Conversations with Catholics

Capturing the heartbeat of the Roman Catholic way of life, Conversations with Catholics provides an insightful glimpse into the way Catholics think about God, the Church, getting to heaven, and the practice of their religion. With a compassionate heart, Jim McCarthy shares real-life stories that contrast Catholicism with biblical Christianity and point the way to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Discover: ? How tradition has shaped what Catholics believe ? The challenges a born-again Catholic faces in leaving the Church ? Key insights for sharing the life-giving gospel with Catholics Cross-referenced with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Includes subject and scripture indexes.

That Which Fills Their Hearts
I used to think that Catholics didn't know their faith. Most couldn't explain basic doctrines such as transubstantiation, temporal punishment, or the Immaculate Conception. They seemed to have little knowledge of Roman Catholic theology and apparently no interest in learning it. Whatever formal religious education they had received dated from their childhood, and that appeared to be long forgotten. Few read anything Catholic beyond the Sunday bulletin, typically giving it only a cursory glance.

I now see that I was wrong. Catholics do know their faith. My error stemmed from the fact that I had been applying an unfair standard. I expected Catholics to explain their beliefs with the same theological accuracy that I had become accustomed to among evangelical, Bible-believing Christians. The latter learn their faith through sermons, classes, seminars, home Bible studies, and Scripture memorization. Such Christians believe that wrong doctrine produces wrong practice, and that what you believe will determine your eternal destiny. Accordingly, they demand that teaching have a clear biblical basis, learn to express their beliefs with theological accuracy, and expect the same from others.

None of this, however, is particularly Catholic. In Roman Catholicism it is the Church's responsibility to care for souls and to determine what is true. The primary method of teaching is neither sermons nor Bible studies. Rather it is through liturgy, the public worship of the faithful, that the Catholic Church instructs its people. Teaching is not conducted in a classroom with a blackboard, but in a church gathered before an altar. There Catholics encounter the doctrines of their faith in the music, words, and actions of the priest and people.

This being the case, I have come to see that one cannot expect Catholics to express their beliefs with the same precision demanded among evangelicals. I realized this after talking to hundreds of Catholics. I discovered that when I extracted the core of what they were saying and compared it to official Roman Catholic doctrine, there was a surprisingly good correlation. Jesus taught, "The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart" (Matthew 12:34). Theological accuracy may be lacking, but what fills the hearts of Catholics is the Church's teaching. Indeed, I found that lay people often have a knack for capturing the essence of Roman Catholicism in a manner superior to that found in official documents. In contrast to the typically long, stuffy pronouncements of the learned popes and bishops, these non-theologians can summarize what Catholics believe in a simple phrase or two.

Sometime ago I began to gather these unofficial expressions of Catholicism and now present them here as Conversations with Catholics. This is a book about people and their beliefs as they express them, a collection of defining moments that manifest the true soul of Roman Catholicism. Here you will meet over a hundred Catholics and former Catholics. Though I have changed the names of some to protect their privacy, all are real people and their stories are based upon actual events.

This approach to explaining Catholicism is very different from that of my first book, The Gospel According to Rome (Harvest House, 1995). There I presented Catholicism as it is expressed in the Church's creeds and official documents. Special emphasis was given to the Vatican's recent summary of the Roman Catholic faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994). Consequently, The Gospel According to Rome is a systematic explanation of traditional, mainline Roman Catholicism.

Though the approach taken here is far less formal and rigorous, I believe that it is just as valid and leads to the same conclusions. I have sought to demonstrate this by correlating the beliefs expressed here by Catholics to the official teaching of the Church. Readers desiring further proof can obtain it by referring to the Subject Cross Reference at the end of this book. It cross-references the topics covered here to their discussion in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the Gospel According to Rome.