EVANGELIZING NON-CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS
Key:
Please, this presentation may appear long; yet concerning all that is important for evangelizing “Christians of Other Communions”, it is not exhaustive.
Do not be scared about the length of this presentation. You do not have to read or study the entire content one-time. It is divided into sessions. This will assist you to read or study the content, at least, session by session. One session may be enough for one login.
You need to study the content as often as possible. In that way, you will absorb the content and grow in the ministry of evangelization.
Always pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and enlightenment before you begin to read or study the materials.
Please, for questions, comments and clarifications: contact the author at “emmanuelrev@yahoo.com.”
I wish you God’s blessings. Amen.
SESSION 1: Overview of Outreach to Non-Catholics
Preliminary Observations:
The focus, here, is how a Catholic Christian can evangelize and help to bring non-Catholics into Full Communion. Generally, in dialogue with many non-Catholic Christian groups and sects, they never accept any other sources of explanation of the faith except the Bible. They dismiss many relevant sources – Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Documents of Vatican II, the Papal Documents, etc – as human ideas and insist on Bible alone (sola Scriptura). Of course, they are wrong; but somebody has to explain it to them in a humble and loving manner. Drawing on this, they often challenge Catholics to clarify their stand ONLY from the Bible. Unfortunately, this becomes a major “pit fall” for many Catholics. And it should not be that way.
Many Catholic Christians do not read the Bible privately; the only acquaintance with the Scripture is the regular readings during the Liturgy. That is not enough! We also need to have a private biblical and spiritual life: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2Timothy 3:16-17). Catholic Christians should always take advantage of Bible Study sessions organized in many parishes. It is highly improbable that any Catholic could evangelize a Protestant or an Evangelical without the “functional” knowledge the Bible. Scripture says, “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching [word] of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The same Christ Eternal (with God in heaven before time began) is the same Christ Incarnate (and born of the Virgin Mary in time) and is the same Christ Inspired (in the Sacred Scriptures). Hence, St. Jerome rightly said, “Ignorance of the Scripture is Ignorance of Christ.” See how Jesus Christ himself underlines the indispensable place of Scripture in evangelization: “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Catholic Christians need to be taught and reminded that the Catholic Church remains the first Church to have contact with the Bible. In fact, through her Apostolic (Sacred) Tradition in 393AD, she was the singular instrument of God in canonizing the writings of the New Testament as Sacred and Inspired and making them equal in dignity as Scripture as the Old Testament writings.
From the above, therefore, when our Protestant brothers and sisters challenge Catholic Christians to clarify their faith on biblical grounds, they have a point. Certainly, the official teaching of the Catholic Church is that revelation comes from God and is contained in Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. Why then should a Catholic shy away from the Sacred Scripture (Bible)? Our Protestant and Evangelical brothers and sisters may not be experts in the interpretation of many passages of the Bible and their theological conclusions may not be right; but at least, most of them are reading the Inspired Word frequently. According to Vatican II, we should NOT “forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification”. Until we evangelize and bring them into proper understanding of the intimate connection of Scripture and Sacred Tradition, they will always hold Catholics accountable ONLY on biblical grounds. What more pressure could be applied to challenge many Catholics to change the status quo of “insufficient biblical worldview?” The Second Vatican Council tried to get Catholic Christians to respond to “the signs of the times”; declaring that “the Study of the Sacred Scripture is the soul of Theology”. In fact, most documents of the Church since Vatican II (for instance, the Documents of Vatican II, Encyclicals, Apostolic Exhortations and Apostolic Letters), are loaded with biblical citations. This is the new trend the Church is advancing in this new springtime of spreading the faith. Catholic priests, deacons and the religious have a responsibility for implementing this reorientation in their areas of assignments. Please, every Catholic Christian must advance in the knowledge of how to employ the Scripture to appreciate the Catholic faith and also for evangelization of our other brothers and sisters.
SESSION 2: Biblical Case for Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium (Official Teachers)
Catholics should read the Bible profusely and employ the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official teaching of the Church, for understanding its proper interpretation. Unlike what our Protestant brothers and sisters practice in their insistence on Bible alone, notice that the Early Catholic Christians followed the official teaching of the Church/Apostles: “So those who received his word were baptized…. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:41-42). It did not say they followed their private interpretation of the Bible. In fact, the Bible obliges us not to follow personal or private interpretations, saying, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation” (2Peter 1:20). Rather, as St. Paul insists below, we should follow the official teaching of the Church, the “pillar and safeguard of the truth”:
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1Timothy 3:14-16).
