Tcg: A convert who remembers only the Catholic dems must have missed the Bill Buckley period. National Review, which essentially started, supported, and defined the Conservative movement was produced mainly by Catholics (and New England Catholics, at that)! Without WFB, there could have been no Reagan.
Apollo: It seems ridiculous to mention, but Catholics’ idea of citizenship, rights, and duty conform (by nature, not by recent choice or compulsion) with the U. S. Constitution at least as closely as, if not more closely than, any other religious or nonreligious group in the country. But it isn’t Christ’s work or divinity that we deny. The difference you’re talking about, I think, is that we do indeed deny that man’s good works DON’T count toward his individual salvation. (Sorry about the double-negative.) And “Not everyone who sayeth Lord, Lord . . .,” the Beatitudes, the good Samaritan, so many other references speak on our behalf. Good works, biblically and logically, count. No Catholic is ever inculcated with the idea that he must use a medium (Mary or the saints) to get through to God. They’re examples, folks who’ve fought the great battle, lived holy lives (n.b, have performed good works). Our most important prayer is the Our Father, said in every Mass.
I do hope that someday we’ll reach a level equal to yours.
Good “fruits” can be a manifestation of the type of “tree” which produces them. But it isn’t anything that assists you into heaven or can even keep you from them. What matters is the condition of the heart, which though horribly flawed, either belongs to Christ or doesn’t.
Romans 4
1What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
2For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So I’ll ask you this same question. If you commit a sin, who do you go to... Christ for forgiveness, or must you go to a Priest for confession? If it’s the latter, then who are you to say that the entire Catholic faith revolves around putting one barrier after another between you and direct access to God?