EWTN News reports on Joe Soltis, a Cleveland man who, alongside his son Jake, is presented as a model of Catholic fatherhood. The article highlights Jake’s construction of a basement sauna for his ailing mother and Joe’s involvement in “Prayer at the Heart,” an ecumenical initiative uniting Catholics and Protestants for “spiritual awakening” and evangelism. While the article portrays these actions as exemplary Catholic witness, a closer examination reveals a profound departure from integral Catholic faith, symptomatic of the post-conciliar Church’s embrace of religious indifferentism and its systematic undermining of the Church’s exclusive salvific mission. The Soltis family’s commendable natural virtues are tragically misdirected by a “Catholicism” that has capitulated to the very errors condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium.
The Ecumenical Abomination: “Prayer at the Heart” and the Betrayal of Catholic Truth
The most glaring theological error in the article, and indeed in the actions of Joe Soltis, is his active participation in “Prayer at the Heart,” an ecumenical project explicitly designed to unite Catholics and Protestants. Soltis states, “We can all unite around Christ,” and the project’s goal is “one million Christians praying for one million friends to know Christ.” This seemingly benign aspiration is, in reality, a direct assault on the Catholic Church’s solemnly defined doctrine that She is the *only* true religion and the *sole* ark of salvation.
Pope Pius IX, in his Syllabus of Errors (1864), unequivocally condemned the notion that “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church” (Proposition 18). Furthermore, he condemned the idea that “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ” (Proposition 17). The ecumenical movement, by fostering the illusion of a common “Christian” faith that transcends denominational differences, implicitly denies these fundamental truths. It promotes the very “indifferentism” that the Church has consistently anathematized.
The article quotes Soltis saying, “The early apostles didn’t just stay in their church and pray. They went out and evangelized. It’s time for Christians to get out of their homes and churches and bring Jesus to people.” While evangelization is indeed a core Catholic duty, the article’s framing, and Soltis’s ecumenical approach, reduces it to a generic “bringing Jesus to people” without any mention of the necessity of conversion to the Catholic Church, the sole means of salvation. This is a hallmark of the post-conciliar “New Evangelization,” which often prioritizes a vague “spiritual experience” over the rigorous demands of Catholic dogma and the call to formal entry into the true Church. The Church’s mission is not merely to “bring Jesus” in an abstract sense, but to bring souls to the sacraments, to the true faith, and to the authority of the Roman Pontiff. This ecumenical project, by blurring the lines between truth and error, actively hinders genuine conversion and perpetuates the spiritual blindness of those outside the Church.
The “Catholic” Embrace of Religious Indifferentism
The article’s uncritical presentation of Soltis’s ecumenical endeavors reflects the pervasive spirit of religious indifferentism that has infected the post-conciliar Church. This spirit, condemned by numerous popes, holds that all religions are equally valid paths to God, or at least that one should not insist on the unique truth claims of Catholicism. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Immortale Dei (1885), clearly stated: “The Church, indeed, deems it unlawful to place the various forms of divine worship on the same footing as the true religion, but does not, on that account, condemn those rulers who, for the sake of securing some great good or hindering some great evil, allow patiently custom or usage to be a kind of sanction for each kind of religion having its place in the State.” This is a far cry from actively promoting interfaith prayer and “unity” as a means of “spiritual awakening.”
The article’s failure to highlight the theological impropriety of such ecumenism is a testament to the success of the conciliar revolution in normalizing heresy. What was once considered a grave error, a denial of the Church’s divine constitution, is now presented as a laudable expression of “love” and “unity.” This is the very “evolution of dogma” that St. Pius X warned against in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), where he condemned the Modernist idea that “dogmas, sacraments, and hierarchy, both in concept and in reality, are merely modes of explanation and stages in the evolution of Christian consciousness” (Proposition 54). The ecumenical movement is a direct fruit of this Modernist evolution, reducing the Church’s unique role to merely one among many “Christian” communities.
