My daughter has joined a non-denominational church. She told me that she still believes in the real presence, but that anyone, not just a priest, can consecrate bread.  Catholics, according to her, are too much into legalism in refusing to share communion with non Catholics.  There is no need for a priest to say some magic words over bread.  Jesus told all of us “Do this in memory of me” according to the Bible. 

Her church does not ordain its pastors. How then did her pastor become a pastor? I can’t believe that anyone teaches this!!!  How can I get my daughter and unbaptized grandchildren out of this place? 

HELP!!!

Dora Jarr

First, you have to be the best witness to Catholic truth by being the sweetest, best Grandma you can be. Pray a lot and give her Dr. Scott Hahn's books, Rome Sweet Home, The Lambs Supper and/or Reasons to Believe.  Also, there's Crossing the Tiber by Stephen K. Ray. 

These were anti Catholic evangelicals who are now fervent Catholics because Catholicism is just more biblical than Protestantism. Tell her to read this stuff, “if she isn't too afraid.” You read them too! Great stuff written from a formerly anti-Catholic view point, they speak the language in a way that we cradle Catholics sometimes cannot.

One  phrase in your letter stands out in particular, “Jesus told all of us to ‘Do this in memory of me.’ according to the Bible.” According to the Bible.... Jesus told all of us to consecrate bread and wine. No, He only told twelve of us, the twelve of us who were with Him at table, including Judas.

I wasn't there. She wasn't there. 

The only reason that anyone but the twelve continued the custom of consecrating bread and wine is that they were told by Jesus to do so, and they were told by Jesus to whom they were to pass on that authority. At least that is what they said to their first followers, like Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna, and Paul of Tarsus, and Clement of Rome. They were there and they said that is what Jesus had told His disciples to do and that Jesus established an ordained leadership in His Church. 

Or maybe these guys who all died as martyrs for Christ were just liars who wanted to get cushy jobs as clergy. Martyrdom doesn't sound that cushy to me! 

Well how wonderful that your daughter's self-ordained pastor knows the Bible better than the people who wrote it and the first generations of Christians who compiled it. Truly, wisdom has been hidden until now, and is finally revealed in the nondenominational denomination and its self-appointed pastors! 

This is not just a point of discussion, but is a matter of life and death if you’re a Bible believing Christian as I try to be! 

Jesus said that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we cannot have life in us. (John 6:53)  So, it is Jesus’ solemn command that we eat His flesh and drink His blood.  

I would suggest that your daughter (who wants to obey the Bible, God bless her!) look seriously at the claims of traditional Christianity. Maybe she is right, but I doubt it. For 1,500 years all Christians thought she was wrong about just who can make the Body and Blood of Jesus present and the two thirds of all Christians alive today think she is wrong. 

If I were in her position, I would make darn sure that I was right, because if she fails to eat drink the Flesh and Blood of Jesus, she has no life in her, at least that’s what the Bible seems to clearly say. 

You are certainly eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ if your daughter is right, because according to her, any well intentioned fool, and this includes me and your pastor, can change bread and wine into flesh and blood. 

But if she’s wrong, and only those chosen by the Lord, through the Apostles, his first disciples, can consecrate bread and wine in the way that Jesus intended, then she is leaving church munching on a piece of bread, sweetened by Welch's Grape juice, and, though it may be chock full of nutrition and anti oxidants, at last count, Welch's Grape Juice had no power to confer eternal life. 

I dare her to look at these things again and to read the books I mentioned above. 

Oh, remind her that the Bible also commands us to cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes. (Matt 5:29-31)   Some passages we take quite literally and others we don't. 

Who has the authority to interpret Scripture? Her non-pastor? 

The Catholic Church existed for fifty years before the last word of Scripture was set down and for centuries before the text of Scripture was fully compiled. The Catholic Church compiled the Bible, treasured the Bible and passed the Bible down to this clueless generation, who, with ears itching, pile up teachers to suit their own fancy. (2Tim.4:3)

First Timothy, (3:15) tells us that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth. It doesn't say this of the Bible which can be used by anyone who so pleases for anything they so please. Remember that the very devil used the sacred words of Scripture to tempt Jesus. The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth. Well, which Church?  Did Jesus found a church or didn't He?

If you have to ask me which institution Jesus founded, the Catholic Church which was established on the rock of St. Peter or the non-denominational church your daughter attends founded on who knows what for god knows what purpose. 

I’ll put my money on the two thousand year old Catholic church with all its scandal and stodgy old clergy and historical baggage. For all its problems it can still crank out Mother Teresa and Maximilian Kolbe and John Paul and Benedict. God has been faithful to her all these years and I will try to be faithful to her as well.

Yours truly,

Rev. Know-It-All

PS I discuss the problem of who can go to communion in another article (on 6/1/08 "Who can receive Holy Communion?") Enjoy! And remember, keep the door open with your daughter and granddaughter.  Don’t give up.