Protestant in Catholic School Celebrates Christ-Centered Community

Claire Edgar, Staff Writer, Journalism I

As a Protestant in a Catholic school, I can’t always just accept what people tell me, even if it’s similar to my own belief.

Freshman year I was assigned to write a paper on Jonah. My theology teacher, Chris Greisen, asked us to write it on several points including on how the story of Jonah is historically false. I, however, believe it’s true, so Mr. Greisen gave me permission to try to prove its historical accuracy.

If anything, having to prove how Jonah is true strengthened my faith, since I had to dig deep into historical and theological texts to find out for myself if the story tested parallel to the facts.

As I go through my theology classes especially, I come across many differences that could be considered major or minor depending on what you consider a defining detail.

I, as a Protestant, believe that the Bible is the only basis for my belief. Everything that God wants us to believe and practice can be found in Scripture. I sometimes feel that this caused me to be more familiar with Scripture than my Catholic peers, but this definitely varies case by case.

Mr.Daniel Kriegl, our campus minister, and Mr. Greisen, for example, strike me as  Catholics who both revere Christ and are well-versed in Scripture.

In my experience, the Catholic belief system seems to be based on Scripture with some additions or embellishments that come from “ Sacred Tradition.” I’m not familiar with that Tradition and the ceremonial nature of the Mass, and I don’t take the Eucharist during Mass since I only view it as a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice.

We, of course, have differing views on the Protestant Reformation but recognize that every one of its players were humans and therefore given to error.

For the most part, I feel very similar to my Catholic peers. We both owe our salvation to the same Lord and Savior, and we both have similar world views.

The details might not all be exactly the same, but the community we experience is no different. There is a pervading sense of real and unconditional love that I feel as a student in a Christ-centered school.