Why They Call Us Protestants and Why They're Wrong

Unfortunately due to the limitations of the physical world an image of Martin Luther burning in hell was not unavailable.

I was in a discussion recently about what constitutes a Neo Con or a Neo Conservative Catholic. And if you’re not too familiar with the terms Neocon and Trad and how those terms are flung about let me just say that they get along about as well as the Jews and the Samaritans did in Biblical times.

Examples of those who hold the neocon point of view would be Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, Karl Keating and the like. Now this is not an attempt to condemn them but only to identify them. I’ll let their words speak for themselves.

I made the point that the neocons were like Protestants. They were trying to change the Church, it’s disciplines and embrace any watered down doctrine that will make their lives easier. They have raised NFP to the 8th Sacrament. They believe that the fewer children you have the more money you will have to fund their “ministries” and buy their pathetic little pamphlets, study guides, videos and cassette tapes.

When Church teaching and what they want to do come into conflict they do what they want. A perfect example of this is Bud McFarlane. McFarlane founded (or should I say incorporated) The Mary Foundation and Catholicity. After extolling the virtues of homeschooling, Catholic sacramental marriage and just being an all around good guy, he decided to divorce his wife, take custody of the kids (b/c she was homeschooling), force her to sell the family home, and sue for child support. This is the NeoCon poster boy. I understand that the Mary Foundation is suffering some repercussions from his behavior and fundraising has declined. I don’t know if he has taken a salary cut from his $100,000 per year salary or not. (Note bene: I think with book royalties and honorarium and who knows what else that McFarlane's salary is probably a lot higher than $100,000).

Who in the NeoCon world has condemned his behavior? No one.That would be “unsupportive” , judgmental, and Catholic.

Now you might think that with all their “zeal” for the Faith that the neocons would want to further the Traditions of the Church- the Latin Mass, Gregorian chant, ember days, but then you would be misunderstanding their mission. Promoting the Faith is not their goal. Promoting themselves is.

Because Traditionalists want to promote the Faith and worshipping God they threaten the neocon empire and their little cottage industries. And what do they call us in an attempt to really undermine and dispirit us?

Protestants.

They only use this term because it bothers us. To them the Protestants are not heretics but their brothers and sisters in Christ who will be in heaven at the very moment of their death anyway.

Unfortunately I think some Traditionalists have taken this to heart.

A Protestant is someone who opposed and continues to oppose the Traditions of the Church; the Traditions that have been held for 2000 years. And when they condemn us they condemn the Traditions of the Church and ultimately they condemn themselves.