Catholic Protestants, and Protestant Catholics

"This Catholic Church is not Protestant enough for me." This is what essentially is said by many who resist or reject the traditions of the Catholic faith. I have spoken to many and various people who say that they really want the Catholic Church to become more Protestant in the way it does things. I do not know their hearts, but I need to be clear: it is hard to imagine that this is not sinful. For the first fifteen hundred years of the Catholic Church she held her own, and never sought to copy the tricks and games of the world. Now five hundred years after Protestantism shows up we are supposed to copy them (huh?). If Catholics are really seeking for something more Protestant (even if they only mean they want this within the bounds of the Catholic faith), then they are seeking something that is not Catholic.

"This Protestant church is not Catholic enough for me." This is almost a quote of something told to me a while back by a non-catholic who thought the first Catholic parish he visited really was Protestant. He believed they were Protestants who had a few "Catholic-like" ceremonies. He said the decorations, the preaching, the lax attitude, and the music all reminded him of the Protestant congregation he had just left. Turns out it was a Catholic church, but so many compromises had occurred that there was little to single it out as Catholic at all anymore. He jokingly referred to the Catholic parish as a "protesant church" that had a sprinkling of the Catholic faith.

Sadly, many Catholics today do not realize just how "non-catholic" their parishes are. Not just in their casual celebration of the Mass, and their theology, but also in the manner that many things are decided (and do not even get me started on the design of their church buildings--many are as ugly as sin). Yet many Protestants who seek to convert and become Catholic see right off the Protestant feel of many Catholic parishes. In this way they say: "this 'protestant church' is not Catholic enough for me". Just because somebody stuck a "Catholic" label on it, someone likes it, and the priest allows it, does not make it truly Catholic.

When people leave the Protestant faith and convert to become Catholic, they are not looking for just another "protestant" congregation with a Catholic label (which is what you get in many--and I do mean many) parishes today. It is any wonder that many of them are disillusioned and end up leaving the faith? So we can call those Catholics who were taught wrong about what the Catholic faith actually is: "Protestant Catholics"; and we can call the Protestants who are truly looking for the fulness of the Catholic faith, "Catholic Protestants". Jesus once scolded the Jews and told them the Samaritans could teach them a lesson. Can Catholics today learn a lesson from the Protestants?