalty to the successor of Peter and for its fidelity to the letter and the authentic spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
Upon completion of my master of arts degree in religious studies, my vocation will be in apologetics and evangelization. This Rock has remained the focal point in directing my research and an inspiration to “earnestly contend for the faith, once and for all delivered to the saints ” (Jude 1:3).
Steven R. McCoy
Represa, California
Assisi = A Sissy?
I’m writing in reply to the letter from Keith Elflein that appeared in the October 1997 issue. I’d like to say to him that I agree with him on some points. I’m sure that every saint would agree, and the Holy Father himself would agree, that a pope is not above criticism. Even so, we owe him the respect and honor due his office. He is the Vicar of Christ.
That said, I’d like to say that Mr. Elflein raised some good points that the editor didn’t address. I’m not sure at all that it is accurate to say that Protestant religions aren’t Christian. There are many Protestants who sincerely love God and search for truth. In most instances, a Protestant who converts to Catholicism is not rebaptized. I think one could say, however, that a Protestant is not among the faithful. According to St. Thomas, “To reject one article of the faith is to reject the faith itself ” (S.T. 2:2:5:3).
Charity toward out Protestant brethren requires us to remember that only the Catholic faith is in full possession of revealed truth. Conversion has to be the ultimate goal of ecumenism. In The Salt of the Earth, Cardinal Ratzinger, in an interview with a German journalist, Peter Sewald, notes that “even as ecumenical dialogue proceeds, many new religious sects are emerging and many fractures are occurring within the Church herself. “
And so my question is this: Don’t some of our Holy Father’s ecumenical efforts, in particular the interfaith prayer meeting at Assisi, send out the wrong message, that conversion is no longer necessary or, at least, no longer urgent?
Richard Aguire
Martinsville, Virginia
Editor’s reply: Keith Elflein, who identified himself as being 23, said that Protestantism lacks “any shred of credibility ” and that John Paul II errs in that “he sees Protestant faiths as Christian faiths. ” While one may appreciate such evident youthful vigor, one must demur at the poor thinking. If Protestantism lacks “any shred of credibility, ” then one must say that its support of true elements of the Christian faith suffers from the same lack. Is Catholicism right when it proclaims the Resurrection but Protestantism wrong when it proclaims the same thing? That makes no sense. Mr. Elflein’s argument fails at its first application. To the extent Protestantism teaches the truth, it is true; to the extent it teaches error, it is erroneous. It teaches both, and therefore we can say it is partly true and partly erroneous. Every religion I can think of has some element of truth in it, but only Catholicism is composed of nothing but true elements, with no admixture of error.
To the Athenians Paul noted that the moral law was written in their natures and that they were right to worship-they knew there was a God, but they didn’t know him rightly and so worshiped false gods. The Athenians’ religion was true at least to the extent that it taught God’s existence, however obscurely, and that it taught them elements of the natural law. Paul would not have said that the Athenians’ religion lacked “any shred of credibility. ” Quite the opposite. He praised them for what they got right and invited them to get the whole story.
Mr. Aguire wonders about the prudence of ecumenical meetings such as Assisi. Do they send the wrong signals? His is a legitimate concern, and loyal Catholics may disagree about the wisdom of particular events, even when they are sponsored by the Holy See. In many cases hindsight will show that an ecumenical effort had both positive and negative results, and then it is a matter of weighing. My own reading on the meeting at Assisi is that it would not be remembered at all today if not for continuing complaints by a few Catholics who have invested it with a significance it in fact did not have, then or now. I think Assisi turned out to be a net zero on the ecumenical radar.
Heeding the Call
Thank you for your support of the Call to Holiness Conference in Phoenix . It was a holy success, with approximately one thousand attendees! I was not the organizer, though. A very dedicated woman, Myra Sletten, was the person who put the whole thing together, without any previous experience and without support from the diocesan office. She was the instrument God used to bring this teaching conference to Arizona, where it was badly needed.
