What do you say...

[Lost Squirrel]

to the "had it Catholics" to open their minds to Lutheranism?
My brother in law and fiancé are getting married next year and had a rude awakening from her RCC when they tried to secure their date. Apparently, the church she had been regularly attending (and went through the sacraments) since she was an infant has no record of her as a parishioner. Now, she does come from a large family, so perhaps they thought she was one of her sisters. Or maybe they lost the file altogether (I doubt this old church has digitized records).
Anyway, she expressed interest in our new church because we have found such great delight with their community and worship. What do you say to those folks who just "had it" with their church and to make the transition easier, especially when we are told that one could burn in Hell for eternity for leaving the Catholic church? Plus, our church (their nearest Lutheran) is a good half hour drive for them. I had it easy when denom shopping because my mind was a clean slate, and I openly looked into different theologies. I'm sure she will have a ton of hesitancy, specifically due to the stern RCC teachings about other denominations (esp Protestants). How do the evangelist teams deal with these?

PS, she is leaving the sister church I left (the one which merged with mine). My BIL has never been baptized in any faith.

 

[Lost Squirrel]

What kept my mind open is that I held my core values and beliefs: the holy Trinity, virgin birth, god's unconditional love, Christ's death upon the cross for our sin. The rest of the "stuff" were just details for which I analyzed on a denomination-by-denomination basis. It was a bit of footwork on my behalf, and not something I would expect she would do. I liked the ELCA's open communion as we are all called to the table, role of women, and just the overall feel of the service. I can honestly say my Lutheran church feels more Catholic than my former Catholic church!
Would my story be a good start? I also have the Luther movie as well as some rather unChristian anti-Protestant and also some very pro-Lutheran news clippings from our Catholic newsletter. The inconsistencies and counterpoints are actually entertaining. Those articles just sealed the deal for me, putting my mind at ease in knowing my choice to leave the RCC was right.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Stories are a good start.
The "if you leave the RCC you will burn in hell" is not an exclusive argument to the RCC. But certainly something one must face when leaving. The ultimate question is do you believe it? Do you believe that the RCC is the only church on earth and ex ecclasia nulla salus (that is, there is no salvation outside the church)? If you hold to those two beliefs, then it becomes impossible to leave. But my response is that salvation is not rooted in the church, it is rooted in Christ. The church has no authority but Christ's. And so now one must either state the RCC is the exclusive hands of Christ's keys or the RCC is not the exclusive church.
Basically, since Christ is the foundation for salvation-not the Pope or council or cardinals or denominational line-then salvation exists where Christ is. Is he in other church bodies? My answer is yes. One of the keys to the Lutheran understanding of the church is that wherever and whenever God's Gospel is preached purely and his sacraments are administered according to his ordinance among believers there is the church. Our denomination understands the church beyond denominational boundaries.
You are good in highlighting the foundations of faith. The trinity as understood in the creeds is foundational. And share why you are confident that it was ok to leave the RCC for the Lutheran faith.

As to the long drive, sometimes that is a necessity. Which is more important, the thirty minute drive (and expensive gas) or the community of faith gathered around God's word? When you live in a geographically restricting place sometimes it means longer drives. Honestly if you ask people in the LCMS/WELS forum some of them will tell you the great extents they go to in order to be in a church they feel biblical and confessional (now I may disagree with their assessment of some churches in between, but the point is where the priority is for them).
In terms of relation to protestants, the Catholic church has not really settled on that. They are trying hard to remain adamantly exclusive yet the past 50 years have had some foundational moves of extension and inclusion among Protestants (which no doubt is why these are often some of the most controversial parts of modern Catholic history). The second Vatican council was the first council to invite protestants to the discussions and at one point refer to them as I believe it was "separated brethren" (although I'm not sure everyone or anyone is clear what exactly that means). Also there was the Lutheran-Catholic Joint Document on Justification (equally controversial among Lutherans) which was a means to trying to find some common ground or language with Lutherans on this core belief (although I believe they are ultimately still fundamentally apart on this issue, they found words they could both agree to while meaning something different).
Finally, you can help her ease the way, but she needs to be ready to move on her own. To be honest, what I currently hear is that she is more upset with poor administration than a poor church. I may be wrong. And she may not know anything else, and come to your church and be drawn in by God's gospel of grace and the community of the people. But she may not be ready to leave Catholicism. I'm just not hearing at least an overwhelming desire to leave, more of a frustration of record keeping. If it leads her to your church I think that's great, but just be aware that while you lead the horse to the water, no guarantee it'll be gulping it down. We can only hope and pray, and leave that to the Holy Spirit.

 

[Lost Squirrel]

Fantstic summary of what I was thinking (but struggled to put into words)!

What I failed to convey is that she had essentially been attending the same church we had, and experienced the same frustrations with the Diocese and parish as us. So it is more than just the shoddy recordkeeping, but also the haphazard leadership.

I honestly don't know how much of theology or tradition or whatever she values. That's why I would like to sit down, talk to her and find out what is important to her. She asked for our bulletin from last week, so we'll see. That's a good start in itself.

 

[RedTulipMom]

If she is asking the questions, i would keep answering her and even invite her to a service, then leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit of God.