Bishop Stika responds to distribution of anti-Catholic tracts

By Dan McWilliams

A Baptist church in Pigeon Forge stopped its distribution of an anti-Catholic tract March 5, the same day Bishop Richard F. Stika condemned the action.

The story made its way nationwide via online news sites, blogs, and local- and cable-TV newscasts in just a few days, and both the bishop and Pigeon Forge priest Father Jay Flaherty received praise for their handling of the situation.

A student at Pigeon Forge High School showed a Chick Publications tract titled “The Death Cookie” to a fellow student who is a parishioner of Holy Cross Church in Pigeon Forge. Copies of the tract were being distributed by members of Conner Heights Baptist Church, whose pastor, the Rev. Jonathan Hatcher, at first defended them in early media reports. The 1988 tract, which uses cartoons to claim that the Church was founded by the devil and that Catholics worship a “wafer god,” upset the Catholic student. The student told Father Flaherty about the tract March 3, and the priest contacted Deacon Sean Smith, the diocesan chancellor, that evening.

Deacon Smith in turn told Bishop Stika about the matter. Meanwhile, The Mountain Press in Sevierville on March 3 and WBIR-TV in Knoxville on March 4 had interviewed Father Flaherty. The bishop issued a press release the next morning, and the Rev. Hatcher announced that afternoon that his church would stop distributing the tract.

“As bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, I wish first to state my deep respect and love for my Protestant brothers and sisters, with whom we acknowledge and worship but one Lord and savior, Jesus Christ—and for all the members of other faiths, with whom we also share certain foundational beliefs,” Bishop Stika said in the release, acknowledging that the diocese works in solidarity with Baptists and those of other faith traditions.

“At this moment, however, I am greatly saddened by the reprehensible acts of prejudice and hatred of a few souls who, out of ignorance of Catholic teachings, have promoted the distribution of anti-Catholic tracts,” the bishop continued. “These tracts contain outright lies and blatant exaggerations.”

The Rev. Hatcher told WBIR that he is “obviously not schooled in the Catholic religion” and studies and preaches from the King James Version of the Bible.

“The rationale one Baptist pastor gave in support of distributing these reprehensible, discriminatory and bigoted tracts was that he was trying to point out the primary difference his church has with Catholics: the belief that a person does not and cannot work his or her way to salvation,” Bishop Stika said in the release. “Unfortunately, this pastor does not have a correct understanding of what the Catholic faith teaches in this regard—and he even admitted as much.”

The bishop went on to explain how the Church defines justification and the doctrine of the Real Presence.

Deacon Smith said, “the thing that was most important to me in our press release was that we had the opportunity to catechize about what the Catholic faith really does teach. I was pleased we could demonstrate our commitment to ecumenism and sharing our faith.”

Bishop Stika said that “this unfortunate act of hatred and prejudice yielded an opportunity to teach the Catholic faith to those who do not have an understanding of our faith.”

In describing his decision to stop distributing the tract, the Rev. Hatcher told The Knoxville News Sentinel that the issue “brought attention I didn’t want. It brought more than I wanted.”

Father Flaherty said his first reaction to the tract was disbelief “that it still goes on.” He said it brought back bad memories of his childhood in Gallatin, a Middle Tennessee town that he said was anti-Catholic during his youth.

“That always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight because I suffered a lot growing up and in high school with anti-Catholic stuff too, so it really got my attention,” he said.

Father Flaherty said the tracts have turned up before at Holy Cross.

“Usually they just put this on our windshields a lot, but they never put a name on them, but this guy did,” he said.

The Holy Cross pastor said he has heard from people from “as far away as Hawaii to Brooklyn, N.Y. I had no idea that this would grow the way it has. People have e-mailed and called from all over the country. My sister called me to say that she had seen it on television in Nashville.

“I’ve gotten a lot of support from the people here, from a local judge, students, several ministers. A Lutheran minister from Gatlinburg came by.”

Deacon Smith said a “tremendous response” has poured into his inbox.

“I have received e-mails from as far away as Canada and from eight different states so far, from Louisiana to Michigan and Massachusetts to California,” he said. “What’s amazing is they’ve all heard about this from various conduits of media, from blog sites and the national news. We’ve had this outpouring of response from people who are absolutely praising the bishop for standing up to this and talking about it.”

Father Flaherty said that “of course, I’ve had the hate mail too,” citing an envelope he received March 8.

