#6 (9th gr) Non-Catholics & Non-Christians

Session Six

Lutherans, Muslims, and Jews.... oh my!

So let's discuss what our Church teaches about non-Catholic Christians (Protestants), other mono-theistic (believing in only One God) religions, and those children of God who do not fall into any of those categories.

First questions... what do YOU think Jesus would say, honestly.  What do you think JESUS would do if he was having lunch with a person that falls into any of those categories.

Question ONE:  What would Jesus' opinion be of someone who isn't Catholic (whether they be Christian, Muslim, or Jewish)?

Question TWO:  What would Jesus' opinion be of someone who doesn't believe God exists?

Let's look at our Creed (belief) that we profess every single time we are at Mass.  Does this sound familiar?

I Believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

If we believe in only ONE CHURCH... why are we even discussing this?

Look at your YouCat 129 on pg. 81  This explains why there can be only ONE CHURCH.  We cannot go around saying everything is acceptable.  There literally is only ONE CHURCH, it's Christ's Church.  We need to know that.

Question THREE:  Why can there be only ONE CHURCH, in your own words?

With all that, however, we are still called to love our neighbors, every single human is created in the image and likeness of God.  Whatever we say, do, or think against another human is an action toward God.

Who remembers Veggie Tales?  Remember the Veggie Tales version of the Good Samaritan, Are You My Neighbor?  Here's a little song to help you remember....

So it doesn't matter how different we are or WHAT a person feels are their religious beliefs, we are called to love EVERYONE.  I know you know this, but what does it mean in regards to the ONE CHURCH idea?

Catholics are Christians (obviously, Christ started our Church) but Protestants are Christians, too.  What's a Protestant?

The Protestant Reformation came about because the Catholic Church was going in the wrong direction and the men (fully human men) in charge were not making virtuous decisions, which is really a bummer.  Unfortunately the reformation, instead of addressing and fixing the flaws, caused a horrible separation from the Church and Martin Luther's initial idea of reform (which was a valid idea) turned into what we know today as the Lutheran church.  Since that time others have broken away from even the Lutheran faith and here we are today with hundreds of different Protestant denominations.

A Protestant is someone that believes the bread and wine of communion is NOT the true Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, but only a symbol.  A Catholic gains knowledge of the faith through Sacred Scripture (the Bible) AND Sacred Tradition (special information passed down directly from Jesus, to the apostles, to our bishops and priests).  Catholics call Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition the "Fullness of Truth".  We get the whole deal. Protestants only study scripture, they do not consider Sacred Tradition as something as important as the Bible.

NOTE:  this is a very fast and simple explanation of the Protestant faith we could spend years learning about this so 

Read your YouCat 130 p 81 and read the first two items in the margin on page 82 

Question FOUR:  In your own words why are non-Catholic Christians still our brothers and sisters in Christ?

Let's look at the Jewish faith....

Read your YouCat 135 p 83.  

Question FIVE:  What did St. John Paul II have to say about our relationship with the Jewish people?

Finally, let's look at what the Church says about non-Christians.  A non-Christian is someone that simply does not believe Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again in order to take our place.

Read your YouCat 136 p 84.

Question SIX:  Here's the BIG question, can non-Christians get to heaven?  Read YouCat 136 carefully the answer is there.

Question SEVEN:  What surprised you most about this lesson?