Ex-Catholic Fundamentalist

Mark Shea

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[Editor’s note: A large portion of the viewer’s original email was a vast post trying to refute Catholic teaching with usual fundamentalist misreadings of Scripture. We kept the portions of the email to which Mark Shea responded.]

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Dear Chris:
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You write:
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Season's Greetings, My name is Chris, and I am a former Catholic; one who did attend the Mass every day, and one who prayed the Rosary often. I am writing to ask a question or two.

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If you are writing to "ask a question" why do you append a vast article with no questions in it? Are you not, in fact, writing because you have no real interest in asking questions and are bound and determined to attack the Catholic faith?

You see, I get letters like this a lot, Chris. For some reason, ex-Catholic fundamentalists always think it will look good if they are "writing to ask a few question" before they launch the long assault. In the course of that assault, they will invariably describe themselves as having once been "devout" and then proceed to regale me with "facts" about the Catholic faith which my ten year old could refute. Frequently they will say that I, as a Catholic, need to learn to think for myself and not listen to the traditions of men and then cap the whole thing by demonstrating a complete inability to think for themselves as they regurgitate (just as you do) a cut and paste "List of Catholic Inventions" that they downloaded off the Internet with scarcely a movement of their gray matter. They have (as you have) no idea of the origins of The List. Nor do they know the many permutations it has gone through as various erroneous "facts" have been fact-checked and shown to be bogus.

So when you tell me about your dad and then pretend to ask:

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In this life: Can a Catholic (or anyone) possess everlasting life — and know it?

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I have a hard time believing you are asking in good faith. I think that, no matter what answer I give, you are not interested. Because you have already made up your mind to respond with a slogan. There is, of course, an answer to the question, which is that Catholics have hope, not certitude, of salvation. That is, we trust in Jesus, just like you do. But we do not presume to know for certain that we are incapable of ever sinning gravely and destroying our relationship with God. So we live by grace day by day and do not worry about tomorrow since tomorrow will take care of itself, as Jesus said.

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Has the Church ever believed, and therefore taught: that it would be a "sin" to say that we already have it? (Everlasting life.)

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Depends on what you mean. We have the life of the Blessed Trinity in our souls through faith in Jesus and the sacraments he instituted. We do not have absolute certitude that we will persist in that faith till death because we don't know the future. There are two sins against hope: despair and presumption. Presumption says "Nothing I can do will ever cut me off from God" and opens the door to arrogantly supposing we can sin all we like without fear of consequence. Despair says, "There's no chance for me, so I will abandon Hope." The goal is to stick with Faith, Hope, and Love and not fall for either despair or presumption.

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Is it in the denial that we have it (now): somehow the key to having it (later)?

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If you are in a state of grace, you have the life of the Blessed Trinity, which is to say, eternal life. But if you sin gravely, you can destroy the life of the Trinity in your soul and be damned. That's why Jesus warned us to abide in him, lest we be broken off and burned in the fire. There's no point in that command if it is impossible to lose our salvation.

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Is this a necessity: a required virtuous denying of oneself, or something?

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Huh?

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Superstition? — To say that we have it now: might even jinx it? — Should we cross our hearts, and fingers? (I don't know whether to laugh, or cry!)

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I don't know what you mean.

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Say a consensus was therefore reasonably initiated, and Catholics were asked the big question: "Do you now have everlasting life, through Jesus Christ?" — What would we hear?

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How should I know how a billion Catholics would answer a poorly worded question? The Church teaches that those in a state of grace have the life of the Blessed Trinity in their souls through Jesus Christ. However, that life can be lost by an act of radical rejection of grace.

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It appears that many in the Catholic Church do profess belief in, "the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life."

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Correction: all Catholics profess belief in that every time they say the Creed at Mass.

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But, it also appears that many in the Church do not (in fact) believe that they now possess it. (Dogmatically, it does seem quite elusive.)

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No it's not elusive. It's straightforward. If you have received the sacraments (which presupposes faith in Jesus Christ) and have not sinned gravely so as to cut yourself off from the life of God by radical rejection of grace, you have the life of the Blessed Trinity in your soul, i.e., eternal life. Indeed, so determined is Jesus to save that even those without access to the sacraments through no fault of their own can receive the forgiveness of sins and the grace of the Holy Spirit through faith. In fact, even those who do not know Jesus, but try to follow the light of conscience can be saved.
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St. Francis of Assisi's words have been coined quite often in the saying: "...in dying we are born to eternal life."

What did he mean? (Is he referring to John 3? 1 Peter 1:3? Or maybe, Romans 6:7?) How many people have missed the boat and assumed what he said to mean: "Oh, we have to wait until we die (in order) to be born to eternal life." [?] — So close, and yet so far.

Given that the Church makes it abundantly clear that in baptism and faith in Christ we are born to eternal life, I think you are working hard not to get it.

Good thing: in the Bible, Jesus made it clear why we have to be born-again (made-alive spiritually) before we die (physically).

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Sigh. I know.

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Years ago, I spoke with Dad on the phone and told him that I have been saved by Jesus — and that I am now a born-again Christian. He asked me, "What is this 'born-again' deal?" I explained to him what Jesus said: "You must be born again," in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, among other relative passages in the Scriptures, including Peter and John's Epistles. Remember, some say, "He is saved, but doesn't know it." (?) This has caused me to be concerned for him, and others: How one can be faithful to a "Christian" church for so long, and yet not be absolutely assured of the primary means of obtaining redemption, salvation, complete forgiveness of all sins, and everlasting life.

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It sounds like your Dad is perfectly well aware that the primary means of salvation Jesus has given are the sacraments. It's too bad you don't know that.

You said you were writing to ask a couple of questions. I've answered the questions. Next time, if you wish to be taken for an honest man, try prefacing your letter with something like "I hate the Catholic Church and I would like you to read my long attack on it and tell me what you think." Then I can write back more directly and say, "Long attacks only show that it's easier to throw mud than to wipe it off. If you really want to discuss the Catholic faith and learn about it, I'm happy to help. But if you just want to repeat the same tired canards and falsehoods in such quantity that I have to set aside several days of my valuable time trying to answer somebody who has absolutely no interest in my answer, then be aware that my answer is "No."

In short, write to have a conversation or do us both a favor and don't bother writing at all.

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• Mark Shea
• Senior Content Editor
• Catholic Exchange
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