AMERICA’S NEWEST PROTESTANT DENOMINATION: CATHOLICISM. Here is a view which is rather startling to non-catholics. It details the U. S. Roman Catholic Church as seen by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George. It also serves as an insight between a non-sacramental Protestant position and that of Roman Catholicism.
“At the time of the Reformation, when the visible unity of the Church was broken for doctrinal reasons, the Mass became a memorial service for most Reformers, its unity with Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary became purely “spiritual†and the objective, sacramental, substantial re-presentation of that 
sacrifice was denied. With the disappearance of the sacrifice of the Mass, the ordained priesthood was reduced to ministry, a function or service based only on baptism. The sacrament of Holy Orders was lost to the life of the Protestant faith communities. With the loss of ordained priesthood, the sacrament of penance or reconciliation became unnecessary, for neither the Church nor the priest mediated the penitent’s relationship to God’s mercy. Nor did the bond of marriage continue to enjoy the character of sacramentality, opening that tie to the contemporary reduction of marriage to an external, legal permission to have sex between two consenting adults. The individualism that is left when mediation disappears makes even the saints competitors with Christ, so there is no room for the Blessed Virgin Mary and other saints to pray for us or care for us. At best, they become reminders of good behavior in past history; devotion to them is classed as a form of idolatry.
There are many good people whose path to holiness is shaped by religious individualism and private interpretation of what God has revealed. They are, however, called Protestants. When an informed and committed group of Catholics, such as the
Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, comes up with an agenda for discussion that is, historically, Protestant, an important point is being made. Catholics assimilated to American culture, which is historically Protestant, are now living with great tension between how their culture shapes them and what their Catholic faith tells them to hold.
This is not surprising. Many writers who claim to be Catholic make names for themselves by attacking truths basic to our faith. Without the personal integrity that would bring 
them to admit they have simply lost the faith that comes to us from the Apostles, they reconstruct it on a purely subjective, individualistic basis and call it renewal. The Second Vatican Council wasn’t called to turn Catholics into Protestants. It was called to ask God to bring all Christ’s followers into unity of faith so that the world would believe who Christ is and live with him in his Body, the Church. The de-programming of Catholics, even in some of our schools and religious education and liturgical programs, has brought us to a moment clearly recognized by the bishops in the Synod of 1985 (when the Catechism of the Catholic Church was proposed as a partial solution to confusion about the central mysteries of faith) and acknowledged by many others today.”
via America’s Newest Protestant Denomination: Catholicism… « Conversi ad Dominum.
Fr. Orthohippo 
mmm, as an evengelical that leans towards catholicism it is this type of writing that just stirs up my juices of disagreement. But I can understand that a lot of it can come from the cultural blinders that I know that I have just as Cardinal George has. I did find the article ineresting food for thought but I disagree with a lot of what was written.sjc
Having grown up in just prior to Vat II, I saw what appeared to be a very vibrant Catholic church. We had 70% of the people going to confession weekly, 75% of its members going to weekly mass, Eucharistic processions in town, CYO athletics, 4 priests to each parish, and about 25 nuns that ran the Catholic grammer school and another 20 brothers that operated the Catholic boys high school.
I never would have thought that within 6 years we’d lose over 50% of those folks to the changes implemented after the council. Just because we appeared strong at the time we were actually very week. Where as today we seem to still be leaking away believers, but in fact we’re much stronger. This despite the poor religious education, experiments in liturgy etc. As far as the Catechism goes there was only two universal ones ever issued. The other one was during the reformation.
I love to read history and it seems that the church is always in danger either internally, externally or both. I find comfort in it and lets face it this is easy compared to say the Arian heresy of the 4th century.
It has often been noted that the church is strongest when under great stress. This is rarely comfort to comfortable Christians. With almost 2000 years history, it is not strange that we have continually been challenged or assaulted through out. We rarely are popular with non-Christians.
Very interesting piece by one of the resoected and experienced leaders of the RC church. It speaks to me both as an anglo-catholic and as an evangelical.
It is always interesting to me to read of the historic Christian church founded by Jesus and carried out by the apostles and then compare it to the churches I see today. What a variety. In their actions, some churches effectively say that the apostles had it all wrong.
I have a different perspective. I look back to the time of the apostles for getting it right and expressing that in 21st century terms while still being faithful to the apostolic teachings.
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