Can Catholics Be Born Again?

This past week we had an interesting discussion on being “born again” at our bible study at the Falmouth Hospital. I was leading the group of about 10 with questions from the first letter of John, chapter 3. About two thirds of the group is Protestant and one third Catholic, so we have a good mix. I have to admit that when I hear that term I am sort of put off. I think, no, I am not a “born again” Christian. That is for those Protestants from the Bible Belt who think that the only way to be saved is by being “born again”. Most of us have our faith given to us by our parents. We are baptized when we are babies and then we are brought up in our Catholic faith through catechesis and through the faith that is passed on to us from our parents. There are some select who chose to convert and become Catholic, but is that because they are being born again, or is it because they have studied the Catholic faith and realize that it is the one true faith instituted by Christ and has continued through the last 2000 years through the successors of Peter, the first pope, until and including Pope Francis. I understand that “born again” Christians do have a strong commitment to their faith and belief in Jesus Christ. That is a good thing. Anyone who believes that Jesus is the straight and narrow path to heaven is moving in the right direction.

The subject, however, did make me think and wonder, “What does the Catholic Church say about being born again.” After all, as several in the bible study group pointed out to me, Jesus says in John 3:3, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” They were very adamant that in order to be saved, you had to be born again. In other words, you had to formally and publicly proclaim that Jesus is your savior. But there were a couple of holdouts, including me, that said there are many good people in the world who are not born again and yet I believe they will enter into heaven. I believe in a loving, kind, merciful and forgiving God. Not one who prevents good people from entering heaven. In fact, doesn’t Jesus say in Mt 8:11-12, “I say to you, many will come
from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

With all of these questions in my mind, I decided to research what the Catholic Church says about being born again.



 I remember the days when the Church said that the only way to heaven was to be a Catholic. No Protestant could enter heaven. Actually, the Protestants thought the same about the Catholics. Some popes were very adamant that only Catholics could enter heaven. Pope Boniface VIII, in 1302 AD proclaimed, “The Most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, also Jews, heretics, and schismatics can ever be partakers of eternal life, but that they are to go into the eternal fire.”

It was during Vatican II that the Church softened its teaching on salvation. It says in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.”(846) Basically, they are saying that outside the Church there is no salvation. It also says in the next paragraph as quoted from Lumen Gentium, “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 16).

So, how does one become a member People of God? By being born from above. In the Catechism paragraph 782 it says, “One becomes member of this body not by physical birth, but by the "birth from above", "water and Spirit" ( Jn 3 : 3-5), that is, by faith in Christ and Baptism.” Going back to the quote from John 3:3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, non-Catholics say “born again”, but the more correct meaning is “born from above” or sometimes interpreted as “born anew.” And the way we are born from above is by “water and Spirit,” in other words, Baptism. When I administer a Baptism, I tell the family that the child has been born physically in their family and now in Baptism they are being born spiritually into the Family of God. In effect, they are being born from above. So when a Protestant asks if you have been “born again” you can respond  “Yes, I have been born again—I was born from above when I was baptized.”

Deacon Greg Beckel