“I got six publications in a letter saying that all of us are going to hell—all 1 billion of us are going to hell with Bibles in our hands,” he said.

High school students from Holy Cross “have been harassed since long before this started,” said Father Flaherty, “enough to make them rather tired of it. It’s little sly remarks like, ‘You’re not saved,’ or ‘Why don’t you get saved?’ Or, it’s ‘Catholics believe this’ and ‘Catholics believe that,’ and of course none of it is anywhere near what we believe.”

Father Flaherty said he hopes the response to the tracts leads to one end.

“My biggest thing is I’d like to see Chick Publications put out of business,” he said. “Stop this hate stuff going around all the time.”

Here is the full text of Bishop Stika’s statement:

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville includes 47 parishes and 36 counties in East Tennessee, including Holy Cross Parish in Pigeon Forge. As bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, I wish first to state my deep respect and love for my Protestant brothers and sisters, with whom we acknowledge and worship but one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—and for all the members of other faiths, with whom we also share certain foundational beliefs.

I also wish to acknowledge the many Christian denominations, including the many Baptist churches in East Tennessee, with whom we pray and work in solidarity, according to the truths of the Gospel, in order to promote a culture of life. This culture of life is based on a Christian anthropology that recognizes man and woman as images of God, an essential truth for the formation of a correct vision of society. I am thinking also of our shared efforts in promoting and protecting the sanctity and dignity of every person in the womb and of the holy institution of marriage and the family as our Heavenly Creator designed them to be.

At this moment, however, I am greatly saddened by the reprehensible acts of prejudice and hatred of a few souls who, out of ignorance of Catholic teachings, have promoted the distribution of anti-Catholic tracts. These tracts contain outright lies and blatant exaggerations.

The rationale one Baptist pastor gave in support of distributing these reprehensible, discriminatory, and bigoted tracts was that he was trying to point out the primary difference his church has with Catholics: the belief that a person does not and cannot work his or her way to salvation. Unfortunately, this pastor does not have a correct understanding of what the Catholic faith teaches in this regard—and he even admitted as much.

In Catholic theology, the term justification means the cleansing of a person’s sin and the communication—by grace—of “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22) through baptism. Additionally, Catholics take very seriously the Sacred Scripture, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).

Perhaps some Christians misinterpret both Paul and James, thus concluding that their statements about faith and works contradict each other. This is simply not true. There are differences in emphasis but no contradictions in teaching if one understands both properly. Paul and James agree that both “faith” and “works” are essential to Christian life.

Jesus himself makes this crystal clear in his description of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). From his judgment seat, the Lord will welcome into his eternal kingdom those who fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned—in other words, those who saw Christ in the suffering and acted in response, inspired by the love of God. Those who did not perform these “works” of love will “go off to eternal punishment” (25:46).

Catholics take the “works” cited above very seriously. As an example, empowered by the grace of Jesus Christ, Catholic Charities of East Tennessee Inc. addresses the unmet needs of the most vulnerable of our region by providing shelter, nourishment, counseling, and education in order to foster human dignity. Catholic Charities of East Tennessee delivers 17 services through 24 programs throughout the region. This agency’s services are provided regardless of religious affiliation, race, or ability to pay: fewer than 5 percent of the more than 20,000 clients served annually are Catholic.

Regarding the reprehensible leaflet titled “The Death Cookie”: The Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present—body and blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. Some Christians attack this doctrine as “unbiblical,” but Catholics believe that the Bible is forthright in declaring it (1 Corinthians 10:16–17 and 11:23–29 and, most forcefully, John 6:32–71).

Catholics recognize that many of our Christian brothers and sisters do not share our belief in the Real Presence. Even though we may not share the same doctrinal belief, we are thankful that our Christian brothers and sisters of different faiths deeply respect the Lord’s Supper and what it represents. Even the Southern Baptist Convention states, “The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.”

As bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, I pray that all Christian pastors will develop a spirituality of ecumenism, with a willingness to explore with other Christians the common beliefs of our Christianity—primarily our belief in the one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—rather than focus on our differences.

The leaflets produced by Chick Publications and distributed locally are hateful, discriminatory, and full of prejudice and bigotry.

Jesus warns that each of us will be judged by the same standard with which we judge others. If we are harsh or judgmental in our analysis of others, we will face harsh analysis. Those who are gentle and gra­cious toward others will be treated gently and graciously. Perhaps we should remember the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12).