The Catholic Church and ‘Bad Fruit’

Does the bad behavior of some of the Catholic clergy disprove the divine constitution of the Church as founded by Jesus Christ?

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
24 May 2024

As the post from X below illustrates, it’s is not uncommon for Protestants to argue against the Catholic Church by pointing to unsettling events in her past, clergy sex abuse scandals, sinfulness, and other wrongdoing on the part of clergy, religious, and laity. Given the fact that all men sin, it is disingenuous to shine a spotlight on failings of the members of the Church alone, while refusing to turn that same light on Protestants or protestant Christian communities.

Martin Luther

Let’s begin with Martin Luther, who is regarded as the catalyst of the protestant revolution in the 16th century. Not only was he instrumental in creating one of the greatest social upheavals in history, but he also advocated for capitol punishment for sedition and blasphemy. In his Protestant biography of Luther, Roland Bainton writes:

“In 1530 Luther advanced the view that two offences should be penalized even with death, namely sedition and blasphemy. The emphasis was thus shifted from incorrect belief to its public manifestation by word and deed. This was, however, no great gain for liberty, because Luther construed mere abstention from public office and military service as sedition and a rejection of an article of the Apostles’ Creed as blasphemy” (1).

John Calvin

It’s well known that John Calvin had Michael Servetus burned at the stake by Genevan authorities for his denial of infant baptism and heretical views regarding the Holy Trinity. Although some attempt to excuse Calvin of his culpability, several sources indicate that he was deliberately involved. For example, in a letter Calvin reportedly wrote to Monseigneur du Poet in about 1561, we read:

“One day, glory, and riches shall be the reward of your pains; but above all, do not fail to rid the country of those scoundrels, who stir up the people to revolt against us. Such monsters should be exterminated, as I have exterminated Michael Servetus the Spaniard” (2).

Jerome Bolsec was arrested and imprisoned for criticizing Calving during a lecture, and Jacques Gruet tortured twice daily and beheaded for blasphemy and rebellion after he accused Calvin of being an ambitious, haughty hypocrite.

Admittedly, Catholics persecuted heretics, but so too did Lutherans, Zwinglians, Anglicans, Calvinists, and others. It seems the only early Protestants who didn’t were “Anabaptists, Quakers, and Mennonites,” as Dave Armstrong points out (3).

Sexual Abuse

What about clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church? It is admitted that this is a despicable crime that must be punished under the full extent of the law. Nevertheless, sexual abuse is not a phenomenon restricted to the Church alone. It is found in public schools, businesses, corporations, day care centers, hospitals, and homes. It is also found in Protestant churches.

Stop Abuse Campaign, referencing a New York Times article, says that three companies providing insurance for religious organizations reported in 2007 they received “about 260 reports of sexual abuse per year from Protestant churches and about 228 from Catholic churches” (4).

The Apostles

Let’s widen the historical aperture some and look at the apostles themselves. Every Christian knows that Peter denied Christ three times and Judas Iscariot betrayed him. All, save John, abandoned Jesus during his crucifixion. Nevertheless, these were men Christ himself chose as apostles. Someone might point out (and indeed people often do) that this is evidence falsifying the claims of the Christian religion.

If the men Christ himself chose were less than perfect, does that not mean Christ is imperfect as well? they ask. And if these men were not impeccable, then their preaching must too fall under suspicion. By extension, as it goes, the entire New Testament must also be suspect because, after all, it was the apostles and their associates who wrote it.

According to the Protestant logic of calling the Church a “false religion” because of the sinfulness and “bad fruit” of its members, the apostles themselves and their preaching must fall under the same scrutiny.

But we know that all of that is specious and ultimately false reasoning.

