Father Doyle started out well enough in saying that he believes that “the Catholic Church is the true church,” but then he quickly went off course in the same sentence by writing that the Catholic Church “is — among the Christian religions — the closest approximation of what Jesus came to establish.” No, the Catholic Church is not some “approximation” what Jesus came to establish, the Catholic Church was in fact founded by Jesus when Christ said to Simon Peter, the first pope, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).  The Second Vatican Council in paragraph 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, (Lumen gentium), and paragraphs 3-4 of the Decree on Ecumenism, affirmed that Christ “established here on earth” only one church and instituted it as a “visible and spiritual community” that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. “This church, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him.”

Father Doyle then gives an incomplete quote from paragraph 219 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, when he says that the word of God and the life of grace can be found in other religions and that “Christ’s Spirit uses these churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation.” Actually the full quote of that sentence points to the essential role of the Catholic Church in saying, “Christ’s Spirit uses these churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church.”

Finally, Father Doyle tells the distraught father that he “should forego, certainly, for now, any attempt to talk your daughter out of her religious choice,” that he should be “excited” that his daughter has joined a Protestant church, and that he is “confident that she is on the path to heaven,” so he can “peacefully leave the rest in God’s hands and sleep soundly.” This answer seems to come more from the “don’t worry, be happy” school of thought than from sound theology.

Actually, many parents are rightfully worried about their children who have left the practice of the Catholic faith. In fact, we should all be concerned about our salvation even if we are Catholic, since the simple fact of being a Catholic does not guarantee salvation either. Presuming salvation without cooperating with God’s grace and presuming pardon of one’s sins without repenting of them is called the sin of presumption.

St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:28 wrote that “there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Paul also spoke in Romans 9:2 of having “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” over the unbelief of his kinsmen and their separation from Christ. Paul is anxious because of the real possibility that grief and anguish could fall on him if the members of the church and his relatives abandoned the faith. Even Jesus wept over Jerusalem’s failure to accept him (Luke 19:41-44), and when he looked around at his adversaries, Jesus “grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5).

In sum, parents should not nag their children since that could be counter-productive (see Colossians 3:21), but we should not cease to be concerned for them, pray for them, give them a good example, and entrust them to God’s mercy.