Fr. Joseph Fessio spoke of the bright lights in these troubled times and he spoke of magazines like This Rock and laymen like your staff. He also spoke of the need for Catholic radio and that there just might be one in San Diego soon.
Bernice English
Phoenix, Arizona
Editor’s reply: At this writing we have nothing confirmed in San Diego, but we have been contracted by more than a hundred individuals and groups around the country that want to get Catholic radio stations in their areas. Two years ago the interest level was so low that it wouldn’t have registered on the most sensitive seismograph. No longer: Expect big developments by this time next year.
Evangelist of Last Resort
I have been receiving a subscription of charity and hope in the form of This Rock for the past year. You were kind enough to approve the subscription while I was awaiting trial in the county jail.
This Rock has done much good in that jail, and to this day most of those issues are still circulating among the inmates there.
I am writing to let you know that my trial has concluded. Unfortunately, I was found guilty and condemned to the death penalty. I have recently been moved to death row at San Quentin State Prison. Although it is a personal blow, I am trying to look at the situation through Christ’s eyes, as his will, to realize that I have a wonderful opportunity to work for our Lord in a mission field of desperate men with little hope and no future. Realizing that Jesus is calling to all of them has helped me a great deal to remain focused as a witness for his Church. But I need the tools. My tools so far have been a few Catholic periodicals that I have been able to acquire, one of them being This Rock. This has been my armament, along with God’s graces. Certainly I am not prepared for this task on my own. Unfortunately, the prison does not let us receive free books in the mail. My only recourse is Catholic periodicals, which to me are powerful, especially when trying to draw the interest of other inmates.
I share all of this with you so you understand why I humbly request of you to continue and extend this subscription. I promise that I will continue on the path of doing the work of our Lord and spreading the Good News of his Church. I have an understanding of and access to these men that no chaplain will ever have. I want God to use me while I am here.
John J. Famalaro
San Quentin, California
Editor’s reply: We are happy to be able to extend Mr. Famalaro’s subscription indefinitely. The generosity of our readers has allowed us never to say “No” to a subscription request from a prisoner. We keep all of them — especially those like in extremis like Mr. Famalaro — in our prayers and Masses and ask our readers to do likewise.
Awake While Reading
Thank you for publishing This Rock. I think I am starting to learn from it. I have one question, though, about the “Raisin’ Saints ” column in the October 1997 issue. Isn’t putting a blanket over a night light a fire hazard?
Carol Urbanik
Worthington, Ohio
Editor’s reply: The light that Leslie Ryland wrote about was low-voltage and didn’t run off the wall socket. Your question show’s you’re paying attention. How come none of our other readers asked?
Rod Sterling, Call Your Office
Your notice of the demise of the We Are Church referendum (“Dragnet, January 1998) was very encouraging, except that I was going through our diocese’s newspaper and found the enclosed clipping, which sounds not as encouraging since it states that 2.5 million signatures were on the document presented to the Vatican, rather than a mere 37,000, as your article stated.
I realize that newspapers are to report news, but you’d think at least that a Catholic one would comment in defense of what is right rather than print so much that is sympathetic to dissenting issues. I really get perturbed when so-called “Catholic” newspapers print articles which seem to be siding with dissenters. The average person in the pew who reads the diocesan papers takes much of what is presented in them as approved, unless they are actually warned outright that something is against Church teachings. I’ve witnessed this in my own community a lot — the only church in town is liberal, and my amateur apologetics get me nowhere fast. I’ve had to leave that parish and now drive to another town to go to Mass. The things that go on in the liturgy here makes me feel that I’m in the Twilight Zone.
Sauda J. Kim
Hill City, Kansas
Editor’s reply: It may have been true that We Are Church people turned in 2.5 million signatures, but all except 37,000 of those were from Europe, largely Germany. The American dissenters made such a hallyboo of their plan to get a million signatures that even some of them now must be coming to see that their proposals will not be the wave of the future.