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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Teaching from other denominations	Bernard	Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Question: Hi My catholic groups wants to take on teaching from a christian couple John and Paula Sanford(www.elijahhouse.org) for our sharing session. They deal with bitter roots,trust, forgiveness,repentance , parental orientation, inner vows and ministry skills. One of them in the group attended the session and found it useful in her daily life. Being catholic I feel that it is not appropriate to follow teaching outside the catholic church due to: -the Catholic church being the true church should contain all true teachings -by attending or using their materials, it gives them opportunity to tell catholics that someone is using their teaching.They even mentioned that catholic priests are using their materials -I am unable to decipher what is catholic and what is not in the teaching materials Your views please
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Bernard: I cannot speak to the material itself as I have not read it. I can, however, speak generically about borrowing from Protestant sources. The Church teaches that we can accept the truth no matter where we find it. Protestants can and do have some good things to say. I use from Protestant material myself, BUT.... ...whenever I borrow from Protestant sources I carefully review it from a Catholic perspective. Any material I use in teaching that may have come from a Protestant source is generally not given to my students "as is". I first edit the material and "Catholicize" it so that the resulting text no longer contains any protestantisms at all. In other cases I may completely re-write the material using the Protestant idea only as inspiration. Bottomline: While Protestants can surely contribute ideas that are useful, such material MUST be evaluated from a 100% Catholic perspective. While there are some exceptions, taking Protestant material "as is" unedited from a Catholic perspective can be very problematic for the Catholic. One key to your question is that you are "unable to decipher what is Catholic and what is not in the teaching materials." That is the essential problem. That is a clue to stay away from the material, unless the teachers at this group can make that discernment and carefully outline what is or is not Catholic in specific ways then it is unwise to use the material. I hope this helps. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Teaching from other denominations

Bernard

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Question:

Hi
My catholic groups wants to take on teaching from a christian couple John and Paula Sanford(www.elijahhouse.org) for our sharing session.

They deal with bitter roots,trust, forgiveness,repentance , parental orientation, inner vows and ministry skills.

One of them in the group attended the session and found it useful in her daily life.

Being catholic I feel that it is not appropriate to follow teaching outside the catholic church due to:

-the Catholic church being the true church should contain all true teachings

-by attending or using their materials, it gives them opportunity to tell catholics that someone is using their teaching.They even mentioned that catholic priests are using their materials

-I am unable to decipher what is catholic and what is not in the teaching materials

Your views please

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Bernard:

I cannot speak to the material itself as I have not read it. I can, however, speak generically about borrowing from Protestant sources.

The Church teaches that we can accept the truth no matter where we find it. Protestants can and do have some good things to say. I use from Protestant material myself, BUT....

...whenever I borrow from Protestant sources I carefully review it from a Catholic perspective. Any material I use in teaching that may have come from a Protestant source is generally not given to my students "as is". I first edit the material and "Catholicize" it so that the resulting text no longer contains any protestantisms at all. In other cases I may completely re-write the material using the Protestant idea only as inspiration.

Bottomline: While Protestants can surely contribute ideas that are useful, such material MUST be evaluated from a 100% Catholic perspective.

While there are some exceptions, taking Protestant material "as is" unedited from a Catholic perspective can be very problematic for the Catholic.

One key to your question is that you are "unable to decipher what is Catholic and what is not in the teaching materials." That is the essential problem. That is a clue to stay away from the material, unless the teachers at this group can make that discernment and carefully outline what is or is not Catholic in specific ways then it is unwise to use the material.

I hope this helps.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum