By Br. Gregory-David Jones, O.S.B.

    Many Protestants who appear to be “anti-Catholic” are actually more like Catholics than they realize.  Many of these Christians believe and practice many things that they object to as Catholic idolatry.  Often on the top of the list of Protestant and Fundamentalist objections are the sacrament of Reconciliation and the Catholic practice of venerating objects.  Some basic principles can be found in the examination of these issues which reveal the fact that some of the practices and beliefs of Protestants actually tend to give validity to Catholic practices.

     Most of the Protestant denominations have a basic understanding of the sacrament of baptism which is similar , if not equivalent to the Catholic perspective.  Most Christians understand that the sacrament cleanses the soul of original sin and the actual sins committed by the individual, incorporates that individual into the Body of Christ and infuses the soul with graces to live the Christian life.  This sacrament communicates something very profound for the Christian must accept -- the Lord works through the minister in His work of redemption.  Most Protestants object to a person confessing their sins to a priest because they believe that man was never given the authority to absolve sin.  But the practice of the sacrament of baptism communicates this very same thing -- Christ’s authority is given to man to absolve sins.

     Many Protestants might object to this assumption by explaining that baptism being a Divine commission for the Lord’s ministers means that the graces come only from Christ through the minister.  However this is a near perfect explanation of the Sacrament of Penance.  Catholics believe that it was Divinely instituted (Jn. 20:23) and that Christ’s forgiveness is operative through the minister (the priest).  This theological point if properly understood can lead a Protestant away from a distorted notion that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is an insult to God’s Mercy.

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