Dear Maria:

You need to check yourself. To say that "whoever is not with the Pope, is not with God" is not what the Church teaches. In fact, you are flirting with a heresy in saying this.

All Salvation is indeed through the Catholic Church, but not all those saved through the Catholic Church are "card-carrying" Catholics. Protestants can be saved. Even non-Christians can be saved under certain conditions. But, anyone who is saved, Protestant, Catholic, or non-Christian, is saved through Christ and His Church whether they know it or not.

Read the Catechism 811-870.

Many Protestants carp and slander the Catholic Church. There are no Protestants who actually understand the Catholic Church. If they did, they would become Catholic. Those Protestant groups who spew hatred toward the Catholic Church will be held accountable for their lack of charity; but so will you and I. Such groups like the Baptists are legitimate and valid ecclesial communities. That is NOT my opinion. That is the opinion and judgment of the Church. You best respect the judgment of the Church.

If you express inaccurate and hateful feelings and comments about them, how are you any different than they are? You have slandered them by saying that they talk bad about Jesus. That is not true. They may talk bad about Jesus' Church (the Catholic Church), but they have said nothing bad about Jesus himself. Slander is a grave sin. Check yourself.

Do not allow yourself to be caught up in uncharity, or even ideas contrary to Church teaching. You risk your communion with the Church if you go around thinking that you know better than the Church and refuse to accept her judgments.

Baptists, even those that hate the Catholic Church, even those who blaspheme God by saying that Catholics are evil, are valid ecclesial communities of Christians, misguided and uncharitable Christians, but Christians nevertheless. That is the judgment the Church has made. The Church looks at whether or not there is a valid Baptism and a profession of at least the Apostle's Creed.  I came from Southern Baptists myself and I was considered a valid Christian by the Church, with a valid baptism that I received in the Baptist Church, before I was confirmed as a Catholic. Baptists qualify as Christians!

If your niece and her husband are both baptized, and they were married in their minister and legally married in the state they live in, and there are no other impediments like previous marriages, then their marriage is Sacramentally valid, whether or not you like it. Again, the conditions of what constitutes a valid marriage is determined by the Church, not you or me.

As for the unfortunate way your decided to illustrate your point, through what is called a logical fallacy, the Church of Satan is not a valid church. My dear, we are speaking of "valid" according to Catholic teaching, not valid in state or federal law. Who cares what the state or federal laws determine. Abortion is legal under law, for example. That does not remove the fact that abortion is a moral evil and a violation of God's law. The Church of Satan can call themselves a church until the cows come home, the government can officially recognize it, but that does not make it a church.

You need to stop these arguments of logical fallacy, which is intellectually dishonest, and stick to the issue.

The issue is that a person can be a Christian without being Catholic if they are validly baptized. Valid baptism is as I described before with water and the Trinitarian formula. Almost all Protestant groups validly baptize. Mormons and Jehovah's Witness, however, do not validly baptize, according to Church teaching, and thus are not Christians.

It is valid baptism that initially determines a person a Christian, not formal membership in the Catholic Church. However, all validly baptized people are Catholics in an imperfect way, since there is but one baptism. Such people are "imperfect members" of the Catholic Church because they are not in communion with the Pope and do not hold the Fullness of the Faith, but they are Christians in the eyes of the Church and in the eyes of God. Check yourself.

Now, Maria, what I am saying here in paragraph above is Church teaching [CCC 838]. If you disagree with this then you are not in communion with the Church as this is doctrine that Catholics are to believe.

I realize that you do not like that way this Freedom Biker Church does things. So what? Their style of doing things does not invalidate their valid baptism or their profession of faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. As for heavy metal, I see no heavy metal on their website. Besides, there does exist Christian Heavy Metal with Christian lyrics and a heavy metal sound. Both you and I will find that odd, but it is true nevertheless.

This all reminds me of a story in the Bible where St. Paul talks about those who preach the Gossip out of rivalry or other improper reasons. Those Protestant groups who say hateful things about the Catholic Church are fundamentally acting out of jealousy and rivalry.

This is what St. Paul said about them

(Philippians 1:15-18)  Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

While many Baptist groups say terrible things about the Catholic Church, the essential Gospel is preached and people are converted and baptized. Like St. Paul said, "in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice."

In Christian charity we ought to rejoice that these bikers are making professions of faith in Christ, even if it is in a Baptist fellowship with rock music and tattoos. These bikers would not be welcomed in your parish I bet, nor in nearly any other parish. 

Jesus went everywhere, even to places that were considered seedy to the Jews. If Jesus were here today, he would visit the places we consider seedy today, like dive bars, red light districts, and biker hangouts. There is no place Jesus will not go, and there is no place we should not do to bring the Gospel.

Yes, this Baptist outreach is teaching only part of the faith, and teaching error about the Catholic Church. But, they are preaching the need for Jesus and bikers are converting as a result. Praise God!

This is no different that any other Protestant outreach. If we as Catholics would like to bring the Fullness of the Faith to the seedy side of town, then we need to shut up about the Protestant projects, and go out an do it ourselves.

If your bishop is doing that, praise God, we need more like him.

I would suggest that you can criticize their style and rhetoric as not to your liking (though frankly that is really none of your business), you can point out doctrinal errors they preach and their errors about the Catholic Church (both of which we should do), all without condemning them to hell or failing to recognize that they are validly Christian. You have no right to judge them as non-Christian, when the Church says that their Baptism is valid.

I understand that you are upset with all the family matters, but you really need to check yourself because you are flirting with attitudes and ideas contrary to Church teaching. When Catholics disagree (protest) with Church teaching, then does that not make them protest - ant?

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary