Cardinal John Henry Newman said, “To go deep into history is to cease to be Protestant.” So what did he mean by that? He meant that if one studies history, the farther he goes back, the more he sees that the true Church is Catholic, not protestant. When one reads the Early Fathers of the Church, he begins to see that the early Fathers reflect what the Catholic Church teaches, not the protestants. For example, when Jesus Christ was teaching the doctrine on the Holy Eucharist, He said He was “the living bread come down from heaven,” and that we must eat this flesh of His to have life in us and be raised up on the last day, the day of judgement at the end of the world. All this is in St. John chapter 6, 48-69. This is what the Catholic Church teaches, exactly what Jesus said in the Bible. Living bread, not symbolic bread. You do believe the Bible, don’t you Mr. Protestant? But is this what the protestants teach? No. They say it’s only a symbol, or figuratively speaking. But that’s not in the Bible! That’s just a made-up protestant tradition. So, what did the early Church Fathers teach? They taught the very same as the Church teaches today. I will quote you only one to prove my point. This early Church Father was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist himself. Do you think he would have known the true doctrine? Absolutely. Here is what he had to say.
St. Ignatius of Antioch: ““Make it a point, then, to participate in one Eucharist. For the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ is one, and one is the cup that yields unity in his blood” (Philadelphians 4:1)…In his letter to Smyrna, Ignatius laments that “those who hold heretical opinions about the grace of Jesus Christ … refuse to acknowledge that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised up” (Smyrnaeans 6.2). If you are a protestant and you hold the view that it is only symbolic, then St. Ignatius considered you a heretic. Is that where you want to be when you stand before Jesus Christ? Can heretics be saved? What did St. Paul say to Titus? “A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: Knowing that he, that is such an one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment.” 3:10-11. So protestants who deny the Holy Eucharist are rightly called heretics. If you consider yourself a sincere Christian, is this where you want to be when God calls you from this life? Our religion is like a bike with two tires. They both have to be good to get you where you’re going. Our religion consists in faith and morals. Faith is how we believe, and morals is how we live. A Catholic with right faith but bad morals will not be saved when he dies if he does not repent. A protestant with good morals but bad faith will not be saved when he dies, unless he repents.
A priest giving a sermon on a video said, “When a fallen away Catholic dies a protestant, he will not be judged as a protestant but a Catholic.” Why is that? Because when he was younger and a Catholic, he was taught the right way, and he left it. It’s a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sunday unless there is a valid reason for not being there, such as sickness or some other valid reason. One who deliberately misses Mass on Sunday commits a mortal sin, whether Catholic or fallen away Catholic. And you say, “Well, if he doesn’t believe anymore, why is it a sin?” I will give you an analogy. A boy is taught growing up that murder is a serious sin. When he becomes a man, he murders someone. He realizes he has committed a mortal sin. His conscience bothers him at first but as he becomes a thief and a murderer, he gets used to it and it doesn’t bother him anymore. Ted Bundy for example. So now that his conscience is dead, is it no longer a mortal sin when he murders someone? Yes it is. The same is true with Catholics who become protestant. They miss Mass so much it doesn’t bother them anymore. They have killed their conscience.
Those who leave the true faith are no longer Christian, even if they say they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, because heretics are not Christian. They are apostates. The meaning of APOSTASY is an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith.
Cardinal Newman set out to prove the Catholic Church wrong. He began to write a book to refute its errors. He began to read the early Fathers of their Church, and realized the Roman Catholic Church was the true one. After writing half his book, he gave up and became Catholic, because he saw the truth. Scott Hahn and Gerry Matatics both set out to prove the Catholic Church wrong. The more they read Catholic books, the more they realized they were wrong and they both became Catholics. Tim Staples and so many others. Tim said he had been reading the early Fathers for three months, and he couldn’t find a protestant among them. As the saying goes: “Poorly informed Catholics become protestants. Well informed protestants become Catholics.”
Recommended reading: THIS IS THE FAITH – Canon Francis Ripley; THE GLOREIS OF MARY – St. Alphonsus de Liguori; TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY and THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY – St. Louis de Montfort; THE HOLY EUCHARIST – St. Alphonsus; THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE – Jesus speaks to Sr. Josepha Menendez and calls her to pray and sacrifice for souls. THE SINNER’S RETURN TO GOD – Fr. Michael Mueller; PREPARATION FOR DEATH – St. Alphonsus; RADIO REPLIES – Rumble and Carthy. THE ONE TRUE CHURCH and THE CHURCH OR THE BIBLE – Fr. Arnold Damen, olrl.org /apologetics/.