[This is a part of the Evangelization Basics Series. Have you read the other parts?]
“So, how are you saved in the Catholic Church?” one of the candidates asked.
I was taken aback by the question. We were deep into the RCIA when it came. Wasn’t that what we’ve spent the last few months talking about? Wasn’t it obvious? Apparently not!
On the surface this seems like an easy question. The answer is lots of things, everything! But can you clearly articulate them? Can you tell people why they should be a member of the Catholic Church and what benefit they get?
In other words, do you know and can you tell people the Catholic Gospel? The answer is significant for Catholic evangelization.
Here are some of the distinctive elements and benefits of Catholic Church. Many of these ideas are from my friend Aimee Cooper, who taught on online course on the Catholic Gospel.
Trinitarian-Christocentricity
In the Protestant gospel, the central figure of salvation is Christ. That’s true of the Catholic gospel as well. However, Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity and the Trinity is the central mystery of the Faith. All of Christ’s actions flow from his relationship to the Trinitarian Persons.
The inner life of God is an eternal outpouring of self-giving, self-sacrificing love. This exchange of love between the Persons of the Trinity is the fundamental pattern of the universe. The Cross is ultimately a Trinitarian event–the Son’s offering of self-giving love to the Father in and through the Holy Spirit.
Everything in the Catholic Faith flows from this central truth and is ultimately explained by it. A distinctively Catholic gospel should emphasize the Trinity’s role in salvation and Christ as the “action player” in that role.
Sacramentality
A sacrament makes the invisible, hidden God visible, touchable, receivable. Creation is the first sacrament of God. God created everything on the pattern of himself. So, in creation you can see and know something of God.
Sacramentality is a huge part of what makes Catholicism different. The material world is capable of being charged and infused with grace, God’s own divine life! Material things can therefore be the channels of divine power. That is huge!
In the Protestant world, there is a disconnect between the material and the spiritual. Salvation doesn’t come through material things, it comes from spiritual things that are invisible and unseen.
The Sacramental Character of Christ
Christ is the ultimate sacrament of God. He is the divine made visibly manifest in material form–the divine united with the material.
Because divine power flowed through the human body of Jesus, the Seven Sacraments are possible. Supernatural life can be transmitted though water. A person with Jesus’ authority can forgive sins.
The human body of Jesus is the basis of the Catholic Sacramental system, which is the essential element of salvation in Catholic understanding.
The Essential Nature of the Church
Here’s where most Protestant gospels fall completely short. Salvation comes through Christ and it ends there. However, the Church is essential for salvation. It’s not just an add-on or a nice afterthought.
It’s through the Church that the divine life of Jesus is transmitted to the broken world. In the Mass, through the priest, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the grace won on the cross is made present again in the memorial of Christ’s saving death. Here, the life of the Trinity is poured out into our broken world. This life is transmitted to us through the Eucharist.
Most Protestants don’t recognize the fundamental importance of the Church or the sacraments. Sacraments don’t exist in Protestant faiths. Some churches baptize but it isn’t necessary. It doesn’t do anything.
Protestants also don’t have a real category for the Church. It is merely a support system or fellowship network. It’s nice to have but it doesn’t play an essential role in salvation.
Unfortunately, many Catholics adopt this idea. Even some Catholic evangelization apostolates minimize the essential nature of the Church in this way.
Transformation in Christ
In the Catholic Church, it is possible to be made like God–to be transformed into an Alter Christus or “Other Christ.” Baptism reconfigures the soul to receive God’s own divine life within it.
The sacraments continue to increase the life of God within the soul. The Holy Spirit is not inert. When you have contact with God, it changes you. It is possible to become so throughly infused with God’s life that you can say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). You can actually attain a measure of God’s own holiness.
In Protestant theology, there is no actual transformation in Christ. That’s one of the things Luther rejected. Sure, Christians grow in their relationship with Christ and they act more like Christ but it’s all just a spiritual thing.
Think about it, how can you have actual reconfiguration of your soul and be made really holy like God if there’s no sacramental reality?
Catechetical Takeaway
What’s the upshot of all these differences? There is a real advantage in the Catholic Sacramental system! Real union with God takes place in the Sacraments.
The same divine life that flowed within the Trinity, overflowed in creation and poured out on the Cross at Calvary is continually pouring out into the world to heal the wounds of sin. That divine life also pours out into the heart of every believer when they receive the Eucharist.
These differences may not seem like much but they are extremely significant. The Christian life is hard, and the Catholic Church has more help for living it out than any other church in the world. It’s there for the taking!
- Which of these differences do you think is most significant?
- Do you emphasize these differences in your teaching?
- Will you start?
The comments section is open!
[This is a part of the Evangelization Basics Series. Have you read the other parts?]
Thanks for articulating why I became a Catholic. Sometimes when sharing my testimony with Protestants- it’s hard to know where to begin – because there are SO many differences/advantages, and things that have personally changed my life by becoming Catholic.
Usually, I begin with the Eucharist, but pointing out our belief in transubstantiation is one thing (that’s hard enough on a surface level for people to understand), but underpinning that to the deep philosophy and connections with Sacramentality, etc – is where I think people can say – “Whoa…I didn’t realize how deep this was!” And perhaps will open their hearts to examine more closely the teachings of the Catholic Church – and what it has to offer them! Thanks!
Thanks for your comment Deanna!
You are right, there are so many differences it’s hard to know where to begin. I had a hard time narrowing it down myself. I wanted to think in broad terms and just write about the major ones so it would be easier to get a handle on. I’m so glad you liked it.
It really does get pretty deep doesn’t it? I think that’s often a major attraction to the Catholic Faith. When people start to see the depth they’re blown away by it. Very different than most Protestant faiths.
Your comment made my day! Thanks!
Re sacramentality, Catholicism has a fully-integrated sense of how body and soul comprise a human being. For example, I may pray to Jesus and obtain spiritual forgiveness for many sins. But that encounter excludes my body from the forgiveness experience. Both body and soul sin; and they must both experience the forgiveness. Therefore we have Confession.
The big deal about Jesus isn’t just that by having a body he could die in atonement, but that he could provide body&soul humans a total access to God through both our spiritual and physical natures.
For angels, a spiritual experience of God is enough: they have no bodies. Humans need more.
Very well said Christian! I totally agree with you. For angels, the spiritual is enough. Humans are a body/soul composite. We can’t be divorced from it and we can’t authentically experience salvation outside of it. What was the old saying…what was not assumed was not redeemed.” It’s part of who we are to experience life and worship in a fully integrated body/soul way.
Thanks for commenting!