Decades ago, I read an insight by Jean Vanier, a Canadian Catholic philosopher and theologian, “You can be right. You can be dead right and bring death to everyone around you”. These words stripped bare my arrogance, profoundly affecting the way I expressed my faith to others and especially the way I wrote about the Catholic faith.
Writers Wield Power
Words have power, a terrifying power to influence others. One lie or the words of one bullying tweet have the potential to go viral, enraging, or misleading thousands, if not millions of readers. Even truth, if expressed with arrogance can instigate similar chaos. Words matter. Tone matters. Even a message of Christian hope can be lost when writers are not prayerful disciples of the Living God, writing with the heart of a servant.
Writers have the ability to destroy as well as the ability to educate, heal, and lift up. We must learn how to communicate and engage with our adversaries in a spirit of mutual respect because everyone is a child of God, whether they know it or not. It is God who converts and convicts; we are simply called to tell our stories, inform, or communicate our perspectives. We must witness in love, without sinning against those who have yet to experience the joy of the Eucharist or a deep relationship with their Heavenly Mother.
Reaching Out
Initially, when I first stepped outside of my little blog to write for other sites, I wrote for secular and Protestant sites and felt I had to hide my Catholicism. When I finally wrote about my Catholic faith, I was immediately grilled and interrogated by shocked readers and co-authors. Yet God had His own agenda and through the moderator, a process of forgiveness and unity began. Of course, the site decided to simply ignore my Catholicism and centre on my love of God.
When I discovered Catholic sites and was accepted as a writer, I was thrilled to finally be free to write about my faith without filters. I felt as if I was defending my faith in my territory, surrounded and protected by other Catholic writers.
Protestant vs. Catholic Articles
Sometimes Catholics view other Christians as their adversaries, rather than their separated brethren. Part of this divide is rooted in how we express ourselves. Sometimes we get lazy and slip into Church lingo, writing in a foreign language which other Christians, never mind unbelievers, do not understand. The challenge is to witness to the validity of our Catholic spirituality with a mature love, without ridiculing our Protestant brothers and sisters, using universal terms when possible.
To complicate the difficulty of reaching across the divide, Protestants insist the Bible alone is the inspired Word of God, demanding every spiritual opinion and conclusion be backed by biblical authority. In an attempt to purify the Church during the Reformation, Protestants discarded thousands of years of teaching, wisdom, and revelations. They are closed to Catholic references to tradition in their writing. However, since the definitive books of the Bible were not decided until after 300 AD, Catholics understand the Holy Spirit taught man through tradition, as well as Holy Scripture. Even scripture tells us to uphold tradition:
Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)
But these verses quoted arrogantly in arguments based on sophistry only served to strengthen my Protestant position before I converted to Catholicism. My heart and mind were only transformed by a combination of Holy Spirit inspired books and the direct intervention of God, not by man’s mental gymnastics. Good writers simply plant the seeds of faith; God produces the harvest in souls.
The Church Triumphant
Some Catholic authors write as if they belong to the Church Beleaguered, not the Church Triumphant. Many Christian articles tend to be either defensive or angry attacks against adversaries. Some religious writers retreat, focusing only on like-minded souls, writing for a small, mutual admiration society. The rest are tempted to quit when it seems like the world is wearing a spiritual blindfold. In an online conversation with me, Victor S. E. Moubarak articulated the dilemma of Christian writers today:
Many Christian are busily writing their blogs daily wondering who is visiting them, or whether their efforts are having any effect on anyone. We all write for different reasons. Some genuinely want to put some positives out there in a negative and dark internet full of bile and cynicism. Others write for pure vanity. Whilst others wonder whether to bother to continue writing or whether they should just give it up. The latter would be a pity because it would turn off yet another of the little lights of hope that shine in a dark internet that mirrors today’s secular society. (To read Victor’s books and blog click here.)
Protestants and the secular world desperately need to hear the perspective of Catholics on pressing issues, especially on the sanctity of human life. However, most religious authors write in a small niche, read mainly by fellow Catholics, and perhaps a few other critics we would secretly love to block. However, it is past time to repent, to make a 180-degree turnaround, and to start writing in sync with our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is time for Catholic writers to decide to fulfill our Divine Mandate with joy.
Listen, and Then Write
If Catholic writers want to be effective agents of change, addressing large issues like world peace, abortion, and the state of the Church with articles which will touch hearts and move secular mountains, we have to break out of our Church microcosm and listen to the rumblings in the world and in the wider Body of Christ.
Most of all, we must become in sync with God and with what He wants to do in and through us. It is time to start writing like children of God, people who only write what their Heavenly Father tells them to write. Only then will our words be imbued with power, the kind of power which will actually affect hearts and stimulate action. David Torkington (a Catholic Stand columnist and the author of ‘Wisdom from the Christian Mystics – How to Pray the Christian Way’) states:
there is only one way forward for the serious searcher who wishes to be transformed into Christ in this life, and that is, in the words of St Teresa of Avila, “There is only one way to perfection and that is to pray. If anyone points in another direction then they are deceiving you”.
