Can Catholics Pray with Protestants??? Part 1

Short answer is yes … but ...

Introduction

Like many Catholics, we have family members who have either lost the Faith or abandoned the Faith to join a protestant church.

This brings up question of what can and can’t you do in your relations with them. The one that comes up is ‘praying’ with protestants, particularly at meals but perhaps other events.

My goal today is the review the application of moral theology to this question and I have to admit that I used to believe that you can’t say grace with protestants, specifically my Sister, Brother-In-Law and nephews.

Distinctions and the Truth are IMPORTANT!

There is a difference between praying privately with protestants vs public prayer or worship. In the case of privately praying with protestants the litmus test is whether or not the prayers are heretical or if scandal is given.

When acting as a Catholic, it is equally important that we act in accordance with the actual teachings of the Catholic Church as opposed to what, I hope in ignorance, one believes to be the teaching.

Moral Theology

I know Traditional Priests and lay-people who believe very strongly that Catholic can’t pray privately with protestants. As mentioned above, I even held this belief in the early days of my Traditional Catholicism.

With time and wisdom, I know now that I was wrong and can see the damage being done by others being equally wrong as I was.

So let’s start with my definition of Moral Theology:

Moral Theology is the application of Theology in Practice.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a more detailed definition:

Moral theology includes everything relating to man's free actions and the last, or supreme, end to be attained through them, as far as we know the same by Divine Revelation; in other words, it includes the supernatural end, the rule, or norm, of the moral order, human actions as such, their harmony or disharmony with the laws of the moral order, their consequences, the Divine aids for their right performance. (New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia)

The entire Catholic Encyclopedia article is worth a read as it delves into the difference between Dogmatic Theology and Moral Theology.

Association with Non-Catholics

When I did my first searches, Padre Peregrino popped up at the top of the list and I noticed that he started off with quoting Fr. Jone’s work “Moral Theology” in section #125 (see links below for full text).

Padre opens with this:

In the old moral manuals, Catholics could occasionally pray with Protestants in private environments as long as these requirements were met: “It is not forbidden to pray or sing privately with heretics if the prayers or songs are not heretical and no scandal is given.”—Moral Theology #125 by Fr. Heribert Jone, OFM Cap, 1929. PadrePeregrino

I could almost stop right now as my original question has been answered. However. Padre goes on and exposes the rest of the teaching and I recommend you have a look at his article: PadrePereGrino: May Catholics Pray with Non-Catholics?

But … I want to breakdown all of Fr. Jone’s writing on the topic.

Definitions
- Participation in religious worship takes place when Catholics take part in non-Catholic services or permit non-Catholics to participate in Catholic services.
- Participation of Catholics in non-Catholic services may mean that Catholics actually take part in the religious worship of non-Catholics or that they are only passively present at their sacred services.
- Whoever acts contrary to the prescriptions of C. 1258 and takes part in non-Catholic services is suspected of heresy (C. 2316).
- Definition of Scandal: In the strict sense, scandal is defined as "any conduct that has at least the appearance of evil and that offers to a neighbor an occasion of spiritual ruin. (Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities McHugh and Callan.)
  - By conduct is understood external behavior or manner of acting in the presence of others. Thus, scandal differs from sin, for sin is committed, not only by external acts done before others, but also by internal thoughts and desires and external acts that are secret.
  - Scandal is conduct which is evil at least in appearance, that is, sinful, or from the circumstances seemingly sinful. Thus, an act is not scandalous, if it is morally indifferent or a less good, and is perceivable as being such.
  - Scandal tends to spiritual ruin, that is, to a fall into sin, great or small. Here scandal strictly understood differs from scandal in the wide senses given in the previous paragraph.
  - Scandal is an occasion of a fall into sin, that is, it sets an example of sin before the attention, and thus suggests to the will that
  - the will imitate the sin. Scandal is not, however, the cause of sin, for a person causes his own sin in yielding consent to the suggestion offered by scandal.
  - Scandal is to another. A person may be said to scandalize himself in the sense that by his looks or acts he puts himself in an occasion of sin (Matt., v. 29, 30), or inasmuch as he maliciously makes the acts of a virtuous neighbor an occasion of sin; but scandal is more properly understood of an occasion of sin prepared for one's neighbor.
Forbidden
- Active participation in non-Catholic services is entirely forbidden (C1258).
- The natural law forbids participation in services that are heretical. If the service is one that heretics have in common with us, even though no scandal comes from such participation, it is at least forbidden by Church law.
- Therefore, it is forbidden to ask a heretic to baptize, to be a sponsor for a non-Catholic (even by proxy).
- In general it is unlawful to be best man or bridesmaid at a marriage performed by a non-Catholic minister, to receive Holy Communion from the hands of a schismatic.
- It is forbidden to sing, play the organ or other instruments in the religious services of non-Catholics.
Permitted
- In danger of death it is lawful to ask a non-Catholic to administer a Sacrament, provided there is no Catholic present who can do so, and if there is no scandal.
- Some authors hold that in America it is considered only a sign of friendship to be selected as best man or bridesmaid at a non-Catholic wedding, not as officially witnessing the marriage contract.
- It is lawful with the required dispensation for a mixed marriage to allow a non-Catholic partner to administer the Sacrament of Matrimony to oneself and vice versa; but never before a non-Catholic minister.
- But it is not forbidden to pray or sing privately with heretics if the prayers or songs are not heretical and no scandal is given.