Guest blog: An appeal to Protestants to return to the Catholic Church

+St. Juliana Falconieri+

Introduction

Last month, I asked anyone with any ideas on how we might reach out to Protestants to please forward their comments. A friend and reader sent me this article she had written for her friends some time ago, and for those who might have Protestant friends or relatives they would like to approach regarding the faith, I thought it might be something that would be helpful. Thank you, Jennifer, for your work on this and especially for the many links provided. I continue to research all avenues I feel might be helpful in appealing to non-Catholics because I believe that today the faith must be presented from an entirely different angle and in an entirely different way than in previous times. At some point, when my thought ate better organized, I will share them with you. And any further comments, suggestions or observations are greatly appreciated.

To My Protestant Friends

By Mrs. Jennifer Kemp

That eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him. — 1 Corinthians 2:9

Remember the digging that we did in the Rocky Mountains with our friends? Our dear husbands dug down to the very tree roots to amass a pile of crystals. On our honeymoon, we dug for a half day on the breezy Maritimes seashore, and you have a carefully assorted box of colorful ocean glass to show for your rugged determination.

As we get older, it is essential for us to seek, find and carefully keep the eternal treasure Jesus has promised only to those who truly love Him — by prayerfully digging with all zeal and determination to find and take possession the roots of True Faith. But we must not be taken by fool’s gold on this quest!

The “Roots” of Protestantism

Proud Martin Luther died in regret over the chaos that he had caused in separating from the Church, outside of which there is no salvation. Despite letters from the Church that lovingly, reasonably pleaded reconciliation, he contrived his false doctrines Sola Fidei and Sola Scriptura (“By Faith Alone; By Scripture Alone“). Luther led the “Reformation,” which upon thorough investigation, was truly a Deformation. Luther did not believe Apostle St. John, the beloved disciple who laid his head on the breast of our Lord at the Last Supper! Luther mocked the New Testament book of St. James, calling it “the Epistle of Straw,” along with other unmentionably vile remarks.

Even his closest friends warned him. Only because of their forceful insistence did he leave four books in the New Testament that he’d determined to remove- including The Apocalypse: Revelation- with the other seven that he did remove. It is anathema- resulting in God’s condemnation- to add or subtract from the Sacred Canon of the Bible, which was set in three holy councils in the fourth century. The Decrees of the Council of Trent clearly render baseless the errant arguments for the removal of those Biblical books, which Protestants have long misunderstood as “Dueterocanonical,” or “Apocryphal”. Five hundred plus years later, Luther’s one, broken branch has disintegrated into 30,000 plus Protestant denominations, all which are founded on his false doctrines, whether they acknowledge it or not!

Since the author of Protestant doctrine is Luther, he is the head of every one of those churches, not Christ.

Cut off from our Mother Church long ago, Luther’s shattered branch is continually disintegrating. Divisions inevitably form by conflicts of false doctrines, as arguments over contrived Scripture interpretations and applications produce more and more irreparable fractures. This continuous decay takes place even as “nice people” unwittingly practice Luther’s prideful, gravely erring principle of arbitrary belief: that “we choose what to believe” by making our own inferences from Scripture, ignoring Apostolic teaching and the holy heritage of Church Tradition which comes from Christ Himself, not man.

About Church Tradition

Church Tradition is “…the word of God transmitted orally from Christ to the Apostles concerning faith and morals — not written but transmitted orally from Christ to the Apostles and from them to their successors down to us“— [and it] must be accepted as de fide. “The principal instruments by means of which divine tradition has been conserved are the professions of faith, the sacred liturgy, the writings of the Fathers, the practice of the Church, the acts of the martyrs, and archaeological monuments. Its organ is the living magisterium of the Church, (the Roman Pontiff and the bishops, united with and subordinate to him),” (Dictionary of Dogmatic Theology, Pietro Parente, Antonio Piolanti, Salvatore Garofolo, 1951).

Protestant doctrine is not true doctrine, rather, it is false doctrine. It is heresy, the deadly poison in a glass of water. Just as one drop of arsenic in a glass of artesian well water can kill many people, so heresy does to souls by denying any- even one- article of Faith, despite maintaining the rest. This denial of one or more articles of Faith is most often done with subtlety and craft, which can be seen starting with the Epistles of St. Paul as he fought the heretics within the Church, and warned the faithful away from them (“the circumcision”). The continual battle of the Church against heresy, including Arianism and Modernism, is amply documented, including by the testimonies of the Lives of the Saints.

Luther openly defied the Apostles, along with their teachings given with Divine authority and power directly by Jesus Christ. Luther said and wrote horrific things about Our Lord, and tore books out of the Holy Bible. Little do most people know that the Bible versions they possess are but his raped, falsified version of Scripture- yes, even the reknown King James Version. King James also perversely rebelled against Christ’s Church.

