are ‘really no differences between Episcopalians (or Presbyterians or insert any other denomination here!!) and Roman Catholics.’ Stating that is, first of all, not true and, secondly, serves as a real impediment to the kind of necessary dialogue of which I will speak in this book. To the contrary, I strongly believe that pastors and educators, both Protestant and Catholic, have an obligation to teach their members the fullness of their own theological traditions and histories. By fullness, I mean that one also must include an exposure to the discussions, developments and dissensions found within their churches.
It is in this context that I wish to explain the footnotes you will find throughout this book. As I make specific points about certain churches and denominations, those readers familiar with the facts I explain may find my comments rather elementary and perhaps even redundant. It is important that you understand my motivation for presenting these factual notations. I want the reader to have a solid grasp of some relevant factual information that is necessary for us to engage in informed dialogue involving those individuals of varied religious traditions.
Too much local denominational education has been, in my view, apologetic in a pejorative sense of that wonderful term. All too often, the other tradition, Catholicism for Protestants and vice versa), has been presented as having basic tenets that must be repudiated. In many cases, the actual facts concerning religious teachings and practices have been misrepresented or ignored. The solution to this problem is not to minimize these historical differences, but, rather, to understand them and then, ideally, to see how those perspectives might connect with, illuminate and supplement that which has nurtured and nourished us from within our own tradition, a tradition we have an obligation to seek to understand well!
This commentary would be incomplete without acknowledging, as I have noted above, the proliferation of church communities which operate out of what has come to be known as an ‘Emerging Church’ model, also known as ‘Emergent Church,’ a model some would see as the blueprint of the church of the future. Often, these churches draw from the styles of worship utilized in a variety of worship traditions, using modalities that have been traditionally labeled either Catholic or Protestant. For a multiplicity of reasons, however, they are located within the Protestant expression of Christianity. I would suggest that those who lead such churches consider as part of their ministry an obligation to offer historical background and context to the worship practices that serve as meaningful ways of expressing their own spirituality. In doing so, the explicit connection to the wider church becomes more apparent and thus is the church strengthened in its different settings.
Fairly early on in my life, without being able to put these words I have written to any stirrings of my soul I was then experiencing, I found that, for my own spiritual growth, this in depth knowledge of a variety of religious perspectives was exactly what I needed. In the conviction that what I have learned may really be of value to you, it is to this end that this book is now written!
LIVING IN OUR OWN HOUSES
Toward the end of my high school years and on through much of college, I had developed a fascination with attending services and educational programs at other churches, in particular Protestant churches. As a matter of fact, I had calculated that during one of those years, I actually went to a service in a different church forty-five times over a fifty-two week period. This was in addition to the Catholic Mass I also attended each of those weeks as well. Thus it was not unusual that on a Wednesday evening on a hot summer night at some point during my collegiate years, I would find myself attending a midweek Bible study and prayer service at the Putnam Baptist Church, no more than a five minute walk from my home.1
My parents did not completely comprehend why I would take summer time to head off to a Baptist church or a Friday night Folk Mass at the local Episcopal Church or why I’d be making appointments to speak with that nice Episcopal priest or the Congregational minister whom my mom’s employer liked so much. Yet they had gotten pretty used to not completely grasping where I was coming from as I spouted some of my many political and religious opinions back then so I guess they just accepted my meanderings and my wanderings as ‘Bob being Bob.’
On that sultry summer night, I walked into the lounge of the Baptist Church where the mostly elderly gathering was seated in a circle. I made my way to an empty chair near an older woman, whom I discovered quite quickly was exceptionally friendly and very kind. When the evening’s program began, the minister, quite a nice man himself, asked any guests present to introduce ourselves and, if so willing, to tell why we chose to attend this particular Bible study on this particular night. It came to my turn rather quickly as I soon discovered that newcomers were really a rarity at this gathering and when it did, I was, as usual, quite happy to oblige by speaking:
‘My name is Bob LaRochelle,’ I said, ‘and I am a college student at Holy Cross in Worcester. I am a Catholic and a member of St. Mary’s Church. I am here because I really believe that it is important for me to learn more about other Christians and what they believe. So I like to go to different churches.’
The minister and the other participants continued to be most kind and hospitable. I guess the atmosphere they had created made it quite easy for me to keep talking:
‘You know,’ I laughed as I went into this part of my story, ‘my mother told me that when she was a young girl at St. Mary’s School, some nun told her that whenever she walks downtown and goes by the Baptist Church, she should be sure to cross the street because, the nun said, “the devil lives inside the Baptist Church.” I think that is pretty silly and I don’t believe it.’
As I moved into the conclusion of my brief story, I noticed that the hand of the elderly woman seated near me had moved to touch my arm and I also saw a smile spread over her face. Once I had finished this personal introduction, the woman spoke:
‘You know, son,’ she started, ‘When I was a little girl, the minister we had here told my Sunday School class that whenever we are walking up on Providence Street and we go past St. Mary’s, we have to be sure to cross over to the other side of the street because ‘“the devil lives inside of the Catholic Church.”’
The woman smiled her broad and inviting smile. Everyone around that circle joined in as well. And I learned something that night. I learned a lesson I have never forgotten.
Roman Catholics and Protestants constitute the two largest groupings of those who call themselves Christians. They also share a longstanding history of misunderstanding, distrust and suspicion. Though much is different these days in the relationships between Catholics and Protestants from those of the days of my late adolescence, I would suggest that we really have not ‘crossed the street’ in our own understandings of those religious traditions which we have seen and experienced as ‘other.’2
The long standing tradition of ‘marrying within one’s own kind’ has most certainly changed. Where Catholics marrying only Catholics was once the norm, intermarriage with other faiths or with those of no religious upbringing is a common occurrence. The suspicion of the one who is religiously ‘other’ has most certainly and most thankfully diminished.3
Nonetheless those remnants of the misunderstanding represented in my own personal anecdote remain. Catholics and Protestants live and worship (when they worship) within their own houses. They continue to harbor misunderstandings that are the after effects of a tension that dates back to the sixteenth century and was articulated within their families and churches of origin. Though many have not only crossed the street to explore but have chosen to live in those other houses, they often carry these inaccurate notions with them and, in so doing, may unintentionally convey incomplete and inaccurate information to others. This information may end up reinforcing
