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 TWO Christ Calls All Men to Union with Him in His One, True Church 8. LUTHERANS ARE INVITED TO RETURN TO THE ONE, TRUE CHURCH The door of the Catholic Church is always open for the people of Israel to enter. The same door is open for the Lutherans, the followers of Luther, to re-enter, to return to the one, true fold of Christ. This is a frank and fervent invitation for them to do so. The great break in the unity of Christendom began with the Protestant Reformation, led in large part by Martin Luther. By the grace of God it could be that Lutherans who led the way out of the Church could lead the way back. A deep and honest yearning for that unity is in the heart of all true Christians. The world conference of Protestants held at Edinburgh closed with this final declaration: "We humbly acknowledge our divisions are contrary to the will of Christ, and we pray for unity." So, too, the Pope prays, as he did in opening the Holy Year: "Oh that this Holy Year," he said, "could welcome also the great return to the one true Church, awaited over the centuries, of so many who, though believing in Jesus Christ, are for various reasons separated." In many cases individual Lutherans have already re-entered the Church of their Catholic forefathers. Dr. Eric Peterson, a theologian of the University of Bonn, after long and serious study, is one of these. "I am now forty years old," he writes, "I have renounced my family, my profession and my social standing. My action (in entering the Catholic Church) was prompted by my conscience, that I might not be a castaway by God." There it is; a man's salvation is a matter of conscience. If it were a matter of conscience for Luther to break away from the Church Christ established upon Peter, it should be just as much a matter of conscience for men to return to that Church, once they have reweighed the whole history of the Reformation. Reevaluate the Reformation! That is what we must do if we are to again achieve unity. I quote from a Lutheran pastor who is much interested in seeing parts of the Roman Mass spoken in English. "As a pastor of that religious body which has recently celebrated the so-called Reformation Festival, ... but what is more, as a Christian who yearns to return to the Faith and to the true Church of Christ, if Lutherans today could behold the Mass in the Roman Church even partly in English, whose parts make up the Lutherans' Communion Service, I believe most sincerely that the Lutherans of today would stop and reevaluate the Reformation. The immediate causes of the Reformation no longer exist, and therefore the Reformation by all rights should come to an end and the Church again should be one." Four hundred years ago Luther led many of the German people away from their home in the Catholic Church. Like a son or a daughter leaving their father's house and going out into a strange land, they have forgotten the beauty of their father's home and the nourishing food therein. Their father's house has become strange to them but the same spiritual hunger is in their hearts as it was in the hearts of their Catholic forefathers, a hunger that can be satisfied only by the Sacraments Christ Himself instituted, and particularly the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist of which Christ said: " ... except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you" (John 6:54). If, then, we reevaluate the Protestant Reformation, if we look back upon it in the light of its causes and its effects as we see them today in a divided Christendom, certain conclusions would seem to be evident. Whatever abuses in the human element existed in the Church then, that called for correction, could have been and should have been corrected, and subsequently were, without changing the doctrine the Church received from Christ and without destroying its unity. Otherwise Christ's promise to the Church, that the gates of Hell would never prevail against it, was a promise Christ did not fulfill. If Christ did not fulfill even one of His promises, Christ is not God and Christianity is a false religion. I do not think Luther himself ever intended the Reformation to turn out as it did. So many evils were caused by it that in good conscience he could not have intended them. So numerous and grievous were these evils that Melanctnon, his follower and collaborator, cried out in anguish: "All the waters of the Elbe would not yield me tears sufficient to weep for the miseries caused by the Reformation" (Epistles, Book Four, Epistle 100). Luther himself seems to have realized this. On one occasion he wrote: "Since our doctrines have been preached, the world has grown steadily worse, always more godless and shameless, and men more avaricious and unchaste than under the papacy" (Dollinger, Reformation, Vol. 1, p. 289). But why should we not expect division upon division in Christianity if under Luther's doctrine of private interpretation every individual Christian had the right to interpret the Scripture no matter how incapable he might be to interpret it? Why should we not expect divorce upon divorce if marriage is no longer a Sacrament binding until death? Why should we not expect greater immorality if one can be saved by faith alone, by merely believing in Christ? Luther on one occasion told Melancthon: "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe more boldly still. Sin shall not drag us away from Him, even though we commit fornication or murder thousands and thousands of times a day" (Letter of August 1, 1521). Luther himself did not believe in these doctrines when he first broke with the Church. Up to the age of thirty-five he was a priest in good standing