I would add there is only one way forward for the Catholic writer and that is to pray first and then write.
34 thoughts on “Catholic Writers Can Be Dead Right”
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One of the best way, I have found, is to present your views, with references. Show your logic to the conclusion, and then leave it as that.
Exactly- We present the facts, “with references“-and leave the rest to God.
Melanie,
You took that OT reading out of context.
Please read the preceding verses about false witnesses, starting at 15.
This scenario is covered by one of the 10 Commandments, which Jesus fully supported.
“God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45)
“If you obey the Lord your God and faithfully keep all His commands…then He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work…But if you disobey the Lord your God and do not faithfully keep all his commands and laws that I am giving you today…No rain will fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron. Instead of rain, the Lord will send down dust storms and sandstorms until you are destroyed.” (Deut. 28:1-24)
Those words from Paul were written almost 2,000 years ago. Consequently, he was referring to the traditions of the early church, which did not dispute the OT scriptures, did they?
Of course, they did
Old Testament: “Show no pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” – Deuteronomy 19:21
But Jesus contradicts this directly:
Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” – Matthew 5:38–39
Melanie,
Shouldn’t the writer’s words not contradict the Holy Scriptures?
Only if you think the Living God has had nothing else to say to His people except what is in the Bible, that He has been silent for over 2,000 years. Of course, everything must be discerned but His relationship with us is not static but dynamic.
Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, EITHER by an ORAL statement or by a LETTER of ours. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
“It is time to start writing like children of God, people who only write what their Heavenly Father tells them to write.”
Thank you for a wonderful article. I’m saving this one. As for the wise words below? I know no other way of living!
“There is only one way to perfection and that is to pray. If anyone points in another direction then they are deceiving you”.
Mine is such a simple faith.
Exactly- Writer’s words are only imbued with power if the author is obedient to Christ and His Church- teaching, healing, lifting up, and conveying God’s message with love.
Melanie,
I completed the RCIA program in one-on-one sessions with a priest over 30 years ago. My first confession lasted about an hour.
Afterwards, my wife and I helped with further participants in the RCIA program.
However, the more that I have studied the Bible, especially the books dealing with eschatology, I find the Church doesn’t seem to deal with the end times.
Looks like we are fellow travellers, then. I was completely disillusioned after working as a parish worker, was basically betrayed by a bishop who had promised to protect me, and then suffered for years in the Church. Yet I have been forever grateful for advice from a spiritual director, “Don’t through out the baby with the bath-water”. The humans who serve in the Church are imperfect but where else would I go to receive the Bread of Life?
Melanie:
Thank you for your considerate comments.
I will certainly pray on it tonight, again asking for discernment from God.
I thought you were a Protestant who was considering the Catholic Church, not a questioning Catholic. Either way, God prefers an honest skeptic over a wishy-washy conformist who has never questioned and never encountered the Living God.
Peter:
Footnotes from my Catholic Bible.
I find your comments to always be snarky and condescending.
Melanie:
We all have our faith journeys; you have had yours and I have had mine.
Hopefully, we are all seeking the truth.
I have been asking God for discernment, while reading the scriptures. Then I compare them to the CCC, homilies from our priest, words from the pope, etc.
More and more, I find myself gravitating to the scriptures. And wondering why the Catholic Church is becoming more Mary-centered?
I honour your faith journey, your tenacity, and intellectual curiosity. I am sure God honours it too,
An interesting note- David Duplessis, a Pentecostal associated with Catholic Charismatics in the ’70s attended a conference where all the banners happened to be Marian Blue. Mary showed up and instead of asking each other if they had met Jesus, participants asked, “Have you met Mary?”
“Mr Pentecost – the Unifier of Denominations with Roman Catholic Church. David du Plessis is a South African that went on to become Mr Pentecost across the world. He is remembered for his passion and zeal to building the world Council of Churches that on the top of it is a Roman Pope.”
Don’t close windows. We must trust more in God’s ability to reveal than in satan’s power to deceive.
Yes, we need to stand for the truth. But what is the truth?
The Bible? The Catholic traditions? The edicts from the popes?
I know exactly where you are coming from and there is nothing I can say to change your mind. You will always find counter-arguments.
I was raised in the Presbyterian Church- cool, calm, and conservative. After an encounter with Christ at 16 years old, I was “saved”, filled with the Holy Spirit, and then stumbled upon Charismatic Catholics in my first year of university. I attended their prayer meetings because I could not find any other spirit-filled groups.
I thought, “Well, God will soon show them the error of their Catholic beliefs now that they are spirit-filled”. Catholic beliefs and traditions filled me with revulsion.
God had other ideas. To the horror of my family and Protestant friends, God swept me into the Catholic Church. Mary made a home for herself in my heart and God planted a hunger for the Eucharist in my spirit. I became a Catholic just after my 19th birthday, 46 years ago.
However, for ten years after my conversion, I battled the revelations in my heart and spirit with the Protestant theology in my mind.