A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. A heretic cannot establish true doctrine. We must fully reject and not accept Luther’s faulty Protestant foundation- it shall not stand; it perishes indeed. Nor should we foolishly insist that a non-Catholic Christian Church (Protestant or Anglican) is somehow on good standing, separate from Luther. Only one true Church is firmly built by Christ on the Rock: St. Peter.

This isn’t boring, irrelevant Church history that we can safely ignore. Rather, it is crucial to our salvation. It took the discovery of this enormous, ugly truth about the roots of Protestantism to get me to do what I never would have done otherwise: renounce my license in local church ministry, physically turn in my “church keys,” and throw away twenty years of Bible studies, missions trips, all my social media, including ASCAP “worship” music publishing. Walking away from the false church was walking away from people who were much closer to me than any flesh and blood relatives.

But it HAD to be so.

I care about those dear families and close friends more than words can say. But this is much like the painful situation of a Mormon who discovers that Joseph Smith was a false prophet who said and did very bad things in opposition to the teachings of Christ. That former Mormon, for the love of God, simply cannot stay in what he had once firmly believed to be his happy “church family” or “community” any longer. He must follow Christ at all costs.

The exact same thing applies to finding out the truth about Protestantism. We must not only be willing to give up mother, father, family, friends, and properties in order to follow Christ as He commands — but we must also actually DO it.

We must get back to the true roots of Faith in order to be saved. At all costs, we must believe and obey what Jesus taught His Apostles in order to partake of the Redemption He merited for us by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. He has made all of this very clear. Grace isn’t an ambiguous, feel-good free ticket to Heaven. We must cooperate with God’s grace in order to be saved, and this is in obedience to the Church, as He commands. If we love Him, we will obey Him and those He sent to tend our souls. He tells us so.

Apostolic Roots

Apostle Saint John, the Lord’s beloved disciple, is pictured here at the Last Supper, sorrowfully reclining his head on Our Saviour’s breast. From that upper room- the Cenacle- Our Lord took St. John, his brother St. James, and St. Peter to witness His Agony in the Garden of Olives, telling them to watch and pray, lest they fall into temptation. He knew that “when the Shepherd has been struck, the sheep would be scattered.”

St. John returned to follow our Lord to the Cross. He witnessed Jesus’ unbearable torment and the incomparable anguish of Mary, the Mother of God. From the beginning the Church has taught that through St. John, Our Lord gave to all of us His Mother as He spoke these words from the Cross, the Holy Tree: “When Jesus therefore had seen His mother and the disciple standing whom He loved, He saith to His mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, He saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.”

Apostle St. John died a holy death, receiving the glorious crown of martyrdom. When he was quite elderly, suffering a desolate exile on the isle of Patmos, he was given the Revelation: the Bible Book of the Apocalypse. This is a divine vision about the end times, into which you and I were born. It is a time of great deception, of pride, of “choice,” of selfishness, of wickedness. As prophesied, the Great Apostasy has come to pass, and the true Church has fled to the deserts there to keep the Faith, while false shepherds inhabit the holy places and pretend to be Christ’s holy ones.

Do not be fooled by the scandals attributed to Christ’s Catholic Church, His spotless Bride. She has kept the Faith, as our Lord said She would, by the Holy Ghost. For centuries, true popes warned us about the imposters responsible for these modern scandals. The whore of Babylon has stood in the Holy Place for over 65 years — Luther was merely a precursor to the Antichrist. Like him, the false popes have with silver tongues ravaged the Holy Mass, the Sacraments, and cleverly inserted their false doctrine.

True Apostolic doctrine is a very necessary shield of Faith. Modern deception is so insidious that Our Lord said that when He returns, will He even find faith on the earth?! And he warned us that there would arise false Christs and false prophets … insomuch as to deceive (if possible) the elect. This being the case, we cannot afford to be presumptuous and/or half-hearted. Instead, we must humbly, diligently seek the truth at all costs.

When teachers mark/grade science papers, it is necessary that every letter, number, and symbol must be exact for an answer to pass as correct. This principle applies in the sciences, and in so many aspects of our daily life, such as in medicine, legislation, sports, and the most basic of the unalterable laws of nature. So too it is that the true doctrine of the Christian Faith must not be changed in the least. Our Lord Jesus Christ is known to be the same yesterday, today, and always, for He is the unchangeable, eternal God, and Son of God, the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration (James 1:17). There is no such thing as a “slight altering” of Christ’s doctrine that is not in grave error. This is why we can no longer trust anyone who wears the clothing of a pastor, but does not teach Apostolic doctrine just as it has been taught from the very beginning.