The Naturalistic Focus: “Love” Without Dogma
The article emphasizes Soltis’s call for men to “love as Jesus loves” and to “sacrifice,” stating, “Sacrifice, be willing to lay your life down. Strive to love like Christ, knowing you will sometimes fall short.” While these are indeed virtues, the article’s presentation, and Soltis’s own words, often reduce “love” to a naturalistic, emotional, or practical act, devoid of its supernatural and doctrinal foundation. Jake Soltis says, “Love is a choice and not an emotional feeling.” While true in part, this definition lacks the Catholic understanding of charity as a theological virtue, infused by God, and inseparable from truth.
The article’s focus on “service to others” and “sacrificial faith” without explicitly linking these to the necessity of the Catholic faith, the sacraments, and the Church’s authority, is a common trait of post-conciliar discourse. It often presents a “social gospel” or a “humanitarian Christianity” that, while commendable in its natural aspects, fails to address the primary purpose of human existence: the salvation of souls through the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), established the Feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the “secularism of our times, so-called laicism, its errors and wicked endeavors,” which “began with the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations.” The article’s emphasis on natural virtues, while ignoring the supernatural framework, inadvertently contributes to this secularizing trend.
The Omission of the Church’s Exclusive Salvific Role
Perhaps the most significant omission in the article, and in the Soltis family’s public witness, is any explicit mention of the Catholic Church as the *only* true Church of Christ, outside of which there is no salvation. While they mention praying the Rosary and consecrating their family to the Sacred Heart, there is no indication that they understand the necessity of formal conversion to Catholicism for their Protestant “Prayer at the Heart” partners. This silence is deafening and reveals the depth of the post-conciliar apostasy.
The Church has always taught, as expressed in the Decree for the Copts (Council of Florence, 1442), that “the Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life everlasting; but that they will go into the ‘everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end of life they are joined with Her.” This dogma, extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation), is not a matter of opinion but of divine revelation. The ecumenical movement, by fostering a spirit of false unity, directly contradicts this solemn teaching and leads souls to believe they can be saved outside the Church, thereby imperiling their eternal salvation.
The “Catholic” Embrace of Secular Solutions
Joe Soltis’s reading of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, which he called “diabolically brilliant,” and his subsequent plan to “mobilize Christians” in a “Catholic, Christian, biblical manner,” reveals a reliance on secular strategies and organizational methods to achieve spiritual ends. While prudence dictates the use of natural means, the article’s uncritical presentation of such an approach, without emphasizing the primacy of grace, prayer, and the sacraments, suggests a naturalistic understanding of evangelization.
The Church’s mission is not merely to “mobilize” people for a “national movement” but to convert souls to Christ and His Church. This requires not just practical initiatives but a profound understanding of Catholic doctrine, a life of sanctifying grace, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The article’s focus on “practical initiatives” like “neighborhood prayer walks” and “prayer request lines” without grounding them in the fullness of Catholic truth risks reducing evangelism to a mere social or psychological exercise, rather than a supernatural work of God’s grace operating through His Church.
Conclusion: A Witness Distorted by Conciliar Apostasy
The Soltis family’s natural virtues of love, sacrifice, and service are commendable in themselves. However, their public witness, as presented in this article, is tragically distorted by the pervasive errors of the post-conciliar Church. Their embrace of ecumenism, their naturalistic understanding of “love” and “evangelism,” and their silence on the Church’s exclusive salvific role are not merely personal opinions but symptoms of a systemic apostasy that has infected the highest levels of the “Catholic” hierarchy.
This article, by uncritically presenting such a distorted witness, inadvertently exposes the spiritual bankruptcy of the post-conciliar “Catholicism.” It demonstrates how even well-intentioned individuals can be led astray by a “Church” that has abandoned its divine mission and embraced the very errors it once condemned. True Catholic fatherhood and evangelization demand an uncompromising adherence to the integral Catholic faith, a clear proclamation of the Church’s unique role in salvation, and a rejection of all forms of religious indifferentism and false ecumenism. Until the structures occupying the Vatican return to the immutable Tradition of the Church, such “Catholic” witness will remain a dangerous illusion, leading souls away from the narrow path that leads to eternal life.
Source:
Cleveland father and son live out sacrificial faith after mother’s near-death illness (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 21.06.2026