Our family recently had to make the hard decision to leave our non-denominational Christian homeschooling co-op after being a part of it for many years. This was a painful move, especially for our children, who looked forward to their weekly activities and getting together with their friends.

Being a part of this group required us to originally sign a document called a “statement of faith” which aimed to ensure that we shared the group’s religious views. Being a non-denominational organization, the statement of faith was open enough that we, as Catholics, could sign it. It would not have been exactly how I would have written it (there a few other statements of faith who have been around a bit longer and are still OK), but not a show-stopper for us.

This week, however, we realized that the statement of faith had been slightly changed. There were only a few extra words added, but they seemed specifically placed to exclude Catholics.

It is well known that, as funny as it sounds, there are Christian circles in which Catholics are not considered Christians. And we suspected that over the years, there must have been a few folks in the co-op (very few) who probably did not like the fact that there were Catholics there. I don’t think anyone disliked us in particular, but our Catholicism must have bothered a few. Knowing that, we always went out of our way to never proselytize or bring up Catholicism or any other potentially hot topic while there. We praised and worshiped with them, read the Bible and prayed with them, and I always thought it was all a great testament to the unity that Christ prays for in the final chapter of his final Gospel.

I do not want to complain or point fingers. I honestly believe that everyone involved with this and many other Christian and homeschooling organizations are always trying to do the best they can, under what they believe is the truth and what God is calling them to do. What I’d like to do is to take this opportunity to explain the Catholic teaching behind our decision and why the changes made to the statement of faith were problematic for us.

The statement of faith contains six points. I’m going to focus only on the two that were modified.

First point: The 66 Books of the Bible

What do Catholics believe here?

The Catholics Church teaches that the Bible is the inspired word of God. While written by men, we believe that God inspired every word written in scripture, and not a word in scripture is written that was not God-inspired.

While some may wrongly believe that we take the writings of the popes, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or other documents as inspired by God, or as scripture, we do not. Some of these documents do carry the weight of truth, but only insofar as they affirm the faith given to the Church by Christ, and later the apostles. I think it’s important to remember that originally, Jesus left us a Church, not a book. It is the Church that originally spread the Gospel, that is the good news of Jesus Christ, even before a single word of the New Testament was written. And it was later the Church that wrote and compiled the writings of the New Testament.

To make it extra clear, Catholics believe only the Bible is the written revelation of God, not any other document or catechism.

The issue for us was the number of books.

As you may know, Catholic Bibles are bigger than Protestant Bibles. We include the books of Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, First and Second Maccabees and also the Greek additions to Esther and Daniel. With that, our Bible has 73 books.

I don’t want to get into the reasons for these differences. This is well researched and a fascinating topic if you’re interested. If you want more on the Catholic view on this, this video might be a good starter.

While we could somewhat agree with the original statement of faith’s wording, by adding the word “only,” we could no longer stand by it. It’s not that we don’t believe that the 66 books are God’s written revelation, or that we believe that there is written revelation outside the Bible; we just believe that there are more than 66 books in the Bible.

Second Point: Salvation by faith, and not by works

There’s a very old misunderstanding around what Catholics believe regarding salvation. Specifically, that we can “work our way” into heaven, by peforming specific prayers or acts. The truth is that we don’t. We see salvation as a free gift from God, and there’s nothing we can do to make God owe us a room in heaven.

So while this looks like an attempt to exclude Catholics, it’s a hit and a miss. I can stand by it in good conscience.

The discussion of salvation by faith and works is as old as the Protestant reformation. There’s been countless books, articles, videos, debates, and even conflicts around this topic. In the end, I do believe that all Christians agree on this way more than we think we do.

But considering the small change, it is hard not to see it as a way to squeeze out Catholics, even if missing the target.

Statement of Faith

While this has been difficult for our family, as we had so much invested in this group, there’s an upside.

The support we have received from most of the other families in the co-op has been overwhelming. And we so appreciate all of them (if you’re one of them, thank you).

It was a good opportunity for our children (and us!) to experience what I call a small-scale “white martyrdom:” a heroic witness of faith without the shedding of blood. Sometimes standing up for what you believe will hurt. And if we can bear the pain in the small things, we are training for when we’ll be asked to give up even more.

When God closes a window, He’s ready to open a door. It’s been a hard few days, but I know He has something in store for us, and the Abeids can’t wait to discover it.

God bless you all!