This is a message to my fellow Catholics out there. There is a massive (still untapped) reservoir of Evangelicals in the United States who are waiting to come into the Catholic Church. However, there are two things that really freak them out and scare them off. It’s not what you think it is. It’s not about prayers to Mary and the Saints. It’s not about the pope. It’s not even about the sacraments or purgatory. No. It’s actually one thing, but it manifests in two extremes that scare the hell out of Evangelicals, and will drive them away faster than anything else. What are they?
It has to do with the Catholic understanding of salvation, but specifically two extreme views concerning it, which have never been sanctioned buy the Catholic Church, yet nevertheless maintain a pervasive hold on the minds of many Catholics. What are these two extremes? In short, they can be labelled as “Universalism” and “Feeneyism.”
Universalism
Universalism is the false teaching that all people can be saved, and that it really doesn’t matter what religion you follow or whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not. This leads to indifferentism, which is the notion that it doesn’t matter what religion you follow, just so long as you follow something and you’re a “good person.” This is a heresy that has been condemned by the Catholic Church. The first written condemnation of this heresy was in AD 553 at the Ecumenical Second Council of Constantinople, which stated the following…
“If anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons and of impious men is temporary, and that one day it will have an end, or that there will be a restoration (apokatastasis) of demons and impious men, let him be anathema.” — Ecumenical Second Council of Constantinople, Anathema 11
Again, the Catholic Church condemned Universalism in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, promulgated in AD 1566 under Pope Pius V, which reads as follows…
“In this one word Hell, therefore, three different places are contained. First, that most loathsome and dark prison in which the souls of the damned are tormented with the unclean spirits in eternal and inextinguishable fire. This place is called Gehenna, the bottomless pit, and is hell strictly so-called.” — Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part I: The Creed, Article V: He descended into hell
And finally, just to answer those who erroneously think the teachings of the Church have changed since the Second Vatican Council (1962—1965), we have the following from the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, promulgated under Pope St. John Paul II…
Paragraph 1033 “We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: ‘He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.’ Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell.'”
Paragraph 1034 “Jesus often speaks of ‘Gehenna,’ of ‘the unquenchable fire’ reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he ‘will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil-doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,’ and that he will pronounce the condemnation: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!'”
Paragraph 1035 “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.”
Paragraph 1036 “The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: ‘Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.’ Since we know ‘neither the day nor the hour,’ we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where ‘men will weep and gnash their teeth.'”
Paragraph 1037 “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want ‘any to perish, but all to come to repentance’: ‘Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen.'”
The bottom line here is that the Catholic Church condemns Universalism as a heresy and completely non-Catholic. Yet, that doesn’t stop a lot of Catholics from subscribing to it. Many Catholics are under the false impression that the Second Vatican Council changed Church doctrine on salvation to a more universalist stand. This is false. The Catholic Church did not change its teachings on this, it couldn’t even if it tried. That said, Universalism has been promoted by many in the clergy and even more in the laity.
As a result, a lot of Catholics will reach out to Evangelicals with Universalism, declaring that it really doesn’t matter if they become Catholic or not, because “God knows our hearts” and “everyone will be saved” in the end. As a former Evangelical, I can assure you that nothing will send an Evangelical running away from the Catholic Church faster than this. That’s because even the Evangelicals know this is heresy, and if they hear it, their inner-alarm bells will go off, and they will flee whatever people or institution they believe is preaching it. So if you’re a Catholic, and you come at the Evangelicals with Universalism, you’re not going to make it easier for them to join the Catholic Church. You’re actually going to make it harder, and you’re going to drive them away rather quickly.
Feeneyism
Feeneyism is the exact opposite of Universalism. The heresy is named after Fr. Leonard Feeney (1897—1978), who was a Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He held to a strict and literalist understanding of the Catholic doctrine: extra Ecclesiam nulla salus or “outside the Church there is no salvation.” The official Church teaching extends the Church to anyone who receives Trinitarian baptism (which includes Protestants and Orthodox), as well as baptism by blood (any martyr who dies for the Christian Faith) and baptism by desire (those who desire to be Catholic but die before baptism). Feeney rejected all of these things, and held to a position that unless one is properly baptized within the Catholic Church and officially a member, one cannot be saved.
Feeney organized large rallies in Boston, bringing in thousands in attendance, wherein his speeches echoed the ramblings of Fr. Charles Coughlin (1891—1979), who espoused Nazi propaganda and antisemitism a couple decades prior. Feeney’s views on antisemitism were similar to Coughlin, but differed on theology, focusing more on issues related to salvation, though their methods of gathering a large following using popular media, and Jew-hating tropes were nearly identical.
