Dear Ryan,

In order for a "church" to be a true church, it must have apostolic succession. Protestant fellowships do not have that apostolic succession. To have apostolic succession, the clergy must be ordained by a valid bishop who himself has apostolic succession. The original Protestant and the Church of England quickly that genuine apostolic succession they rebelled against the True Church, the Catholic Church, and went their separate ways. They began to invalidly ordain priests and bishops, which knocked them out of the status of genuine Church. Instead they are what is called "ecclesial fellowships". Details of this declaration and teaching of the Church is found in the document, DOMINUS IESUS.

As to your other questions, any Catholic who leaves the Catholic Church for any reason is in danger of losing their soul. It is a grave sin to leave the Church.

Transubstantiation is a dogma of the faith. Any Catholic who denies that dogma, or obstinately doubts this dogma, is in a state of heresy and thereby automatically excommunicated.

If a person is doubting such things, they have a duty to seek counsel from their confessor and/or others to resolve those doubts. Catholic Answers has some pamphlets that I recommend that explain the Sacraments.

Only God can know if there is some mental problem or other factor to which the person's will is impaired and thus not responsible for their actions. Thus, we cannot say that a person leaving the Church is going to hell. But, we can say that they are risking hell by this action.

As far as abuse of power, there is not a single institution or organization that has ever existed in the history of the human race that has not had problems with abuse of power and with scandal. The men and women in the Church are no exception. To leave the Church over this is a sorry excuse. There would be no where to go to find someplace with abuse of power and scandal do not exist at one time or another.

Actually, the fact that we have had corrupt popes, bishops, and priests and yet the Church still exists whole and secure in Christ is a testament to the fact that the Church is the Bride of Christ. Not even corrupt popes can bring her down. No other organization in history has survived such abuse and scandal. The fact of the matter is that even with corrupt men in the papal Chair, none of those men changed even a dotted "i" of Church dogma. They can't because God said that the official Doctrines of the Church shall never be corrupted (the gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church). Either that is true or God is a liar.

As far as "enjoying" the Mass, I think those people ought to stop their baby whining and grow up. The Mass is not meant to be entertainment. It is about worshiping the God of the Universe. There is nothing more spiritually uplifting than that.

The people who make this complaint do not worship God, they worship "feeling good." It is a form of idolatry called sensualism, and a form of hedonism. The First Commandment forbids us from worshiping any other gods. Our "feelings" cannot replace genuine worship of the True and One God. Besides, what happens when one doesn't "feel" spiritual? Do they go into a spiritual depression?  Genuine spirituality is not affected by the transient nature of emotions (which are biologically based and can come and go in a heart-beat).

If a person learns what is going on in Mass, the symbolism of the colors, sounds, smells, sacred (not folk) music, prayers, etc. they will find themselves invigorated in their faith.

If they want entertainment, the devil will more than happy to accommodate their immaturity.

As for your last question of a respectful Catholic, it is good that he does not partake of the Eucharist and counsels others to not abuse the Eucharist. But, any Catholic who does not believe in transubstantiation is a heretic, is automatically excommunicated, and is in danger of losing his soul.

In addition, this respect of the Church is false. If the person does not believe in Christ in the Eucharist, then he has abandoned Christ. That is not very respectful.

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). One of the commandments (teachings) of Jesus is detailed in John 6:

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56)

The Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist was taught by our Lord personally. The commandment to partake of the Eucharist was personally commanded by our Lord.

If we do believe this and practice this then we do not love Jesus no matter how much we say we do. We can do all sort of good works in His name and yet not love him. Jesus dealt with type of person:

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' " (Matthew 7:21-23)

Beware those who flirt with heresy. Your souls could be required tonight. If one dies caught in unrepentant sin of heresy they risk hell.


On transubstantiation, a few more quotes and comments:

Ignatius of Antioch (a bishop appointed by Peter himself), who was a student of John the Apostle, around the year 100 (nearly 300 years before the canon of the New Testament was decided) in his letter to the people of Smyrna said:

"They  abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes".

In a similar time period, St. Iranaeus of Lyon, in his “Adversus Heresies” (against the heresies) said:

"For just as the bread which comes from the earth, having received the invocation of God, is no longer ordinary bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly, so our bodies, having received the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, because they have the hope of the resurrection."

Now there are many others in this time period who were taught by the Apostles, who knew that the Eucharist was the body of Jesus (who also consisted of two natures). Even the Protestant Martin Luther who was the primary instigator of the Protestant Revolution believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist! He said:

Who, but the devil, has granted such license of wresting the words of the holy Scripture? Who ever read in the Scriptures, that my body is the same as the sign of my body? or, that is is the same as it signifies? What language in the world ever spoke so? It is only then the devil, that imposes upon us by these fanatical men. Not one of the Fathers of the Church, though so numerous, ever spoke as the Sacramentarians: not one of them ever said, It is only bread and wine; or, the body and blood of Christ is not there present.

Anyone who knows the scriptures well will understand the Real Presence. We don’t even need to go into the countless scientifically proven miracles regarding the Eucharist (where the bread turns into real flesh) such as Lanciano, Assisi, Bordeaux etc. Some of these miraculous events, which are tested by unbelieving scientists are still available, to see today! You can read Dr. Linoli’s medical report on the miracle of Lanciano online as well as others.

I encourage you to read Dr. Scott Hahn’s book, The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. Dr. Hahn is a convert from Protestantism and is now a prominant catholic theologian. He completely analyzes the Mass and the Eucharist as a fulfillment of both Old Testament prophecies as well as the Old Testament Passover tradition. He really brings light to the “new and everlasting covenant” that Christ established at the Last Supper.

As mentioned Jesus personally taught the His Real Presence in John. He was not making an analogy or a parable. He was not talking symbolically. This is why "many left Jesus because this teaching was too difficult for them".

Jesus did not back down on his teaching. He turned to his beloved Twelve and risked losing them too: Scripture records this in John 6:67-68:

Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

Although some Protestant services are more emotionally elevating, know that Christ Himself is waiting for you in the Catholic Church, the Church that worships God.

Don’t be one of the disciples who abandons Christ and His Church. Christ calls all people to His Church -- the Catholic Church under the Bishop Rome, the Pope, who his His Prime Minister.

God bless,
Mr. Mathew
with contributions from Bro. Ignatius Mary