Also, St. Peter, in substantiating St. Paul’s position, insists that we should follow the official teachings of the Church in these words:
So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2Peter 3:15-16).
Some non-Catholic Christians are confused by the statement: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God’” (John 6:45). Please, there is no confusion here. God teaches us through His Church. Notice the context in which Christ promised to found His Church and how the role of the Church as “the pillar of the truth” is implied in the context.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19).
In the above, “men” or the “people of the world” were mistaken about Christ’s true identity. Simon Peter, already chosen beforehand to be the leader of Christ’s Church (cf. John 1:42), received a special revelation from God and responded correctly. Accordingly, he was commissioned as the one through whom Christ will build his Church. This Church, therefore, has the principal role of teaching the truth about Christ to the people of the world. Christ bestowed on his Church through Peter (a human being) the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven. Hence, Christ stated, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).
Some of our separated brethren make reference to St. Paul’s statement after his conversion,
For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ….. I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus” (Galatians 1:11-12, 16-17).
They claim that St. Paul did not undergo instruction; so they also do not need instruction. First of all, Paul was an apostle, not a lay member of the Church. St. Paul was simply speaking in reference to the initial proclamation of Christ as Lord. At this time, he has not even received the trust of the Apostles:
And when he had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord (Acts 9:26-29).
St. Paul proceeded to inform us that he constantly went to consult and verify his teaching with St. Peter and the Apostles. Then he shows us how the Apostles gave him approval:
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother…. Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up by revelation; and I laid before them (but privately before those who were of repute) the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain…. and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship (Galatians 1:18; 2:1-2, 9).
SESSION 3: Christ’s Will – One Fold, One Shepherd:
Notice, from the above that St. Paul did not found a personal Church. He worked with the Apostles in the one and only one Church. That is the way any Christian should aspire to evangelize; all must enter into Full Communion with the one Church, according to the will of Christ the Lord. Nevertheless, some are confused about the biblical passages:
And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:16).
John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us (Mark 9:38-40; Also, Luke 9:49-50).
Now, what about the “other sheep”? Please, not that Jesus DID NOT SAY, “I shall have other sheep”; he said, “I have other sheep” (John 10:16); that is, present tense, not future tense. No other Christian ‘church’ existed at that time. The other sheep referred ONLY to “Jews” and “Gentiles” that Christ brought in to join the one fold (Please, Read Ephesians 2:11-22); not to form a different group. What about the man casting out demons? The man the Apostles saw casting out demons in Christ’s name was not founding a church. Is praying against the Devil equivalent to the founding of a church? Not at all! Only Jesus can found the Church; no human being can found Christ’s Church. And only Peter was chosen as the principal instrument for the foundation of the one and only one Church. That is what the Bible stated; no more, no less!
Remember, the Church is the New Covenant People of God; only God makes covenant with us and dictates the terms. Covenant is a solemn agreement or bond between two parties, which establishes bonds of sacred kinship; Father-son, brother-brother or even human-wife familial ties. In the biblical covenant God is not just the superior party, he initiates and dictates the terms. As Pope John Paul II stated, covenant “is a completely sovereign initiative of God the Creator….” Can you find any passage of the Bible where Noah, Abraham, Moses, or Peter, summoned God to a covenant? Please, human beings do not make a covenant for God. This means there is no second or third church. What we have is our Christian brothers and sisters who left home; we pray they return soon.
Thus, the point in the references under consideration is this: Apparently, the Apostles taught only they could cast out demons and pray for the sick. Christ corrected that and stressed others (lay people, deacons and priests) can work with the Apostles and Bishops: “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you” (Luke 9:50). Thus, the man casting out demon, a Lay Member of that first church, was simply praying for the sick and the possessed. This is consistent with Christ’s original mandate given to the apostles, which indicates where the rest of us (others) come in to collaborate with them:
[APOSTLES ONLY]: Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table…. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:14-16).
[THE REST OF US]: And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover (Mark 16: 17-18).
Prayer for Unity:
Almighty God and Father, we beg you to bend our hearts to your will. Forgive us our sins of division. Help us to be ready to make amends that we may worship you as you will, not as we want or prefer to do. Grant us the anointing of your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Unity and Truth, that we may work for the unity of your Church according to your irrevocable will. May we repent of our pride and yield to the glory of your Name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Questions, Comments and Clarifications:
Please, contact us at emmanuelrev@yahoo.com.