On July 28, 1949, Pope Pius XII approved a letter to Archbishop Richard Cushing (Feeney’s bishop) clarifying that extra Ecclesiam nulla salus allows for salvation through implicit desire, condemning Feeney’s literalism as a “private judgment” against Church teaching. Feeney ignored three summons to Rome, accusing the Holy Office of “heresy” and “barbarous behavior” in letters. On February 13, 1953, he was excommunicated latae sententiae for disobedience, with Pius XII personally translating the decree into English.
Post-excommunication, Feeney co-founded the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1949, which even though Feeney was reconciled with Rome in 1972, this organization continues his heretical teachings and is very active online through Internet outreaches, particularly on social media, continuing to spread his errors on extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.
Feeneyism, like Universalism, will send Evangelicals fleeing in fear. To them, it smacks of cultic rhetoric: “Join our church or you’re going to hell” and “nobody but Catholics go to heaven.” It makes Evangelicals think Catholicism is a rejection of their Evangelical Christianity, rather than the completion and fulfillment of it.
Speaking as a former Evangelical myself, I can testify that Evangelicalism was an absolutely necessary part of returning to the Christian Faith of my infant baptism. At that point in my life, only the Evangelicals could reach me. As time passed, over the course of a decade, I came to find that Catholicism was the completion and fulfilment of everything I believed as an Evangelical. It had to be this way. If I had been exposed to the teachings of Feeneyism, I likely would have bolted toward Eastern Orthodoxy instead, because Feeneyism asserts that my former Evangelical faith was something bad, and not part of a process that ultimately led me toward Catholic truth. Overcoming misunderstandings about Mary, the Saints, purgatory and the pope was fairly easy. A little reading from Catholic apologists, and poof! I was open to it. What was essential for me was understanding that my life as an Evangelical was not in vain. It was those truths found in Evangelicalism that ultimately led me toward Catholicism. I needed to understand that, and I needed to understand that just because other Evangelicals hadn’t come to this full understanding yet, that didn’t mean they were damned to hell. Different people move along at different rates, and likewise, different people encounter different obstacles.
For example, when I finally came to the realization that the Catholic Church is the one and only Church established by Jesus Christ, I nearly had a nervous breakdown. It was bad. My entire Evangelical world came crashing in all around me. I remember shaking in terror, being unable to sleep, and breaking down into tears. I nearly lost my Christian faith entirely. Why? Because I wasn’t ready. Too much had happened too quickly. My brain raced ahead of my heart too fast. I had swallowed too much history, too much Scripture and too much reason, all at once. My heart wasn’t ready for it, and my fears and prejudices against Catholicism (ingrained in me as an Evangelical Protestant) were crying out in terror. I wasn’t ready. I had to spend a little over a year in Anglicanism before I could finally let it all process. In the end, it was the documents of the Second Vatican Council that won me over, particularly Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism), which is echoed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (see below). After reading this document, I was able to see that the time I spent as an Evangelical, and Mainline Protestant beforehand, were not in vain. It was certain particular truths I found in Protestantism that ultimately led me to become Catholic. If I didn’t read Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism), I would have either stayed Anglican, or eventually chosen Eastern Orthodoxy.
Actual Catholic Teaching
The teaching of the Catholic Church is fairly clear on this, stretching back to long before the Second Vatican Council. Non-Catholics can be saved, either through baptism by blood (martyrdom for the Christian Faith) or baptism by desire (which extends to non-baptized persons who would have become Catholic had they been given the opportunity). If such charity is extended toward people who are not even baptized, what are we to say of those who have already received Trinitarian baptism (Protestant and Orthodox Christians) but are not yet in full-communion with the Catholic Church? Echoing the Second Vatican Council’s document Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism), the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way…
Paragraph 818 “However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers. . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.”
Paragraph 838 “The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter. Those ‘who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.’ With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound ‘that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist.'”
Paragraph 846 “Outside the Church there is no salvation” “How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.”
Paragraph 847 “This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.”
Paragraph 848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”
This is not Universalism, nor is it Feeneyism. It’s a middle road between them. Salvation comes from Christ, and Christ alone, and the normal ways one receives salvation is through faith and the sacraments. However, while we are bound to the sacraments, God himself is not bound by them. God is able, through ways known only to himself, to save those who have faith, but have not yet received the sacraments, including the sacrament of baptism. For those who have faith, however, and have already received the sacrament of Trinitarian baptism, they have already received significant grace from God. It does not guarantee them anything, but they do at least have the moral assurance that God is already working in their lives and bringing them closer to the truth, because they already have some truth.
