"Where Rome Is Right"

John R. Scotford is a Congregationalist and a former editor of the Congregational Advance. As a Protestant, he has been thinking hard about the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S., and the challenge of this growth to Protestant complacency. In an article in the Christian Century entitled "Where Rome Is Right," Scotford tells fellow Protestants how to meet the challenge.

"Habitually," writes Scotford, "we measure ourselves against the weaknesses of the Roman Catholic Church. We recall the sort of papacy Luther challenged 450 years ago, and celebrate the way in which the Reformation purified religion. This makes us feel superior ... Our pretensions to spiritual superiority were little questioned so long as the Catholics kept to the other side of the tracks and spoke in an unknown tongue. But that day is done . . ."

The Real Genius. "If Protestantism is to survive, it must compete with the Roman Church in those areas of thought and life where she is strong. Her past failures and present weaknesses are beside the point . . . She does not win adherents by the things in which she is wrong, but by the teachings in which she is right . . .

"The real genius of the Roman Catholic Church is her ability to make God real to the last and the least of the human race. There are listless worshipers before her altars . . . yet the divine glow is present in enough hearts with sufficient frequency to make the Roman Mass the most successful religious service known to man. The hush which comes over most congregations when the consecrated host is elevated is not a matter of theatrical effects cleverly arranged; something is really happening in the hearts of many of the people . . . The power of the Mass is a fact which Protestants cannot escape; it must be faced.

"Protestantism will stand or fall in proportion as it leads its people into an experience of the presence of God . . ."

A Sense of Belonging. "The appearance of universality is a second source of strength in the Roman Church. She is essentially right in her contention that the church should draw people together rather than set them apart . . . Her people do not join a local society; they are confirmed by the bishop as members of the church which claims to be founded by Peter, the church whose worship is the same throughout the world . . . For the individual this can be a great experience. Instead of traveling through life alone, he is part of a mighty host . . ."

Protestant Scotford thinks that Protestantism is moving toward a "sense of belonging to an inclusive movement." The 1 emphasis is slowly shifting "from the sectarian part to the ecumenical whole.[But] Protestant unity needs to be dramatized in such a fashion that the man on the street will forget about the 'warring sects,' which exist mainly in the past and in Catholic propaganda, and will see the universal ties by which we are united."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.