WASHINGTON (DC)
The Federalist
October 23, 2018
By Casey Chalk
In my almost ten years of experience of ecumenical dialogue that began as a dyed-in-the-wool Calvinist seminarian and resulted in a conversion to Catholicism several years later, I periodically read some theological reflection that both provokes and puzzles. Sometimes that leads to a deeper understanding of some theological idea, or perhaps even a change in my opinion.
Other times, despite my best attempts at a charitable reading, I have to conclude that the author has misunderstood things so badly it causes confusion and detracts from the ecumenical project. The latter, unfortunately, is my reading of Korey Maas’s reflection in The Federalist on frustrated Catholics choosing to remain Catholic despite the many recent scandals rocking the church.
Maas reads the writings of several Catholics who have written in the wake of the latest clerical sex scandal–namely, George Weigel, Robert George, and Matthew Petrusek–and argues that “what each of these authors suggests, without stating it explicitly, is that the essential teaching and belief of the Roman Catholic Church is no different from that of any other Christian Church.” Maas comes to this conclusion because each of these authors urges his fellow Catholics to keep their eyes on faith in Christ, in whom they should place their ultimate trust.
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