You will say I was deluded but my journey into the heart of God, my deepening relationship with Christ through prayer, inner healing, and transformation has been grace-filled. I can say with St. Paul, “No longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me”.
All I can say is IF you truly want to discover the Truth, in all humility, ask God to reveal it to you. Perhaps He needs you to stay with our Protestant brothers and sisters… I do not know the mind of God. I do know that you love God and truly desire to know and experience the fullness of His riches.
I hear what you all are saying. And I agree that, in most circumstances, TNK is the way to go. But I think it also can be taken to the extreme, for example, by becoming conflict averse to the point of not standing up for anything lest we offend someone. Jesus Christ preached love and redemption, but he wasn’t “kindly” calling the pharisees broods of vipers, nor “kindly” overturning the tables of the money changers with a whip.
And consider the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 16-17; 4:1-5.
Annette, that is a really good point. Catholics must stand up for the truth with Love- not defensively or with anger but with confidence because we do stand on the Rock of Truth. We cannot cower for fear of offending others.
Didn’t Pope Francis contradict the words of Jesus from Matthew 5?
As you know, Scripture often seems to contradict itself. Jesus seemed to break significant rules of the Jewish faith as it was practiced in his time: his disciples gathered food from the fields on the Sabbath; he didn’t observe the rules of purification of cooking and drinking vessels beloved of the Pharisees; he allowed the “unclean” to approach him and was rendered ritually “unclean” by such contact, and he associated with sinners.
All the law and all the prophets are summed up in the ‘new commandment’ to love God, neighbour, and self.
My point is that Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion. He was a devote Jew, studied and read the Scriptures from the OT, observed the prescribed feasts, but was the promised Messiah, thus fulfilling the prophecies of the Bible. Seems that the early church of Acts 2 viewed it the same way, didn’t they?
The Bible provides the complete story of God’s plan from beginning to end.
His Second Coming, as revealed in scriptures, includes the Battle of Armageddon when He will save the Israelites from their foes.
Maybe the RCC should return to the roots of the early church.
Correction: “devoted”
Ah, I understand your position now. Would you consider the fact that the Almighty has always revealed how He wants His people to live gradually? A Jewish man does not have multiple wives like King David. Even Conservative Jews no longer stone a woman caught in adultery as they did in the time of Jesus.
Neither is life in Christ static but it is dynamic. We see the growth of understanding in the Letters in the New Testament, especially those by St. Paul as the Holy Spirit taught him how to live in Christ both spiritually and in daily life.
See the following quote from Pope Francis:
Tradition is a living reality and only a partial vision regards the “deposit of faith” as something static. The word of God cannot be moth-balled like some old blanket in an attempt to keep insects at bay! No. The word of God is a dynamic and living reality that develops and grows because it is aimed at a fulfilment that none can halt. This law of progress, in the happy formulation of Saint Vincent of Lérins, “consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age” (Commonitorium, 23.9: PL 50), is a distinguishing mark of revealed truth as it is handed down by the Church, and in no way represents a change in doctrine.
The footnote reminded me of the words from our Lord,
Matthew 5:17-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Teaching About the Law. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 20 I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
I see an example of tolerance and mutual respect in this footnote which refers to Jews and new Christians worshiping together. You read the same footnote, then turn to a completely different Scripture passage which asserts the importance of the rule of the Law. Perhaps you simply wish to be argumentative?
In light of your reference to Paul’s writing about traditions, I revisited Acts 2 about the early church.
Found an interesting comment in the footnote of my Catholic Bible with respect to verses 42-47.
“…..continued attendance at the Temple, since in this initial stage there was little or no thought of dividing lines between Judaism and Christianity”.
So what traditions would Paul be referring to in his two epistles?
Certainly very few like the ones within the RCC today.
This footnote emphasises my main thesis because it reveals that new believers had a marvellous, inclusive love for all. These early Christians (who still considered themselves to be Jews) were not arrogant but worshipped with those who had yet to encounter the Resurrected Christ.
It is God who converts and convicts; we are simply called to tell our stories, inform, or communicate our perspectives.
I agree with what you say in this post regarding Being Dead Right while being a Catholic writer. In an effort not to be dead right I employ personal filters. I have a daily prayer and I use TNK.
Father thank you for the blessings you have bestowed on my family and me. And, Father when I interact with people this day and every day of my life, help me to keep your only Son, Lord Jesus, on my mind, in my heart and on my lips and fingertips. That is my daily prayer.
I also keep TNK on my mind when I write or say something to someone. Is what I say True, Necessary and Kind. If what I want to communicate doesn’t past this muster, then I most often will let it pass.
However, I sometimes find my ideas and words in conflict with others. That conflict usually results in controversy and that is fine. I hope that the controversy results in some sort of spirited discussion, but it does not. It results in attacks.
I would add there is only one way forward for the Catholic writer and that is to pray first and then write.
I agree!
Dennis Dillon
I think I might take up your motto- to keep TNK on my mind when I write or say something to someone. Is what I say True, Necessary, and Kind.