Confessional, orthodox Protestants should take no satisfaction in Rome’s increasing resemblance to the old enemy of liberal Protestantism. Rome still has the money and institutional weight to make a difference in these great struggles over what it means to be human. If Rome equivocates and falls on these issues, the world will become colder and harsher for all of us.

Speaking at the Leonine Forum in D.C. recently, I was asked a friendly but pointed question: “Why are you not a Catholic?” The questioner noted that in my talk I had expressed a love for the early Church Fathers, admiration for Thomas Aquinas, and an approach to ethics that resonated with John Paul II’s theology of the body.

It’s hard to answer such a question in brief compass at the end of a lecture. Many issues are important in my commitment to Reformed Protestantism: authority, salvation, the nature of the ministry, and the significance of sacraments are just a few of the more obvious. And while I am open to the criticism that Protestantism hasn’t given Mary her due, I believe the Catholic Church has given her a significance that is well beyond anything the Bible would countenance. But above all, at the current moment, Catholicism doesn’t appeal to me because of the man at the top: Pope Francis. In my answer, I did try to be respectful of my audience, but I could not help but observe that the present pope seems to be nothing more than a liberal Protestant in a white papal robe. And as a Protestant, I am acutely aware of the damage such people do.

J. Gresham Machen, the Presbyterian controversialist who came to prominence in the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy, argued that confessional Protestantism and Roman Catholicism were separated from liberal Christianity by, among other things, their commitment to supernaturalism. (Both agreed that the tomb was really empty on the third day.) In other words, the former were species of Christianity while the latter was a completely different religion. I would update his critique today by saying that liberal Christianity need not necessarily deny the supernatural. It can also be characterized by a commitment to the supernatural that is nonetheless eclipsed by the natural. It has a concern for the immanent and no real use for the transcendent. Joel Osteen is a fine Protestant example of this: I see no reason to doubt he believes in the Resurrection, but the doctrine is at best merely instrumental to his vision of Christianity, a means toward achieving personal happiness and material success. The same applies to those, left and right, for whom party politics and influence in D.C. seem far more important than the rather less exciting realities of everyday Christian worship, catechesis, and discipleship.

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