Upon Christ’s Apostles alone did He confer His Authority and Power to teach His doctrine– meaning what we must believe and do in order to be saved. To His disciples He said, “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me.” Christ made Apostle Saint Peter our very first “Papa Nostro,” our holy father, the pope:

“And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”

In the first two chapters of Acts the disciples persevere in prayer with Mary, are baptized by the Holy Ghost, they speak in tongues, St. Peter addresses the crowd, and “they therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day three thousand souls. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Our Lord Himself made it abundantly clear that outside His Church — the Barque of Saint Peter — there is no salvation. Unlike Luther’s dead, splintered branch which is in the continuous decay of disunity, the Church has four marks: She is One, Holy, Apostolic and Roman Catholic. She is unified in doctrine, for all that She teaches was revealed to Her and entrusted to Her by Jesus Christ Himself, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

There is a necessary hierarchy in the Church as Christ established it. The sheep and lambs Jesus referred to are in the Learning Church — we are laity. The Teaching Church is composed of the pastors — shepherds. Christ appointed them with divine power and authority to feed and guard us. It is our job to learn from the Teaching Church.

In Canada, a proper teaching license is required, even for substitute teachers. How much more so does the necessity of duly appointed authority apply to the care of our eternal souls? In the case of the Faith and the Church, Divine authority is imperative.

Christ is the Author, perfector and finisher of our faith, and He established the Catholic Church for this very purpose. Christ entrusted the Divine Deposit of Faith to His Church, governed by true popes- His appointed Vicar on earth. The Church is the sole guardian of the deposit of divine revelation in its twofold form, Scripture and Tradition. In unbroken succession, She alone has preserved the Faith from the contamination of error and defended her children against the insidious poison of heresy.

It is imperative — a matter of eternal life and death- that we wisely use the time He has given us to save our souls by prayerfully learning from, trusting and obeying Him and His Church:

“For the doctrine of the faith which God has revealed is put forward not as some philosophical discovery capable of being perfected by human intelligence, but as a divine deposit committed to the Spouse of Christ to be faithfully protected and infallibly promulgated. Hence, too, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by holy Mother Church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.” the First [and only true] Vatican Council

We must not follow Luther’s false doctrine that leads to hell. We must be certain that the Faith we believe and obey is the very same one which Christ gave to His Apostles:

On Luke 6:13, Christ’s choosing of The Twelve, Haydock’s Commentary relates: “These twelve Christ chose as individual companions and domestics. To these He committed the charge of founding and governing His Church. He sent them as legates, or ambassadors (for this is the import of the word apostle), to all the world. Hence their power was more universal……The jurisdiction of the Apostles was not limited to place.” Tirinus. Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Apostles writes:

“This power which Jesus Christ delegated to his Apostles, and which was for the benefit and regulation of the universal Church in all future ages, the Apostles, in their turn, delegated to their successors in the ministry, with such regulations and limitations as have been judged in the Holy Ghost necessary for the proper government of the spiritual kingdom of God upon earth. And it is the height of presumption to question any ordinations that come to us with the authority of the Catholic Church: for, “whatever the Church says, is true; whatever She permits is lawful; whatever She forbids, is evil; whatever She ordains, is holy; whatever She institutes, is good.”

Since the false election of antipope Roncalli which followed the death of our last true pope, Pius XII, Antichrist Montini presided over anti council “Vatican II.” All the Church bishops participated in that illicit, heretical council where the Mass and Sacraments were violated in abominable abrogation of Canon Law. This was the Great Apostasy: all bishops lost their Holy Orders and jurisdiction, by ipso facto excommunication — no trial or hearing necessary, according to Canon Law. They had failed to refuse the false pastors, that is, antipope Roncalli and Antichrist Montini, they failed to lawfully elect a true pope before it was too late.

So now, over 65 years later, without a true pope since the apostolic succession was broken, and no bishops remain with true succession of holy orders, there is no jurisdiction, not even the invocation of “epikeia” — a provisional, exceptional law that certainly requires a pope to oversee it. In short, the Church is in the wilderness, without a true pope, bishop or priest. This is in fulfillment of Scripture and hundreds of years of clear, unanimous warnings of the popes, Church Fathers and Doctors.

How do we learn and keep the Faith now when “that which holds back”- the pope with his keys of binding and loosing- has been taken out of the way? (Thessalonians) We can still learn from the Divine Deposit of Faith by the Teaching Church that has gone before us, which I will explain after making a point on the governance of family, which has an application to us in the Church now, orphaned of our holy father.