For Catholics, the most important thing to do is latch on to the Trinitarian baptism that Evangelicals have already received. That’s what makes them Christian brethren, and that is a truth we can both agree on. It sets them on the path to salvation, and prepares them to receive the other sacraments once they come to the full Catholic Faith. They need those sacraments, just like we all do. It is possible for them to be saved without them, but it does make attaining that salvation unnecessarily harder. The sacraments, starting with baptism, are medicine for the soul. This is how we approach Evangelicals, not with Universalism and not with Feeneyism, but with Catholic truth. Nothing else will do.
Strategies that Work
Once we have a proper understanding of where Evangelicals stand in relation to Catholicism, we can begin the process of reaching them. Again, if we don’t have a proper (Catholic) understanding first, none of this will work. We need to make sure we understand that we’re not deviating into Universalism or Feeneyism. Once we know we have a Catholic balance, we can move forward…
We have to understand the Evangelical mind, which is both rational and emotional. When it comes to Evangelicals, their aversion to Catholicism is about 20% rational and 80% emotional. Good Catholic apologetics can tackle the 20% rational part, but it can do nothing for the 80% emotional part. Evangelicals are generally conditioned to be suspicious of Catholicism from a very early age. Some are even former Catholics, with poor formation while growing up, and ended up siding with the Evangelicals for only one reason. And that is the Evangelicals did a better job at explaining their faith than we Catholics did at explaining ours.
Catholic apologetics can break through the 20% aversion to Catholicism fairly easily, if the Evangelical you’re talking to is open-minded and humble enough to listen. However, if the Evangelical you’re talking to is accusatory, and dismisses your explanations, that person is operating entirely on an emotional level. You can’t break through that. So just bow out of the conversation and move on. This one is beyond reach right now.
Once in a while, however, you’ll run across an Evangelical who has sincere questions, is trying not to offend (a sign of humility) and will listen to your answers thoughtfully. When that happens, you’ve got a genuine seeker of truth, and that’s a person you can work with. Keep in mind, however, that even if you are able to answer every single question this Evangelical has, satisfying the 20% of rational aversion to Catholicism, you still have to deal with the 80% emotional aversion to Catholicism that’s been programmed into them. The Evangelical mind may rationally conclude that Catholicism is the way, but every emotion in his body may be screaming “run away!” Believe it or not, this is normal. Speaking as a former Evangelical, I can testify that it takes time to overcome the emotional part. It took me over a year! Only time, patience, prayer and charity will make it possible. So that’s how we have to be with them. I would encourage inviting sincere Evangelicals to Mass, and offer to sit in the back with them, so they can watch and see for themselves. Sitting in the back also helps if they have questions they can quietly ask you. Beyond that, just remember, it takes time. Remember, this is primarily an emotional aversion, and it takes a lot for people to move past that.
Now, as for Catholic Apologetics, there are many questions that sincere Evangelicals might have, but I’ve highlighted the five most important ones here. These are answers you MUST know immediately upon being asked, so memorize them…
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES THAT…
- Catholics can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the popes have encouraged it. This is super-important to Evangelicals. Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is like their litmus test of what makes a real Christian. Indeed, we Catholics should have a personal relationship with Christ, or else our faith is dead. What does that mean? It means we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, and we communicate with him daily through prayer. It also means we show our faith in Christ, and our relationship with Christ, through works of love toward others.
- Catholics can and should read the Bible regularly, and the Catholic Church encourages it. In fact, the Church teaches us that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. This is also super-important to Evangelicals because many of them are under the false impression that Catholics are not allowed to read the Bible. Taking them to Mass will help, because you can show them how often the Bible is read, and you can even show them where the Bible is found in the liturgy. Some may even recognize that on their own, but they won’t know that about the Mass unless they see the Mass. Also, if you haven’t cultivated regular reading (or listening to) the Bible in your daily life, start now. I use the Ignatius Study Bible App. For a one-time purchase of $50, I have access to all the Bible study notes of Dr. Scott Hahn and I can have the New Testament read to me daily through my earbuds. And while I don’t use it myself, I have heard many positive things about the Ascension Bible App. Being able to honestly tell an Evangelical that your read (or hear) the Bible daily will actually go a long way with him.
- Catholics can pray directly to God, and not only do we do so in every Mass, but the Church has other liturgies and devotions where this is done, and Catholics can even address God privately in their own personal prayers. The Catholic Church encourages this. Believe it or not, a lot of Evangelicals don’t know this, and many of them are under the false impression that Catholics don’t ever pray directly to God. Pointing this out to them both in the liturgy of the Mass, which is an hour-long prayer to God alone, and that you also pray directly to God in your private devotions as well, will come across as a shock to many Evangelicals. It will also soften their rational aversion to Catholicism.
