Catholics Become Evangelicals: Devert or Convert? Loss or Gain for the Church?

The Catholic Church has been suffering a steady loss of members, especially Hispanics, to the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches. What are we to make of this?

As an Evangelical, Charismatic Catholic (substantive noun is Catholic), I see this flow as primarily a positive development for many reasons. The majority who make this move were lax, non-practicing, non-evangelized Catholics. Oftentimes, they have found in their new congregation a living relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior and a supportive, bible-believing community. Their change is, in other words, a move closer to Christ in faith and love and implicitly a deeper immersion in the Church (understood in a broad, ecumenical sense.) They do distance themselves from constitutive elements of the Church: authoritative magisterium, living tradition, sacramental life, priestly ministry, devotional communion with our Lady and the saints. However they probably do not make a conscious, deliberate rejection of the Church in these elements. While they are diverted from full communion with the Church, the underlying movement usually is an authentic conversion from sloth, indifference and disbelief to faith in Christ and the Christian life.

The Catholic Church in America has largely failed to evangelize and catechize her own and to create strong communities capable of resisting an increasingly anti-Christian culture. Our clergy are largely committed to the maintenance of parochial structures that served the immigrants but are feeble and impotent in the current climate. The answer to this dilemma lies in the intensive ecclesial movements; but while these develop in their sure and gradual fashion, many are finding real Gospel truth with the evangelicals.

In our culture war over innocent life, sexuality and family, the evangelicals are our primary allies. Neuhaus, Dulles and Colson realized this and have engaged in dialogue at the high-brow, intellectual level. Huckabee and Palin have defended these values in the political arena. In the local battles from sex education to the neighborhood abortion clinics, Evangelicals and Catholics are best friends.

Not so with the liberal, mainstream Protestant churches. These have drifted in the direction of relativism, subjectivism, liberalism and secularism. They are collaborative with the regime of “choice” and sexual liberation. The loss of our young Catholics to these denominations or even to a non-practicing, liberal, cultural Catholicism is a real loss and a deep sadness.

Another sign of hope is the smaller but steady flow of high-quality converts and reverts back into the Catholic Church. EWTN’s “The Journey Home” with Marcus Grodi showcases the exceptional intellectual and spiritual quality of so many clergymen and intellectuals whose evangelical love for Christ and His word eventually led them back to the authoritative Church. Their stories carry many common threads: appreciation for Tradition and authority; sense of Mary and the saints; longing for sacramental union with their Lord; and deeper appreciation for the more Catholic sense of scriptures, especially those involving the Eucharist.

And so we detect the underlying currents: Many lax Catholics are finding an authentic and living faith in Evangelical circles; the deeper and wiser of the Evangelicals are slowly finding their way back to the bridal, sacramental, Marian Church. It is all Good!