To David: Letter 4 to An Anti-Catholic

Dear David,

The fourth reason you give for leaving the Catholic Church is the papacy. Nevertheless, it is for allegiance to this sacred office that bishops and priests are even now languishing in Chinese cells, having rejected the Patriotic Church formulated by the communist government. Eastern rite bishops and priests were tortured, imprisoned, and murdered in Romania for refusing to join the Orthodox Church after the Marxists took over there. Many great men and women were martyred in England for their continued allegiance to the primacy of Peter claimed for the papacy. The life of charity demonstrated by Mother Teresa and the firmness of faith exhibited by Pope John Paul II were noted as the significant factors in the conversion to Catholicism of Malcolm Muggeridge.

After giving a listing of papal titles, you say that they "rightly belong only to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God the Father." Let us see, well the word POPE comes from the Greek word, "pappas" an almost slang word for a child's daddy. It is not the same word Jesus uses for his Father, "abba". The term HOLY FATHER is admittedly similar to the address of God in the Scriptures and in the various Latin Collects of the Mass. However, it is understood in Catholic circles that it is simply a sign of respect to one who functions as a special spiritual father, not unlike Joseph who stood in as a foster father to Christ. No connotation of divinity is given the Pope. The term VICAR OF CHRIST could hardly refer to God since the term vicar clearly indicates that he is a steward for another. As Mother Teresa has said regarding her ministry for the poor, "I am only a little pencil." So it is with the Servant of the Servants of God, the Pope. God is the author to whom he submits his life and service. The word "substitute" sometimes used, even within Catholic circles, can be misleading. Speaking of the marriage analogy in Ephesians 5:23-25, you make this mistake. Christ is present in his ministers. The will of God is carried out by God himself in the Church with full respect to human freedom and to their gifts. Even the weaknesses and sins of his chosen ministers will not thort the ultimate providence of God. SOVEREIGN PONTIFF intimates that the popes have historically been temporal rulers as well and that he is the head of the college of bishops. Christ is the ultimate head of the Church.

Impugning the notion of vicar, you cite 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 which foretells the great apostate. I suspect that this was some of the dribble you were fed when you left the Catholic faith. I say this because missing from your narrative are those who "helped" you to renounce Rome.

You say that this negative citation is the only one in Scripture that speaks of a vicar, and here it is a blasphemous idolatry. Maybe your bible is different from mine? Peter and his successors do not replace Jesus, they render service in his name. Tracing the papacy back to Peter, Catholics trust the Pope because he was appointed by Christ: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:17-19). Pointing toward the infallibility found in the Church, Jesus further states: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:31,32). Christ called him Peter "Cephas" which in Hebrew means "foundation stone." Keys in the Old Testament signified stewardship (vicar) and succession, thus Jesus says: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). These keys symbolize authority (Isaiah 22:15-25; Revelation 1:18; 3:7). You cite John 10:11,14-16 about the Lord as the (only) shepherd over his sheep. And yet, most all Shepherds in the time of Jesus used helpers and even dogs. As a disciple of Christ, I have sometimes referred to myself as a faithful sheepdog to the shepherd. There is no getting away from our Lord's words to Peter: "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17) which means to nurture the Church with the truth of the Gospel and to minister with the sacraments he instituted. He appoints Peter as the chief shepherd of the Church. Christ is the invisible and supreme head of the Church; the Pope is the visible and subservient head. This word "visible" is quite significant, despite your protestation otherwise. Churches without such a "visible" head fragment into multiplying factions without significant doctrinal or worship unity. In some cases, as in the Orthodox churches, they have tended to develop along nationalistic or ethnic lines. The only Church which demonstrates the kind of unity which Jesus urged is the Catholic Church. We might not like this happenstance, but it is a fact nonetheless. Luke 17:20-21 is simply a testimony that the kingdom comes first in Jesus himself. If your translation is to be trusted, the word "within" would indicate some movement of grace. However, given the time frame and within the context of other Lukan statements about the presence of the kingdom, the preferred translation of the Greek preposition would be "among". First through Christ and then through the Church, which is his Mystical Body, extended through time and space, the kingdom rushes in upon us. The many references to Christ's Church makes it difficult to understand why you would give a merely individualistic spin to the kingdom and our relationship to Jesus.

I am unsure why you bring up James 2:24 at this point against the salvation by faith only argument. I would have thought you would be on the other side.

The juxtaposition between lets say Matthew 16:17-19 (already cited) and 1 Corinthians 3:11 ("For other foundation no one can lay, but that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus") is one that must not be ignored. Peter is only a rock because Christ is the ROCK. Catholics would contend that both Scriptures must be affirmed. The Pope is literally a "chip off the ol' block," functioning as Christ's instrument of unity and authority over the universal Church. Similarly, the use of Colossians 1:18 falls on the same grounds. Catholics give God his due, despite what we might think of any of her individual members. The Church on earth in all the various levels of her existence resembles a family. The priest is a father to his parish; the bishop is a father to his diocese, the Pope is a father to the church in pilgrimage, and Christ is the revelation of his heavenly Father over the entire family of God, in this world and in the next.

Here your testimony ends. The next one is not worthy of a response. Citations are not annotated and in some cases outright falsehoods are made, as with the proposition that Catholics deny the divine inspiration of the bible. It is all reminiscent of the old Know Nothing movement and the bigotry found in the Tales of Maria Monk. I had thought better of you. The essay even goes so far as to blame the Catholic Church for the assassination of Lincoln. Silly nonsense! Remember none of us are exempt from charges of deliberate "false witness" when we appear before the divine tribunal.

Peace.
Fr. Joe