Going where you're sent - on either side of the Tiber

I guess I should have more to say about the Frank Beckwith reversion than just a pile of links below. Actually, it's kind of fortuitous, as it ties in with a post I wanted to make anyway.

Back when I first reviewed his book, Michael Barrett said to me in an e-mail: "This may sound strange but I view that as joining the Mother Ship. I think we all report up through the Catholic church [as it was originally intended] whether we realize it or not." (Bracketed text added by Mike for clarification.) And recently, I've been having a conversation in the comboxes with Pastor Paul about Mary and the Church. (And I really, really need to pick back up on the conversation about the Sacraments as well. Bad Joel!)

All this is really something I enjoy a lot. Having been raised in a strongly Evangelical family (by a preacher's daughter), I love talking with pastors, as they usually have a theological understanding a long way beyond mine. I can learn a lot. One of the parts of my job at The Greatest Newspaper in the Northwest™ that I loved best was when I got to edit a monthly Christian magazine and get columns from local pastors. I got to know some brothers in Christ that strengthen my faith even after the magazine folded. Honestly, I'm a whole lot more comfortable around Protestant ministers than around priests. (You could count on your fingers the priests I've met in my life, which may have something to do with it. But mainly, I think I have more in common with Protestant pastors, theology aside. We speak the same language.)

One thing I don't want to do, though, is proselytize at them. With laymen, I might, although I'm not all that great a salesman. Mostly, with Protestant friends, I settle for explaining why I believe something that the Catholic Church teaches, not why they should. But I especially don't want to do that to pastor friends, and here's why:

I agree with Mike's analogy of the Mother Ship. The Protestant Reformation was a drastic thing, and I wish it hadn't happened, but frankly, as a Catholic, I don't think I have any right to bellyache or bloviate about it. If our leadership had removed its collective ecclesiastical head from its butt, Luther would never have had anything to nail to the door at Wittenburg. His original complaint was about simony and corruption; the theological schism came later, when the hierarchy wouldn't listen to him.

Be that as it may, the Reformation did happen, and the Lord brought good things out of it in the long run. Had there been no schism, would there have been a Bunyan, or a C. S. Lewis, or an Isaac Watt? Without the competition for converts, would the missions in the New World have been pursued so assiduously? The Protestant departure forced the Church to clean house then, and still keeps us on our toes today.

Alas, there are theological and ecclesiological issues that divide Catholic from Protestant, and I don't really think that we're going to see those resolved until the Lord comes back. Although we all pray for Christian unity, there's always an unspoken caveat that says "provided we're all united in my denomination." The Mother Ship is still there, but she's orbited by hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller vessels, and always will be.

And those vessels need captains, and officers, and crew, just as much as the Mother Ship. Mike pastors a church that serves a specific need in the Body of Christ; he ministers to people whose church history has hitherto been, well... spotty, maybe. He's reaching out to people who perhaps don't feel the welcome in the Body that we want to extend to them. And people who would never approach a priest in a collar will talk to Mike in a T-shirt or a wetsuit without stammering.

Paul shepherds a small church in Montana. He's just getting started as an ordained pastor, after a career in youth work, and he's also being the voice of Jesus to kids who may not hear the Gospel anywhere else, at least not anywhere that they'd trust. Paul and Mike are filling a need, a desperate need, and they're making some serious sacrifices to do it. The Lord is using them.

Suppose I were a truly great apologist, so great that my scintillating arguments could usher these men into the Catholic Church. (Yes, and suppose I had X-ray vision and a Batmobile, while we're at it. I don't flatter myself that much.) Well, probably God would have some use for them there; He uses anybody who is willing to be used. But what kind of Christian would I be if I convinced them to leave the roles that God has placed them in? The people at Coast Vineyard Church and Lolo Community Church (have I got those names right, guys?) are Christians in need of leaders, and it's not right for us on the Mother Ship to try to get them to abandon those posts. I don't care for sheep-stealing, where one church tries to swell its numbers by luring away members from another. How much more distasteful is shepherd-stealing?

This is my problem with the Coming Home Network, and ministries like that. I don't want to run them down; ministers who do switch feet often pay a heavier price than laypeople, and desperately need support. But it seems to me that a lot of energy is spent targeting Protestant pastors, as though there were a bounty on each person led to Rome, and triple score for clergy. (Update: Patrick points out that Coming Home Network is a support group rather than an outreach ministry. I agree that support seems to be the focus, but looking at their site I also see some of what looks like dangling bait... "Psst! Hey, pastor! Check this out!" Maybe that's just general apologetics and I'm reading too much into it, I don't know.)

It looks as though the Lord has called Francis Beckwith back to the Mother Ship. I know He called me there. He may well be calling any number of Protestants across the Tiber, maybe even ones I know. If so, maybe He'll use me. But unless and until the Lord makes that call, it's our place as Catholics to share as much as we can with our non-Catholic brothers, not to maneuver them onto our side. There are few things I love more than talking about the things we believe that other Christians misunderstand, explaining why what we believe isn't as silly or as weird as it looks. And in the course of it, I learn things I wouldn't know otherwise, both about my own faith and the one I left. Heck, I've learned more about Protestant theology since I became Catholic than I ever knew before. I still think that where there's a discrepancy the Catholic Church is right, but I don't have to convince anybody else of that.

So Mike, and Paul, and Doug, and Tim and David, and Jeff, and Timotheos, and all the other pastors I know, thank you for what you do for the Lord, and for His Body. If you end up being called to the Catholic Church, the red carpet will be out for you. If I never share a pew with you, at least we'll share heaven. Meanwhile, God's got our respective jobs planned out for us, and I think you guys are doing Him proud.