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Dear John,
Thanks for the question.
You said:
- Why is this bothering me so much?
This is bothering you because the Pentecostal minister said that a couple of key teachings you believe as a Catholic were not important. In addition, they make up part of the core of the Catholic faith which Jesus founded on St. Peter and his successors. (Matthew 16:13-19; 1 Timothy 3:15)
I admire that you are proud to be a Catholic; that's great! Nevertheless, many of us were poorly catechized when growing up and very few learned that when we renew our covenant each Sunday at Mass with the Lord, we are not only affirming that we are receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but also making a public statement that we are in a Common Union with the teachings of the Church, Jesus founded on St. Peter and his successors.
I'm sure you don't mean to give mixed signals but when you attend your wife's congregation for services you are saying you believe in a different body of beliefs than what the Catholic Church teaches.
The roots of Pentecostalism can only be traced back to Charles Fox in 1901. Before 1901, no one called themselves a Pentecostal. Check out my When was your church found page:
Your wife's minister probably believes in Sola Scriptura, (that the Bible Alone is all we need), but no where in the Bible does it teach that we should believe in the Bible Alone.
2 Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, but not only Scripture — plus when St. Paul was alive they only had the Old Testament. We wouldn't know what the canon of the New Testament was until 382 A.D.
Instead, the Bible teaches we should believe in both the Written Word understood as the Church understands it, and Oral Tradition that has been passed down by the Apostle to the Church today. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
One last, but often overlooked passage that Protestants will never quote you is:
2 Corinthians 3:2-3
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
I think this makes it very clear that St. Paul certainly did not believe in Sola Scriptura.
If you find an appropriate time, in charity, ask your wife's minister whether any successors to the Apostles has laid hands on him. If he says it's not needed or not important, suggest that he read the Epistles of Timothy and Titus.
The Catholic priesthood has an unbroken line of succession going back to the Apostles with bishops ordaining other priests and appointing some of them as fellow bishops.
He also told you that you don't need to confess your sins to a priest but that's not what Jesus said before His Glorious Ascension into Heaven. (Read John 20:19-23) Jesus is talking to the original Twelve Apostles and choosing to give them His Divine Authority to forgive sins.
Through the sacrament of Holy Orders Jesus Himself uses the body of a priest to act and forgive us our sins.
It does appear to one who has never heard of the Catholic theology behind the priesthood that we are confessing our sins to a mere man, but we are not. Jesus, who was a true man, is forgiving the sins of His people through the priests of His Church. Again, because Jesus was a man, he is using the body of another man, to forgive sins. This is another reason why people don't understand why women can't become priest — because Jesus was a man, and because God never destroys nature but builds upon nature. He uses a man's body and a man's voice because He was a True Man who instituted all seven sacraments of the Church before His Glorious Ascension into Heaven.
In order to discern which sins should be forgive, or not, the Apostles have to first hear the sins.
Notice that prior to giving the Apostles the ability to forgive sins in verse 22 Jesus says:
Receive the Holy Spirit.
- As a Pentecostal, why doesn't he believe in the Holy Spirit in verse 22?
I would like to extend a welcome to your wife's Pentecostal minister and invite him to:
If he can't find an answer to his question he is welcome to ask us here:
I would also like to share with him what the very first Christian's:
They are called the Early Church Fathers.
My favorite quote is on the home page of AskACatholic.com by St. Pacian of Barcelona.
You have to discern whether it is prudent to go on her mission trip, or not, but if it is similar to going to a Bible Study, I wouldn't recommend it.
When Catholics go to a Protestant Bible Study, they are implicitly saying:
There is something missing in my parish that I hope you can meet.
This, sadly, may be truth, but in going to a Protestant Bible Study, there is one unwritten, unspoken teaching they all have in common:
That the teachings of the Catholic Church are wrong.
No one will publicly say it, but this is what is implied.
As a loving husband, if you have a good marriage, I think it's important to have some personal one on one time with your wife. Share with her and her minister what I have said and if she has questions, I welcome her just as I did her Pentecostal minister to our site to ask questions.
Finally, you, your wife, and her minister may be interested in my Scripture Passages page at:
https://www.AskACatholic.com/ScripturePassages
I hope this helps,
Mike
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