Honoring Saint John XXIII

Today is the memorial of Pope St. John 23. I have not previously felt a personal connection to him like I experienced today participating in a word and communion service at Holy Family Catholic Church in Anaconda. I lived here when the the late saint was pope but I was not raised Catholic so I only had the vaguest sense of who he was and what he accomplished, or at least set in motion before his death in 1962.

Now that I have been Catholic for by practice for more than 5 decades, I am reminded that the changes that came with Vatican Council 2 made it possible for me to become Catholic. As fiercely proud as I was of my Methodist tradition, I would not have ever converted but for the fact St. John opened the windows of change that it was not a mortal sin to be anything else other than a Roman Catholic. If it meant that I had to reject the faith I shared with my parents, grandparents and extended family, I would have refused to do so and I would have been deprived of the vast richness of my life as a Catholic. Perhaps I see things as being more extreme than they actually were but that was the message I heard.


The truth is that teachings of church did not change. Then as now, the Church teaches and has always taught: “Outside the Church there is no Salvation.” That is to be understood as meaning the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ Himself. As such, it is in, and through the Church, that it is possible for men to be saved. The Church is the Body of Christ and therefore Christ acts in and through His Body.

That said, were it not for the Church, there would be no Salvation; with that we recognize that there is one Baptism and one Church. Even Protestants are Catholics, in an imperfect way. They are called by the Holy Spirit to continue to pursue the truth. Of course, they would deny this but, the fact is, a Protestant is simply a Protesting Catholic. Given the heroic effort it took for me to look past the “protestations” I struggled to accept, I was truly a “Protesting Catholic”

There was a wide spread and perhaps pervasive misunderstooding of this doctrine and took it to mean one had to be a confirmed and practicing Catholic to be invited into heaven. That mistaken belief would have certainly kept me firmly in the “protesting” camp rather than joining the Catholic camp. I accept there is a difference between the big C church and the little c church. I am grateful beyond words my family can be protesting little c catholics and I can be a Big C catholic and have us end up in the same place.

St. John XXIII,  thank you changing the message to let the truth of the primacy of the catholic church join us all together. Pray for us.