catholicsphere

Are you a Catholic Christian?

As I contemplated the fact that there are millions of Catholics who are Catholic only by self-proclamation, I began to wonder whether it was necessary to make more of a distinction between those and “real Catholics”.

Several years ago while defending against a charge that Catholics weren’t Christian, (which is a highly recommended read) I used the term “Catholic Christian” to start each of my replies. There were some that questioned my usage as redundant, saying that using both terms could imply that Catholics weren’t Christians. And, I agreed . . . at the time.

I’m not so sure I agree any more. In fact, I think there are Catholics, and then there are Catholic Christians.

In my new definition, a Catholic actually doesn’t hold the fullness of the Catholic faith. They are typically referred to as “Cafeteria Catholics” (which is my take on the meaning of title of the “The Cafeteria is Closed” blog); but I think that when you talk to these people or see them quoted or statisticized in various polls, you will hear them referred to as “Catholic”. Many of these don’t attend church regularly — at most, Christmas and Easter. They usually have little to no interest in the parish community. They take issue with what they believe to be the Church “controlling” them, and “making up silly little rules for the Church’s own agenda”. Some might even refer to these as “Protestants” (although, I hesitate to say even that because there is a difference there to, as some Protestants are just “plain olde Protestants” and some are “Protestant Christians”).

On the other hand, there are the Catholic Christians who strive to know God’s Word, have a relationship with Him, and use the guidance of the Church to help them grow in that relationship with God.

I wish that this distinction was not the reality that it is. However, when we look even within many parish communities, we do find those that have a relationship with Christ and the saints in the Church, and those that are just “on the books”.

This leads to the question: how do we make Catholics into Catholic Christians?

[tags]catholic, catholicism, catholic christian, catholicsphere, protestant, protestant christian, religion, faith, real catholic, cafeteria catholic, apologetics, church[/tags]