in the Catholic Church. For what real reason he first preached against the doctrine of indulgences, it is difficult to determine. First he held to that doctrine and preached in its favor and practiced it. Then he preached against its abuses. Finally he denied it. When the storm broke over him, he was carried along by the force of the whirlwind he had created, and, pushed on by the worldly princes who had an eye on the properties of the Church, he openly denied many of the very doctrines he had formerly cherished. First he believed in and praised the pope as the lawful head of the Church, the vicar of Christ on earth. Later he repudiated the pope and called him an Antichrist. First he believed in the real presence of Christ upon our altars and in the Sacrifice of the Mass. He could find no Hell deep enough to which to consign a person who would deny the Real Presence. Later he himself denied it, in the full meaning in which he had previously held it. First he asserted the sacredness of the Scriptures. Later to confirm his idea of salvation by faith alone, he took the liberty of mutilating the Sacred Scriptures by inserting the word "alone" into the text, which made faith alone seem probable as a genuine doctrine. Today, then, if we witness division upon division in the faith which should represent the seamless robe of Christ; if we witness divorce upon divorce and the disruption of family life; if we witness a growing immorality, might it not be that men lose the sense of sin and fear little responsibility before almighty God if, by a mere act of faith in Jesus Christ, they can be saved? If Luther could but see the evils he brought upon the Church by his doctrines, he himself would do penance and he would recognize that the way to correct abuses in the Church of Christ is not to invent a new religion. It is for Christ and Christ alone to establish His Church which he did upon Peter and the successors of Peter. Luther began his break with the Church when all Germany was Catholic. Now a large part of the German people is of the Lutheran faith. Some Germans have identified their religion with their nationality, but to be a German and to be a Lutheran are not synonymous. A large percentage of the German people never lost their Catholic faith. Bavarians clung to it, and their neighbors the Austrians. The common people of Germany never revolted against the Catholic faith. In many states and provinces it was stolen from them. The people were forced to adopt the religion of their ruling prince. In one region the people had to change their religion because of their rulers five times, from Catholicism to Lutheranism, from Lutheranism to Calvinism, from Calvinism back to Lutheranism and then to Calvinism again. Now, after a lapse of 400 years, it is little wonder that Lutherans have forgotten the faith of their fathers. The faith of their fathers was the first faith of Martin Luther, the same Catholic faith that exists today. A German, a Swede, a Norwegian, a man of Denmark should think of his forefathers as Catholic, for all of them were Catholic before they were forced to become Lutherans. And such is the testimony of many Lutherans of our own day who, after long study and humble prayer, have found their way back to the Mother Church. Count Leopold zu Stolberg was a convert from Lutheranism to the Catholic Church. On one occasion the Prussian King, Frederich William the Third, said to him: "I do not like people who become unfaithful to the faith of their fathers." "Neither do I, your Majesty," replied Stolberg; "that's why I returned to the faith of my fathers." 9. ANGLICANS AND EPISCOPALIANS ARE INVITED TO RETURN TO THE ONE, TRUE CHURCH In the year 1517 Martin Luther began his break away from the Catholic Church. In doing so he started what is known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther not only denied the authority of the pope, as the head of the Church, an authority that the popes had exercised for over 1,500 years since the time of Peter, but he also denied many doctrines taught by the Catholic Church. One such doctrine was the doctrine of the Real Presence. This was the historic doctrine of the Christian Church that Christ is really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Up to the time of Luther all Germany had been Catholic. All England was still Catholic. It was no wonder, then, that Henry the Eighth, king of England, stood up in defense of the ancient doctrine of the Church. To do this he wrote a book in defense of the Real Presence. In reward for doing so the pope conferred on Henry the title the Defender of the Faith. This is a part of the title of English kings to this day. However, for the sake of truth, let me emphasize at this point that Henry was given this title for defending, not the Anglican faith, but for defending the Catholic faith. Not many years later Henry himself broke away from the Catholic faith he had so strongly defended. Henry had been married to his wife, Catherine, for twenty-two years. Wishing to put his wife away and marry Anne Boleyn, one of the ladies-in-waiting to the queen, he asked the pope for a divorce. The pope refused. Henry put away his wife Catherine and married Anne Boleyn. Then began the movement that was eventually to divorce England from the Catholic faith and make the kings and queens of England the head of the Church in England in place of the pope. For one thousand years England had been Catholic. Most of the great English cathedrals still standing bear silent witness to their Catholic origin. In one of them, Westminster Abbey, stands the tomb of the Catholic saint, Edward, king of England. As long as it stands, his tomb will be forever witness to the fact that