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Hi Jenn,
Great to hear from you again. I hope you are enjoying the Catechism I sent you. (Just a bit at time is best.)
In addition to what my colleague Paul has said, from my view, the answer to your question is similar to questions we have answered about Catholics going to Protestant Bible Studies to learn more about the Word of God.
Years ago, I went to them because I wanted to, not only learn more about the Word, but share the full Catholic Christian Gospel with Christians whose ancestors had rejected portions of Jesus' Teachings.
At the time, I had a good friend, Clayton, who advised me not to go, and said that my presence was saying more than I thought. He went on to say when a Catholic goes to a Protestant Bible Study, they are implicitly saying there is something that their Church is not providing, that you hope the Protestant Bible group will provide.
The problem:
the underlying assumption at any Protestant Bible Study is that Catholic teachings are wrong and the Church doesn't understand Her own Bible nor the proper way to interpret Her own Scriptures.
The same problem can arise with Protestant talk shows. What they can say about Our Blessed Lord can be great and we can agree on a lot, but the underlying assumption is anything related to specific Catholic teachings is wrong.
- Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man
- Joel Osteen
- Charles Stanley
- (CRI), the Christian Research Institute and
- Bob Larson's rather harsh approach
are good examples.
You said:
I feel that the Catholic faith leaves a lot to be learned in the hands of the single person. Protestants, on the other hand, do well to teach and interpret Gods word to the layman.
What you say logically makes sense and is understandable seeing what Protestants believe will always be less than what Catholics believe, and will vary from denomination to denomination. Some use the Bible as a recipe book to preach from. If they don't like certain recipes, meaning teachings, they don't use them in their Sunday talks.
Fewer recipes or teachings used, imply fewer teachings need to be accepted by that group, otherwise they would talk about them.
While it can be a bit of a struggle for any Protestant who is contemplating becoming a Catholic to learn the teachings of the Church, with time, it will pay off. That's also why RCIA, most of the time, is oriented in way that there are groups of seekers; you can learn and network among each other. Sure, they may be a little more to learn, but being able to receive all the Sacraments, if you decide to join, will make it all worth while, especially the Eucharist and Confession which are sacraments that perpetually build us up and heal our soul in a real, divine way!
I would suggest praying for the virtues of patience and perseverance.
I hope this helps,
Mike
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