- Catholics don’t NEED to pray to Saints at all. It’s not required. However, it is helpful to ask others for their prayers, especially those who are in heaven. It’s best to think of Saints as prayer-partners, by asking a few to pray with you, and then address your prayers directly to God. This is backed with Scripture: Tobit 12:12, Revelation 5:8 and Revelation 8:4. And Jesus prayed to the Saints himself in Matthew 17:3, Mark 9:4 and Luke 9:30-31, setting an example for us. Did you know this? If not, you do now. It’s important to explain it this way to Evangelicals. Prayers to the Saints is very confusing to them, because Evangelicals often confuse prayer with worship (adoration). Why? Because they don’t have sacraments, and they don’t have the Eucharist they can bow down to during Mass. So for them, worship is just music and prayer. Thus, when they see Catholics praying to anyone other than God, it confuses the heck out of them, and they think it’s worship. Try explaining that just as you can have music outside of worship, so you can also have prayer outside of worship. Most importantly, however, make sure you memorize those Scripture references above. They need to see it in black and white before they’ll accept it. And remember, the book of Tobit is not in their Protestant Bibles, because the 16th-century Protestant Reformers removed it. So that opens up another topic for discussion.
- While we should go to confession when we are aware of mortal sin, we Catholics do not go “through” our priests to get to God. No. The priest guides us in our confession, helping us to understand what is and isn’t sinful, and where the root problems are. Then he tells us to confess our sins directly to God in the confessional. It’s called the “Act of Contrition.” The prayer is not to the priest, the pope or any Saint. It is a prayer directly to God, asking for forgiveness. Then, on behalf of Christ and his Church, the priest pronounces our forgiveness from Christ. This authority comes from what Jesus said to his Apostles in John 20:21-23 and what the Apostle said in James 5:16. This is extremely important because Evangelicals have no idea what goes on in the confessional. At best, they’ve only seen it in the movies or on television, and that doesn’t help much. Their Protestant heritage teaches them that Catholics must go through a priest to reach God, that we Catholics are unable to approach God with our own prayers, and that we have to ask the priest to pray for us instead. Of course, we know that’s not what happens in the confessional, but Evangelicals don’t know that. If you have a religious conversation with an Evangelical, the subject of confession will come up — guaranteed — and when it does, you’ll need to explain it to them exactly as I described above or they won’t get it. Memorize those Scripture passages, and use the same or similar wording as I did above. This is an important one. You can’t flub this one up, or the Evangelical will walk away more confused than when you started.
While these are not the only misunderstandings Evangelicals have about Catholics, they are the highlights. Sadly, many Catholics are so poorly catechized that they themselves do not know these things. And some of them even leave the Church over it. This is tragic, because if they took the time to learn their Faith, and what it really teaches, they might not take such drastic measures for something that was completely and totally unnecessary. You will encounter Evangelicals who are former Catholics. It’s important that they understand that they were robbed of good formation while growing up, and that sadly the Evangelicals did a better job explaining their faith, than the Catholics in their childhood did. Don’t say this in an accusatory way, but rather explain it’s a problem that is all too common in recent decades, but it’s improving now.
The above five answers to Evangelical questions are just the starting point. They’re going to have a lot more questions, but the above five will be the highlights. If you can answer the above five of their questions and concerns, you’re going to make some significant progress right out of the starting gate. These five answers above will immediately crush many stereotypes Evangelicals have about Catholics, but to the humble and sincere Evangelical, it’s going to generate some serious interest. They’ll have a lot more questions. At this point, I’m going to recommend my book Are Catholics Christian?, which is a guide to Evangelical questions about the Catholic Church. In it, I tried to answer just about every single question an Evangelical might have about Catholicism. I would recommend getting two of these books: one to study yourself, and another to give away to an Evangelical friend. If you like e-books, the Kindle version of this book would be good to keep on your smart phone for quick reference. This is not the sort of book you need to read from beginning to end. I designed it so you can start right in the middle if you want, that way you can flip open to whatever question you need answered. Many priests and catechists use this book as part of their catechesis program when dealing with Evangelicals in OCIA (RCIA).
Beyond that, there is also this website, for more detailed explanations on certain topics. I’ve provided a QR code on the front page for quick access, and to share with others, including Catholics and Evangelicals. I’ll provide it for you here as well.
Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and he is an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com
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