England was and should be still a Catholic nation. As there was no valid reason for Luther breaking away from the Catholic faith, there was even less reason for Henry. Neither Luther nor Henry had the authority from Christ to set up a new religion. Moreover, whatever reasons Luther might give for the need of a reformation in Germany, such reasons did not exist in England. This is the testimony of Cobbett, non-Catholic historian of England. It is time, then, to reevaluate the Protestant Reformation wherever it took root if we wish to regain that unity of the Christian faith prayed for by Christ. Breaking away from the authority of the head of the Catholic Church, the English reformers came in the end to deny its essential doctrines, its sacrifice, its priesthood, its Sacraments. After it many other Protestant sects sprang up in England. Here in the United States the Protestant Episcopal Church is one of its descendants. Recently during the Chair of Unity Octave, when all Christians are asked to pray for a return to the unity of Christendom, a series of sermons was preached in the Catholic Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The theme of the third sermon was the return of that great and heroic nation, England, to the faith of its forefathers. In the course of his sermon the preacher said: "Thousands of Anglican clergymen of deep sincerity and unquestionable integrity pray with us, and still more thousands of men and women of the Anglican communion. It is significant for us to remember that this world-wide movement of prayer was founded in the Anglican communion by an Anglican clergyman who later became our beloved priest, Father Paul of Graymoor." Father Paul was a product of the Oxford Movement which began in England in 1833 and which has brought thousands upon thousands of Anglicans back to the ancient Catholic faith. The great Cardinal Newman was one of its founders. He was one of the greatest minds of the nineteenth century.  When the truth of the Divine origin of the Catholic faith dawned upon him, he did not hesitate to accept it fully and come back to the harbor of faith and to the unity of truth. It was the will of God and, with the grace God gave him, he embraced the will of God come what might. The Chair of Unity Octave has become a rainbow of hope not only for the conversion of the noble English nation but also for the conversion of all other nations. Pope Pius XII in a letter to the Oriental Churches expressed that hope: "The powers of good and evil," he said, "are contending in bitter conflict for the soul of Asia. We make bold to call even on the separated brethren. Let the division cease; to you the house is open which the Lord in unmistakable words built upon the rock of Peter and his successors. Close ranks with those who are on the side of God so that a powerful phalanx will be formed against the destructive elements of godlessness." The destructive elements of godlessness! Such elements have always existed. They received greater powers of destruction when Martin Luther and Henry the Eighth denied the authority of the vicar of Christ on earth. When religious authority is denied the spirit of division enters, and the whole edifice of Christianity is weakened. The terrible effect of Luther and Henry can be seen today when we witness the disorganization of Christianity outside the Catholic Church and this, in the face of an organized anti-Christianity in Communism. When, by the act of Parliament, Henry made himself the spiritual head of the Church in England, by right of succession he made his successors on the throne heirs to the same right. Consequently, the present queen of England is the head of the Church of England. Since she is also queen of Scotland she is head of the Church of Scotland. Head of the Anglican Church in England and head of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland! Can anything be more contradictory? Can anything bear more crushing evidence that the truth is not here? If there is spiritual authority in the Church of England, an Anglican should ask himself, why is not that authority exercised toward unity. Why, in the Anglican Church, is there a High Church that wishes to be looked upon as Catholic, a Low Church that claims to be Protestant and a Broad Church in between? Can this be the Church of Christ openly divided within itself? When it comes to doctrine, even the most essential doctrines of the Christian faith can be denied and yet, those who deny them, can remain members of that Church and even members of its clergy. How can anyone hold that his Church is the Church of Christ when many ministers and members of the laity alike doubt or deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, the necessity of Baptism, the reality of miracles, and the Virgin Birth? The true Church should guard and preserve the faith, not doubt and destroy it. Nor is it possible to claim that the Anglican Church is a branch of the Catholic Church. Before Henry the Eighth there was no talk of branches. There was but the one, true Catholic Church, as genuine in England and as undivided, as in Rome or France or Germany or Ireland. As Cardinal Merry del Val said: "A branch theory has been devised as a compromise with which to satisfy the yearnings of many an aching heart. But, alas, of no avail. Branches there are, and must be in the one Church, but not branches which have no stem and are cut off from the vine with their leaves scattered High and Low and Broad. Our Lord spoke of such branches and said: 'If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither' " (Papal Claims, p.127). HOME ----------E-MAIL---------CHRIST THE KING www.catholictradition.org/Tradition/invitation-4.htm