An  Invitation TAKEN FROM "The Catholic Church Invites You" by James V. Linden, S.J. Imprimatur - Bernard J. Topel, D.D., Bishop of Spokane December 22, 1958 PART ONE Unity, a Mark of the True Church 4. IS ONE CHURCH AS GOOD AS ANOTHER? It will be well worthwhile in this chapter to point out that members of the Catholic Church are honest in their conviction that their Church is the only Church Christ founded and hence the true Church of Christ. Living up strictly to this conviction, neither believing in nor participating in any other form of worship, they are but living up honestly to their conscience. At times it is said that Catholics are too smug about their religion, too well satisfied with it and too little concerned with others. They are no doubt fully satisfied with their religion. They enjoy a wonderful sense of security in matters that concern the salvation of their souls. They are also concerned about the religion of their fellowmen but not so concerned that they wish to intrude their convictions on the convictions of others who show no inclination whatever to embrace the Catholic faith. They are hesitant at times to talk of their religion among those who, they think, may resent such talk and who may feel that anything the Catholic says is an attempt to force his convictions upon others. There are such things as interfaith movements. Hesitancy to participate in such a movement does not stem from any intolerance on the part of Catholics. On the contrary, it arises from a solid conviction of the truth of their faith which they wish to preserve inviolate. Nor does this argue any uncharitableness on their part. Catholics are bound by their faith to love all men as Christ loved them. They are willing to cooperate with their separated brethren in civil, social, educational, and political matters in whatever concerns the spiritual or material benefit of mankind. However, by the faith that is in them, by a zealous regard to keep that faith pure, they cannot participate in anything that to them is not the true worship of God as given to them by Jesus Christ. It is not enough to say that it doesn't make any difference what religion a man professes. To Catholics it makes all the difference in the world, and those that say it doesn't make any difference must experience at times some difficulty in justifying the religion they actually practice. It is not enough to say: "Well, we are all going to the same place anyway; so why make such a fuss about our religious differences." It is true we are all going toward the judgment seat of almighty God but it will make an eternal difference upon reaching there whether we hear the words: ".... Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34), or those other words: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" (Ibid. 25:41). Nor is it enough to say so easily: "After all, one religion is as good as another." If that were the case, truth must be as valid as falsehood and the God of truth equally pleased with both. If one religion is as good as another, why did Christ leave the heavens to suffer and die for man? Why should not the Jewish religion and those that preceded it have been good enough for man. Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, would seem to be a very pathetic being if, after declaring, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life," He would care not what way men followed, what truth they believed in, what life they aspired to. All men would then share in the despair of Pilate when he said in the presence of Christ: "What is truth?" (John 18:38) Precisely to find the truth, God gives us our intellect; to embrace and follow the truth He gives us our will. That is why a Christian could not be a member of the Jewish faith or the Mohammedan faith. His conscience would not permit him, his conscience being the practical judgment of his intellect. A Christian is one who ought to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, a Divine Person, Who founded the Christian Church. If he is true to his conscience, he cannot then be a member of the Jewish religion or the Mohammedan religion, neither of which professes belief in Jesus Christ. Just as a Christian could not be a member of the Jewish religion, so a Catholic could not be a Catholic and at the same time be a Protestant, a member say of the Lutheran Church or the Baptist Church, nor can he partake in the worship they give to God. The reason for this is simple. A Catholic believes not only that Jesus Christ is the Son of God but also that Jesus Christ founded a Church upon Peter, the head of the Apostles. That Church to a Catholic is the Catholic Church and no other. To Peter and the rest of the Apostles Christ gave the authority and the command to teach and rule the faithful. In an unbroken line since the time of Christ that Church has come down to us. The late Pope Pius XII was the two hundred sixty-first successor of St. Peter, the first pope. Hence the Catholic believes his Church to be the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ to which he is obliged by his conscience to belong if he wishes to save his soul. 5. YOU MUST SAVE YOUR SOUL IN THE ONE TRUE CHURCH In this world men busy themselves about many things. In particular they give themselves to the business of making a living, earning their bread and butter, succeeding in life. So busy are they about these things that they forget at times that, though the business of earning their bread and butter is important and necessary, the business of businesses, in which every man