Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 5/8/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Reverend,

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:
Peace


dear Josh,
   First, I want you to know that my heart goes to you and my prayers go our good Father, in Heaven for you and your family.

   Second, we Catholic don't damn anyone to Hell. We believe its their choice in the matter. If you left in clean conscience and of your free will. We believe in invincienable ignorance.

I am in the process of writing an article on invincible ignorance for a friend's private blog. I can send you a copy. It will have some scripture and some Magisterium statements. Below is some link to good articles on it:

http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=1203
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/outside_the_church.htm


If you want more information, write me again in about a week.



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

QUESTION: Hi,

Yes, I left with a clean conscience, because my studies and prayers led me to believe that the true faith lay in the Scriptures and not in the dogmas of the RCC.

Please send me a copy of what you mentioned.

Answer
Peace


dear Josh,
  I hope indeed it was a clear and free conscientious act in a state of invincible ignorance.  

  If you want me to send the article to you via Expert.com, then write me again in about two weeks or I can send it directly to you if you send me an email , ravjerome72@yahoo.com.  I also plan to post it at my public blog: ravjerome.multiply.com as well as my friend's private blog.



Just some food for thought. Below are some questions you might not have considered in your studies of Sacred Scripture, in the light of Protestantism's doctrine: Sola Scriptura.

1. How do I know if there is such thing as Christian Scriptures?

2. How do I know if you have the right "books" that form Sacred Scripture for those who confess: Christ is Lord!!, especially since Mormon's for example have 4 volumes of "Scriptures" and yet others who confess Christ is Lord!! reject 3 of those volumes?

3. If I don't know the original tongues in which Sacred Scripture was written in, how do I decide what translations are valid?

4. How do you fulfill the following verses, Mathew 18:15-20 when You disagree with someone who claims to follow Christ yet belongs to a different Protestant sect or even the same one?

5. Most Protestants believe, "Once Saved, Always Saved", how do you personally reconcile such Protestant "Dogma" with these verses: Mark 13:13, Romans 8:24, 1 Timothy 2:15, 1 Timothy 4:16, James 5:13-15, and others.

6. How does one know how does one know if an act is morally good if Sacred Scripture, at least seems silent on it?



         your brother in the risen Savior,
         George