Sinful Failings

So, what’s the point? The point is, the sinful failings of the members of a religious community or a “church” is not a good test for the truth of a particular religious belief. Nor is it a sound test for the truth of the Catholic Church as divinely willed by God and founded by Christ on the headship of Peter. The fact is, Christ chose weak earthen vessels to transmit his salvific enterprise to the entire world. And the instrument for doing that throughout all ages and to all nations is the one true Church he instituted on the leadership of Peter (Matt 16:17-19).

The Divine Constitution of the Church

If you’re looking for the Church Christ founded, the Catholic Church alone meets all the criteria. In other words, the evidence points solidly to the Catholic Church. She indeed is the visible (and invisible), definite, hierarchical, divine and human institution with authority, whose pope is its earthly leader, with Christ has its Head, just as we find the Church Christ established as it is recorded in the gospels (Again, see Matt 16:17-19 and Matt 18:15-17). The Church alone bears the marks of oneness, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity in their full senses.

As Paul tells us, the Church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). How can we know this? The simplest way of determining this is by examining the definitive doctrines of the Church on faith and morals. For example, based on Tradition and Scripture, the Church has constantly, for 2000 years, taught that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ sacramentally present under the signs of bread and wine.

Based on Tradition and Scripture, the Church has consistently taught that we are initially justified by grace working through faith in Christ (Eph 2:8). The initial grace of justification is a free, unmerited gift from God. Once justified, we must cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit in completing supernaturally good works which are prepared for us in Christ (Eph 2:10). In doing so, our sanctification is increased. In other words, we cannot say that we are saved by faith alone, as if good works and keeping the commandments play no role in salvation, as St. James writes:

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (Jam 2:14-17).

Those are but two examples of many others.

Protestantism and Doctrinal Chaos

But the same cannot be said for Protestantism. In fact, Protestants disagree with the Church (and even among themselves) on the nature of baptism, the other sacraments, what it means to be “church,” purgatory, sin, the meaning of scripture, and even salvation itself. And that’s just the short list. All of these errors can be attributed to ripping the Bible from the heart of the Church and insisting on one’s personal authority over its meaning.

As another example, when the Anglican Lambeth Conference in 1930 passed resolution 15, it opened the door to the use of contraceptives in marriage, which is a grave violation of the natural moral law. About 30 years later the artificial birth control pill was legalized for use in the U.S. The Catholic Church, however, has consistently opposed the use of contraceptives in marriage to avoid pregnancy as immoral behavior, as a sinful act driving a wedge between the ends of marriage as intended by God, which are the unity of the spouses AND the procreation of children.

Bad vs Good Fruit

Is there rotten fruit in the Catholic Church? If by that you mean her members sin, then the answer is undoubtedly “yes.” But the same is true for every Christian, whether Catholic or Protestant, as well as every religious community across the face of the earth. Is the pope impeccable? Every Catholic knows that he is not. But that does not undo the Church’s divine institution and authority established by Christ. Peter himself was not impeccable, nor were any of the other apostles.

But what about good fruit? The Church stands as the last bastion of truth in a fallen world. Anyone who sincerely looks at the evidence based on her official teaching can see that. She is God’s chosen instrument of salvation, grace, and truth. She is necessary for salvation because she is indeed the mystical and physical body of Christ. She alone transmits the Christian religion in its fullness. She alone possesses the fullness of divinely revealed truth as a beacon of light on a hill.

If you love the truth, you’ll enter willingly into her fold, as opposed to disingenuously pointing fingers at the sins of her members while failing to look in the mirror.

Notes:

1. Here I stand: A Life of Martin Luther (New York, Mentor, 1950). Quoted from: https://ncregister.com/blog/luther-favored-death-not-religious-freedom-for-heretics.
2. Letters of John Calvin Vol. IV, p. 439-440.
3. https://ncregister.com/blog/luther-favored-death-not-religious-freedom-for-heretics.
4. https://stopabusecampaign.org/2018/01/08/is-there-more-sexual-abuse-in-the-protestant-churches-than-the-catholic-church/ see also: https://nytimes.com/2007/06/16/us/16protestant.html.