Frank Turek – Charitable but still uninformed about Catholicism
The very fact that the video’s title talks about “last rights” rather than “last rites” doesn’t instill great confidence…
I love Frank’s ministry, but he really should never speak about Catholicism. Every video and podcast I’ve seen and heard of him talking about Catholicism is littered with inaccuracies.
Saying “I was brought up in the Catholic Church” is no guarantee you understand what the Catholic Church teaches. The biggest example of it in this video is where he and the lady in the audience assert that Catholics believe they’re sacrificing Jesus again.
I hope Franks mum will see this video and read to him the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit”.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paragraph #1366)
This paragraph goes on to quote the Council of Trent:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper “on the night when he was betrayed,” [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.=
Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf. 1 Cor 11:23; Heb 7:24, 27.
Hello Devan, and welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
I literally just watched that video and had to do a double take because I am going though RCIA to become Catholic and he said that and I was like that’s not right. Glad I found this literally minutes after. But this is something I think is a big problem against Catholics because I had to fight through these inaccuracies to see the truth.
Yeah, Frank is good on a lot of topics, but he does seem to have quite a blind spot when it comes to Catholicism. He’s also a fan of C.S. Lewis, Pints With Jack, so I’ve tried to get him onto our podcast and have a chat with him about it, but have thus far been unsuccessful 🙁
How are you finding RCIA? Unfortunately, I’ve rarely heard glowing reports!
Don’t do it, dude. I grew up Catholic. It’s a brainwashed non-scripturally based idolatrous church. They want to try to convince you that protestants can’t have proper doctrine because man is fallible, but forget to tell you that all their doctrine comes from a man.
Hey M, welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
I have two questions:
1. Can you tell us which human agents assembled the canon of the Bible?
2. Can you explain why the Early Church looks so Catholic and not Protestant?
It doesn’t look Catholic.
Did you click on the link? Why do you think it doesn’t look Catholic?
It is a religion of added doctrines – Revelation warns against adding to, binding things that are not scriptural, celibacy of priests, annulment, maryology, infant baptism, etc.. nevermind the councils of the “fathers” that have authority like scripture! I’m not picking on them, there are lots of other false flags also.. but bowing to a man in Rome is a big flag. So is “all have sinned & fallen short…” & the idea of a perfect mary.
I agree frank is great about alot of issues regarding theology and I do agree that a person can become a true Christian regardless of what church they are attending. But, a true Christian cannot stay in or continue to practice catholicism and have a relationship with Jesus Christ this is oxymoronic, can you imagine the spirit of God living in you telling you to pray to dead spirits or eating human flesh and blood ( canableism) or believing the blood of Christ was insufficient and purgatory will wash your sins away no.
By saying this you are condemning the Early Church and all those who gave their lives under the Roman Empire’s persecutions. You’re also condemning most Christians for most of Christian history. To illustrate this, can you please name someone in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Century whom you regard as a true Christian?
Please do a Bible word search online at least using the words one mind, one accord, dissensions, schisms. The Bible says God is not a god of confusion. He does not want us all to believe and interpret scripture differently. This is not biblical. More people would get saved and more would be helped by Christian charity if we were in one Accord as in Acts chapter 2. The Protestant churches cannot agree how to interpret scriptures and they keep splitting off forming a new congregation. Holy Spirit does not tell one church one thing, and another church another thing. Yet each Church claims to be led by the holy spirit in the way that they interpret scripture. Jesus instituted the church through Peter when he said thou art Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it. He gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven Etc. Peter was the first leader or Pope which means Papa. When Jesus said I will lead you into all truth through the Holy Spirit he instituted the means in which to do this. It Is through the pope and the magisterium. Peter appointed Bishops in the New Testament… study Apostolic succession . If you go to catholic.com which is Catholic answers you can type in any question and find out the truth. Be prepared to be surprised. But you will get nowhere if you have too much pride in your heart you will be blinded. You have to come to him as a little child not full of Pride and then maybe you can see the truth of the Catholic church and that Jesus is truly in the Eucharist and find the treasure chest of all the beauty that you are missing out on as a Protestant. Some Churches believe once saved always saved. How many Souls will go to hell because they were erroneously taught that. It makes me shudder. We are to Worship in spirit and Truth. He came and died for truth. We owe it to him to find that truth. And not just go to church where you feel warm fuzzies and feel like you get a lot out of it. It’s not about how much you get out of it it’s about how much you give him praise and glory. At Mass the heavens supernaturally open and we are praising God with them in heaven. When I take the Eucharist I get to be that woman touching the Hem of His Garment but even better he comes into my body his love is consummated with me.
What’s the diff between protestant churches having various and conflicting bible interpretations and the Catholic church having various positions over history which they subsequently disowned eg condemnation and later posthumous apology to galileo, rejection and acceptance of evolution, etc. The Catholic church’s oneness vs the splinter nature of prostentant is an illusion that disguises the numerous differing interpretations in Catholicism itself. Because of the papal authority, other voices are quietened just as it was with galileo whose view was suppressed and
Hey Xavier, Welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
To be Catholic doesn’t mean that there’s never any difference of opinion. There are different schools of thought within Catholicism. The difference is that Catholicism has a means of resolving issues. Protestantism does not, it just results in new denominations.
I have a suspicion that you haven’t actually looked into in any detail either of these two cases you raise. For example, what documents are you referring to regarding the rejection and acceptance on evolution?
Apostasy started in the 1st century. Read Galatians. Christ freed believers from Judaism, but Catholicism wants to keep us enslaved there, and even worse — wants to become the one-world religion . It was a Pope that started the Ecumenical movement, which has been quite successful drawing in ungrounded Protestants and even Muslims and atheists. Sounds wild- I know.
There has always been apostates – you see them in the Acts of the Apostles. However, for Catholicism to be false, one would have to assert that the ENTIRE CHURCH WITHOUT EXCEPTION went into apostasy even before the last Apostle died because when you look at the Early Church, it’s clear that it was Catholic.
There’s no proto-Protestant group you can point to. If they were the “real” Christians, that This means that the Apostles failed and Jesus did not keep His promises.
Catholic teach a different Gospel and a different Jesus. Frank doesn’t seem to know this because he seems to well come the Catholics as Christians and won’t divide himself from them.
What’s this “different Gospel”?
(“Pilgrim”, would you please, for the record here, address the completely false claims in T.G.’s comment above of August 27, 2023, 5:49 a.m.? so typical of protestants, who are still protesting yet consistently splintering “ad infinitum”, as it were? Much appreciated!)
Why don’t you respond yourself?
The single biggest mistake… Peter is not the rock. Christ is the rock. I agree that there are many false religions – including among protestant churches. It’s amazing that you don’t acknowledge the schism among catholic churches… and there are many & over important points. The one true church obeys the teachings of Christ as defined in the new Testament. Period. Thoroughly furnished for every good work.
Which Church do you think assembled the New Testament? Can you give me the names of any of those involved? I ask because the historical record clearly shows that to be the Catholic/Orthodox Church, men who believed in all these doctrines you reject.