When a family loses its father, instead of turning to one another (in the case of the Church, to self-appointed, illicit ” pastors”), we turn to our Mother. Call on Mary — it pleases the Lord that we seek Her guidance, protection and intercession, because She is His Mother- — indeed the actual Mother of God — and He has given Her to us as our Mother, even as He gave Himself to us as our Savior! For those of us new to praying to the Saints, it is not a sin. Baltimore Catechism Three teaches us the reasons why it is well in keeping with God’s will to ask the saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, to pray for us.

For learning the Faith, free from error, we can find many good Catholic books and documents, that bear on their publication page the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur stamps dated before October 9, 1958 (the death of Pope Pius XII).

The Church by historical precedence has much necessary instruction to give us in this time of dire deprivation. The website betrayed Catholics has an excellent free book available upon request, entitled, “When There is No Priest- Survival Manual for Remnant Catholics,” currently in revision by the author (2026). In this helpful manual, we can learn how to keep the Faith through the Church’s instructions and examples of the clergy and obedient, faithful laity who lived through similar extraordinary times, including: the Japanese who kept the Faith for 200 years without priests to help them, the faithful in times of persecution (French Revolution; England in the “Deformation”), Father Demaris’ letter “They Have Taken Away my Lord.”

Fr. Demaris’ letter provides courage necessary to our perseverance, along with practical instructions. In this time when “they have taken away our Lord” by the cessation of the Mass, and the modern flood of neopaganism that seems to have swept away from the earth the true Faith, we can and must take heart. For in this time when the pastor has been struck and the sheep scattered, the Lord will turn His Hand to His Little ones.

To His Apostles Christ promised that He would be with them, even unto the end:

“Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (St. Matthew 28:19-20)

We can be sure that we are living in the time immediately prior to the consummation, the Apocalypse. The Church at this time — also called the Mystical Body of Christ — is following His footsteps in Her Passion, as prophesied. It is as He says it is: to share in His joy we must first share in His suffering. The road is broad that leads to destruction; the road is narrow that leads to salvation. We must daily deny ourselves, take up the Cross and carry it, following after Jesus. Our Lord told us so very many solemn truths, as did His holy Evangelists and Apostles throughout the New Testament, through whom we learn-

This life is not about the accumulation of worldly goods; we must come out of the world: for what good does it profit a man to gain his life here, but lose his soul forever? He even told us that we must hate our lives in this world in order to be with Him in Heaven, and said many such things to encourage and warn us. Jesus was grieved when the rich young ruler who obeyed God’s commands walked away from Him because he wasn’t willing to do what Our Saviour asked: to sell everything he had, give to the poor, follow Him, and he would have Treasures in Heaven. We must lose our life in this world if we are to live with Him in the next. Remember the man in Jesus’ parable who sold all he had to buy a field which contained the Pearl of Greatest price?

“This hidden treasure (“pearl”) is the gospel of Christ, which conducts to the kingdom of heaven. Thus he who by the knowledge which the gospel affords, has found the kingdom of heaven, should purchase it at the expense of everything most near and dear to him: he cannot pay too great a price for his purchase.”(from Haydock’s Commentary on the official Holy Bible , compilation of Church Fathers and Doctors). I don’t want to gain the world and lose my soul. By the grace of God, I want to love and obey Him, and in doing so to save my soul. I want that for you too, my beloved husband.

So, let us “lay aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us.” Let us daily seek, knock and ask Jesus to lead us into all truth at all costs. Time is shorter than we think, and eternity approaches. We must not take either for granted! Now, dear husband, let’s roll up our sleeves, and begin digging for True Treasure, solely found in Christ’s one, true, holy, Apostolic Roman Catholic Church.

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All the links here are a good starting point, which we can take up with daily humble prayer, to persevere in learning and practicing the Faith- all by God’s grace! 🌹

Reference links

Please note that while these resources contain very helpful information regarding their specific citations, most websites are sadly in error about the Faith. For an excellent introduction and general overview of the modern crisis, and what the Church teaches us about how to learn, love, live and keep the Faith in this extraordinary time, see YouTube Channel: Heavenly Gems, for the three-part video series: catacomb Catholics.

Because many times websites and pages disappear or change addresses, below I have cited resources for all the above hyperlinks- in case they don’t work, you will hopefully still be able to find the references by searching.

List of links (mostly) in order of citations:

Sola Scriptura

https://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/general/solascript.htm

also see: “Twenty-One Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura” By Joel Peters

https://thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=598

About the Bible

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02543a.htm

The Council of Trent:

The Roman Catechism

Catechism of the Council of Trent; Edited under St. Charles of Borromeo; Published by the Decree of Pope St. Pius V;

Translated by JOHN A. MCHUGH, O. P., CHARLES J. CALLAN, O. P.

https://www.catholicsociety.com/documents/Catechism_of_the_Council%20of_Trent.pdf