Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 5/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Rev. Tim,

First of all, did you know that the medical expert for ABC news is also named Timothy Johnson, and he is a member of the Swedish Covenant Church.

Anyhow, the reason I am writing to you is I have a question concerning Roman Catholic theology. I was raised a Roman Catholic. My parents and all my relatives are nominal Catholics who love to mock the Church and criticize it.

But I tried to be loyal despite what my family would say. When I was in High School I told my parents that I wanted to join the Franciscan religious order and they went ballistic. They would not hear of it. My mother said that if I did that she would have to tell all her friends that her son became a bumb. I never did become a Franciscan.

For years I went to mass and confession and often tried to be a good Catholic. I even served as a Eucharistic minister in the Church for a year before I left. But some years ago I left the Church and became a born again Christian. I now attend a Baptist Church and I feel much better about my faith. I feel much more confident and I am finally happy about my faith.

It's funny that while I was Catholic my family constantly knocked the Church, but when I left the Church I actually heard them defend it. My mother who is a Christmas and Easter Catholic refused to come to my Baptist baptism. Yet she doesn't even believe in the existence of an afterlife and laughs at me when I talk about heaven or hell. When we discuss religion my brother says that he has faith when I ask him if he believes in Christianity, but every word out of his mouth proves that he does not. You can't be constantly mocking the faith and then at the same time say that you believe.

I found all this very interesting. For Catholics who obviously had no faith whatsoever, they quickly changed their tune when I left the Church. They defended the Church, but never went to the point of saying that the Roman Catholic faith was real. They just defended it saying that I should not leave it. I guess they would have preferred it if I was a nominal Catholic who had no faith at all, just like them. If I had done that I know that I would be on the highway to hell for sure.

To tell you the truth I don't see how any of the 7 sacraments of the Church can be applied to nominal Catholics who have no faith. When I had my Catholic Confirmation at the age of 14 many of the kids in the confirmation ceremony were border line atheists from what I could gather. They went through the ceremony because it was tradition. I don't know how a nominal Catholic who has no faith can hope for a pleasant afterlife just because he follows the rituals. Faith has to be real, and not superficial.

My question to you is this, according to Roman Catholic theology am I going to hell because I left the Church? I followed my own conscience and I have real faith, unlike my nominally Catholic relatives who laugh at anything to do with religion.

Thank you!!
Josh

ANSWER: Hi, Josh:
Thanks for the question, and comments.
It sounds like you are onto something with an understanding of the real necessity of faith behind the Sacraments, etc.  Maybe you left the Catholic Church because you never took the time to study her in her history, liturgy, scripture, etc.?  How about the Church Fathers and Doctors?  I would encourage you to keep in the struggle and strive to further form your conscience.  Faith as a Theological Virtue is to believe the Truth that God has revealed through Christ, the Word-made-flesh, on His Authority as God, and accept it as such.

Fr. Timothy Johnson

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Thank you for your response, but you really didn't asnwer my question as to whether or not according to Catholic theology I'm going to hell or not.

I actually did a lot of study on Church theology and history. I looked at what the Council of Trent said and compared it to the decisions of other councils and discovered that they have disagreed with each other.  Luther said the same thing. I left because it became apparent to me that the Church fell from the original truth.  It lost it's first love.  I discovered that the Bible often contradicts the teachings of the Church and I wanted to be true to God and my conscience.

But please answer my question on what the Church would say about my salvation since I left the Roman Catholic Church.

Josh

Answer
Hi, Josh:
Thanks for the questions, and comments.
Well, then if the Church has fallen into error on points of teaching in theology and morals, then you say that the Lord Jesus Christ was not faithful to His promise to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into all truth.
The Church would say that God ultimately is the judge of souls, and that each individual has a responsibility to seek the truth and be formed in it.  Keep studying, because you are missing a lot of things.

Fr. Johnson