In this clip, Cy Kellett welcomes Tim Staples to discuss whether a Catholic can attend another church while still participating in sacraments. Tim shares insights from his own family’s journey and addresses the complexities of balancing faith commitments.
Transcript:
Caller: I presently am a youth pastor at a Baptist church in our community. And they’ve recently given me a three-month sabbatical to get myself figured out. And I’m just wondering… Oh, it’s a hard time. But I was wondering if the Church had a stance on whether someone could be part of the Catholic Church, take the sacraments, and still go to another church at the same time. Because obviously, I want to honor my husband and do what he’s doing too. So there’s just a lot more to it. But is there something the Catholic Church has to say about that?
Tim: Yeah, Sue, that is a great question. In fact, you remind me of my mom. I don’t know if you know my story, Sue, but I was raised a Southern Baptist myself. I became a youth minister in an Assembly of God community. And when I converted to the Catholic faith, my whole family thought I was crazy. By God’s grace, though, my mother, my father, my three brothers, the whole family, my two sisters-in-law, all ended up being Catholic.
I remember when Mom first started to see the truth of the Catholic faith. She really reminds me of you because she was really torn. All of her friends were in our Assembly of God community. She just loved it so much. And she said, “Tim, would it be okay if I go to Catholic Mass on Saturday night and I’ll go to the Assembly of God on Sunday?” I said, “Mom, you got to make a decision.”
And I’ll say the same thing to you, Sue, that when it comes to committing to the Catholic faith, it really is an all or nothing. Now, hang on, I’m not finished. Don’t hang up on me yet, Sue. But it really is all or nothing. We have to be completely committed to the Church that Jesus Christ established. Because, as you may know by now, Sue, as Luke 10:16 says, “If they hear you, they hear me. If they reject you, they reject me.” As Matthew 18:18 says, “Whatever the Church binds on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever she looses on earth is loosed in heaven.”
To reject the teachings of the Church is to reject Jesus Christ. To reject the disciplines of the Church is to reject Jesus Christ. As Lumen Gentium, paragraph 14 in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, which I would encourage you to read, says it really is an absolute commitment.
However, having said that, what I said to my mom, I will also say to you: given that commitment, there is nothing wrong with continuing to go to a Protestant community, you know, for Bible study, even for a Sunday service, as long as we do not receive any sacramentals or sacraments. Of course, in the Baptist tradition, they have marriage and baptism as sacraments, but we cannot receive communion and that sort of thing.
But we certainly can. I use the example of St. Paul in three different places in the Book of Acts. Sue, Paul goes to the synagogue, right? But remember, he goes to the synagogue in order to preach Christ. But he goes, and so, Sue, to fellowship with your husband and with the people of God, there is nothing wrong as long as there is no, what we call, communio in sacris. That is, we can’t pretend we have a union that doesn’t exist in reality.
So if I were to go to a Baptist church and receive communion there, that would be saying with my body that I’m in communion with this body of believers here, but I’m not. So that would be lying with my body. Right? The same reason why, of course, we do not permit, in ordinary circumstances, people outside of the Church receiving sacraments in the Church. Ordinarily, you know, there can be exceptions, but the reason is because it would be a sacrilege to say I’m in communion with the Church when I actually am not.
So the Church’s position is really clear on this. We got to follow Jesus, and the Church is the voice of Jesus Christ on the earth. But, Sue, do not fear. You know what I told my mom? I said, “Mom, go to the Assembly of God.” And she did. She went to Mass on Saturday and she went to the Assembly of God on Sunday.
Before long, Mom ended up leaving completely and, you know, going to the Catholic Church because it just became… She ended up talking about the Catholic Church all the time, you know, and stuff. And so that ended up being what happened. But does this help at all? Sue, do you need any sort of follow-up, please?
Caller: No, that’s helpful. It’s just so much more complicated than that. Especially when you’re involved in the Church and you’ve been in a teaching position, all of a sudden making a decision not to do that or to do that. All the questions that your kids and your youth group have… Honestly, I never thought in a million years I’d be in this position in my whole life.
Tim: Right. Well, Sue, can I tell you this? I was a youth minister too, in an Assembly of God community. And I went through the same thing. I ended up having to step down because I could not teach any longer. I believed in the Eucharist. I didn’t believe in justification by faith alone anymore. I didn’t believe in sola scriptura. I could not, in conscience, stay. I stepped down.
I actually went to… long story, I went to Bible college for a time to try to save my Protestantism. And I ended up converting to the Catholic faith. God opened all kinds of doors for me in the Catholic Church. It was extremely painful for me as well, Sue, leaving that position. My whole family thought I was crazy. Honestly, Sue, I never felt so alone than when I left my Assembly of God position as a youth minister and everything else.
But by God’s grace, let me tell you, Sue, you can never outgive God. You know that’s true. When you give to Jesus, Jesus blesses a hundredfold, as you know, pressed down, shaken together, and flowing over. It’s never easy, but it’s always blessed. Does that make sense, Sue?
Caller: Sure. Yeah. A few years back, somebody gave me a card, and it was from Turning Point Ministries. I know you’ve probably heard of that. Yes, but it said, “Obey and I will take care of the consequences of your obedience.” And I just feel like God is just saying, you know what? There may be some consequences, but this is all for me to take care of, not for you to obey.
Tim: Oh, my goodness, Sue. God bless you. You know what, Sue? Please stay in touch with us, would you? I would love to hear what happens. And if there’s anything we can do, you know, drop me an email. I’m easy to find here. You can go to catholic.com, the webmaster there, but we’ve got tons of helps for you. Are you familiar with the Coming Home Network?
Caller: Yeah, I watch it all the time.
Tim: Okay, great.
Caller: On YouTube.
Tim: Yeah. Stay in touch. Contact those guys. Jim Anderson, Marcus Grodi are good friends of mine, and they may well have some helps for you as well. Thank you, Sue. Yeah, we appreciate that call. I hope you will call again.
Cy: Tim Staples, our guest. Lots of folks on the line, so we will try to just keep moving.