Popular Protestant Pastor Answers, "Are Catholics Christian?" — Why It Matters More Than You Think

What Both Catholics and Protestants Can Learn From This YouTuber

Lectio Brevis is a reflection as part of the Perpetual Catechesis. As the Latin so eloquently puts it, it’s "a short reading," but no less meaningful.

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The verdict is in from Gavin Ortlund. Are Catholics Christian? To the surprise of many Protestant Christians: “YES,” as he emphatically titles his video. For Catholics, this is not particularly surprising and hardly newsworthy. But I think we—Catholics and Protestants alike—should pay particular attention to his comments. Though Gavin affirms Catholics as Christians, he raises important concerns about Catholics that warrant discussion—concerns that, while not baseless, may stem from different root causes than he suggests. Or said in another way, we may agree on the symptoms, we differ on the diagnosis

Gavin begins with a simple idea: this perspective isn’t new. Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther himself, maintained that Catholics were indeed Christian despite their serious theological disagreements with Rome. What makes his review particularly relevant today is how it illuminates common misunderstandings of Catholicism while highlighting areas where the Catholic Church must acknowledge its shortcomings.

Gavin then shifts away from history and shifts to more personal aneqdotes. He shares how his experience—and those of his Protestant friends—does not offer evidence that many Catholics understand the Scripture or Christianity. For example, he says, "I also have friends who grew up Catholic who never heard the Gospel."

This is a viewpoint and criticism that I've seen often. In a friendly debate with Trent Horne, a Catholic Apologist, Protestant conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey shared an experience in which she had a Catholic friend from college who went to Mass regularly but didn't really understand why and was not knowledgeable in Scripture. I remember another Protestant that once said they spoke to a Catholic who didn’t know what John 3:16 was. In a similar way, I’ve personally witnessed someone who claims to be Catholic jokingly say, “I’m Catholic, we don’t read the Bible.” Shameful, and ironic because Scripture is read at every single Catholic Mass—but I digress. Thus, for many Protestants and even some Catholics, this perspective is valid and can, unfortunately, paint Catholicism with a broad brush of being hollow, rather than hallowed.

I can attest that much of this can be true in today's Catholic Church. But what I'm here to say is renforce two simple ideas. The first is that not all Catholics are adequate representatives of Catholicism, of which I know sounds like an statement that proves itself false. But this is similar to how some Protestants Christians can tend to have a overly gracious view of Christ's mercy via the sin of presumption—the idea that because they profess faith in Christ, they will be saved regardless of their willingly sinful behavior. I wouldn't suggest that the latter defines Protestantism as a whole, just as much as I would allow the former define Catholicism.

Second, and related to the first, is that I'd recognize that doctrinal reformations of the Catholic Church post-Vatican II—in combination with and as a result of cultural/societal influences—have resulted in a Catholicism that's hardly representative of it’s traditional roots. Unknowingly, Gavin hints to this reality without probably doing so intentionally. He goes on to say, while his first critique is true, that at the same time, some of the Christians he admires most are actually Catholics. He says, those Catholics are "in some cases are far better Christians" than himself.

How could both of these co-exist? Simply put: Catholicism, doctrinally, how it’s taught and was traditionally, is not often the consistent with how the average lay Catholic carries themselves today. This is something that many attribute to the changes after Vatican II. In fact, J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Catholic with a deep love for Christ and His Church, expressed similar concerns for these changes, believing them to be a method of “modernizing” the Church due to social pressure, rather than out of spiritual need or necessity. And we've largely seen these reforms bear fruit by resulting in a less reverent, practicing, scholarly, and even in some case heretical, Church.

So, what is my claim? That the “Catholicism” that is often witnessed by Protestant Christians is not really Catholicism at all—a straw man in the purest form of its definition. And yes, this even includes the behaviors and practices of clergy and even, rather unfortunately on occasion, that of the Bishop of Rome (Pope) himself.

I'm not here to argue that all changes to Catholicism since Vatican II are bad. Frankly, I'm not educated enough in it to intelligently make that claim. But what I can do is identify a duck by how something walks and quacks. And when I observe that many modern Catholic parishes are occupied by ticket-punching, “drive-thru” parishioners, and members of the Traditional Latin Mass are reverent, humble, and devout, it's not difficult to see where the root of the issue might be.

And this observation should convict us. As Catholics, we should be holding ourselves to a higher standard. If not for our own sake, for the sake of the Church that your family will (hopefully) grow up in, and that engages with and bears witness to the world. We should not just be learned in the faith but proper representatives of it. For Protestants, many cases, your observations are valid. But I hope this post and Gavin’s video can help shed light on what may be the difference between cultural and practicing Catholics to avoid creating common caricatures of the entire faith.

To summarize: The idea that Catholics are not Christians is about as connected to reality as claiming that a mallard isn’t a duck. For any Protestants reading this, Gavin references how even some of the most ardent Protestant Reformers respected this fact and saw Catholics as a member of the body of Christ. Next, Catholic Christians should feel convicted by the perspective (and reality) of Protestants that we lack even basic knowledge in Holy Scripture, the Gospel, and Christian theology. This is one of the more common arguments against the Church’s authenticity—and it’s true in many cases. In the simplest way, it wounds the Church both inside and out. And finally, the mere fact that there are a large number of lukewarm (at best), Cafeteria Catholics today, doesn’t redefine the validity, sophistication, elegance, and historical beauty of Catholicism itself.

I appreciated Gavin taking the time to answer this question. Unbeknownst to me, this is indeed a highly relevant and controversial topic among Protestant Christians. And while we may agree to disagree with what he believes to be in error with Catholic doctrine and teaching, he takes a kind, good faith approach to speak truth to how he sees it. For both Catholics and Protestants, this can be humbling and insightful, for both very obviously different reasons and it would be a shame if anyone ignorantly dismissed his claims outright. God willing, I believe Gavin would be a great Catholic should he choose to become one.