should be engaged, is the business of saving his immortal soul. Since, then, the true faith is directly connected with the salvation of one's soul, to know and to embrace the true faith is of the utmost importance. "But without faith," Scripture tells us, "it is impossible to please God ..." (Heb. 11:6). Faith is a gift of God. He, then, who seeks to possess the true faith should humbly pray, asking God for that gift, asking Him to grant light to his mind and strength to his will, that he may see and take the path He points out. Conversion to Christ and to the true faith is a serious step in any man's life. We hear it spoken of jestingly at times as "hitting the sawdust trail" when in a moment of emotional fervor someone decides to confess Christ. "Jesus saves," it is said, and all one has to do to be saved, it to believe in Christ. Would that eternal salvation were that easy! A true conversion to Christ, however, cannot be just a passing emotional urge. It ought to be a seriously pondered step in which, after due intellectual inquiry, a man finds the truth and accepts it as binding upon his conscience. True conversion should be something permanent, an abiding change in life with the intellect of man and the will of man cooperating with the grace of God. Christ Himself tells us: "Not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 7:21). Undoubtedly there are many men who have made just such hasty professions in Christ who have just as hastily forgotten Him. They know so little about the obligations of the Christian religion that they can hardly be expected to live up to them. This may be the reason why, though the number of those professing to be Christians grows greater each year, the number of practicing Christians grows less and immorality more widespread. These are confusing times and trying times in which we live. We live in a period in the history of Christianity when we desperately need Christian unity and yet the Christian world was never more divided. In the face of the disunity in Christendom and in the face of the apostasy from Christ that exists in the world today a heavy responsibility rests upon the conscience of each one of us to be rationally convinced of the truth of the religion he professes. Atheistic communism seeks to destroy all belief in God. It is helped in its evil efforts by a worldly spirit among men that seeks to deaden all spiritual striving, making of this world and this life man's only hope of happiness. I say, therefore, it rests upon the conscience of each one of us to be rationally convinced of the truth of his beliefs. I am a Catholic, but I could be a Lutheran if I could believe that the pope is not the lawful successor of St. Peter with the authority to teach and to rule the faithful. I could be a Lutheran if I could believe that a man can be saved by faith alone, a doctrine that Luther taught and changed the wording of the Bible to substantiate. I could be a Lutheran if I could believe that it is my right to interpret the Holy Bible by myself without any authoritative interpretation by God's Church. I cannot, however, believe such things, nor many other doctrines that Luther proclaimed. My conscience forbids me, and so I cannot be a Lutheran. And I could be an Anglican or an Episcopalian if I could believe that King Henry the Eighth of England had the right to deny the authority of the Roman pontiff and make himself the head of the Christian Church in England instead of acknowledging the pope as head of the Church. I could be an Anglican, and I should be, if I could believe this and many other doctrines that came to be the belief of the Anglican Church after her separation from Rome. I cannot. My conscience forbids me. Neither you nor I want to go against our consciences by accepting and believing that which conscience testifies to us as false. My entire loyalty must be to God, above that of family, above that of king, above that of nation or race. When God calls me to accept the truth I must accept it at all cost. Christ Himself tells us: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and wife, and children and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:16). Christ does not mean that a man must hate his own parents. He Himself has given us the command to love and honor our parents. He does mean, however, that we must not put our parents before God. He Himself gives us a striking example of how we should regard our relatives be they ever so close to us. On one occasion, when He was speaking to the multitudes, His mother and His brethren stood without, seeking to speak to Him. Bystanders told Christ that His mother and His brethren wished to speak to Him but He answering, said: "Who is My mother, and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said: Behold My mother and My brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of My Father, that is in Heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt. 12:48-50). Nothing, then, should stop us from answering the call of God if it be to embrace the true Faith, neither difficulty, nor trial, nor loss of family, friends, or position. Standing before the judgment seat of almighty God, we shall not be able to call upon mother or father or friend to answer for us. We shall answer for ourselves, and the most important question we shall have to answer is this all important one---did we answer the call of God to embrace the true religion or did we refuse to answer that call? HOME ----------E-MAIL---------CHRIST THE KING www.catholictradition.org/Tradition/invitation-2.htm