In the recent decades, many Protestant Christians – especially those involved in the disciplines of Spirituality and Spiritual Theology – have sought to broaden Protestant spirituality by seeking to glean from the spiritual wealth of the Catholic faith.

More Protestant Christians are using the signum crusis (sign of the cross), cultivating spiritual disciplines such as silent retreats, doing the lectio divina (divine reading of Sacred Scripture), using the term “spiritual formation”, and practising a variety of other spiritual disciplines which in past centuries were relegated only to the realm of Catholic spirituality.

Of course, there are other spiritual disciplines which remain uniquely Catholic (and Orthodox). By and large, Protestants continue to be reserved about disciplines such as the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, veneration of the cross, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and praying the rosary, among others.

The openness to glean from the wealth of spiritual disciplines of the Catholic Church is indeed commendable, and one can be sure that the Church welcomes that openness in positive spirit. There is however more to be said about that.

At this point of time, the openness to such spiritual disciplines is found only among individual Protestants and perhaps in some seminaries as a part of their academic exploration in Christian Spirituality. These disciplines are most often not a part of the ecclesial life of the local Protestant congregations. In fact, any Protestant individual who overtly demonstrates such disciplines, for example, genuflection before the altar, would be deemed strange by his/her fellow community members.

Hence, the adoption of any form of Catholic spirituality by a Protestant Christian is limited to the realm of personal piety, no matter how admirable that may be. The communal dimension of such spirituality, especially in the corporate worship of these communities, is still largely (even if not totally) non-existent. The corporate worship of the Protestant community, often being minimalist in its orientation, does not provide an environment for the cultivation of these spiritual disciplines to their fullest potential.

Thus, although the individual develops in personal spirituality, this growth is dislocated from the corporate spiritual devotion of the community. In a very real sense, the Protestant individual who attempts to cultivate such spiritual disciplines is doing it apart from the rest of his/her community and undertakes this task away from the ecclesial environment like a fish out of water.

One can genuflect, kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, pray the rosary, and make the sign of the cross in a Catholic parish, and no one would stare with suspicion. But try doing these things in a Protestant parish, no matter how spiritual the people there know you to be, and you would certainly attract no small amount of attention and perhaps some expressions of disdain from passersby.

Of course, the personal cultivation of any such spiritual practices is not a bad thing. It is certainly good and is to be encouraged. But in this sense (among other considerations, to be sure), the Catholic Church continues to hold that the fullness of the Christian faith is found only in the Catholic Church. It is only the Church that bears the marks of the faith in its fullness – the Church that is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, that preserves the fullness of the faith and spirituality passed down from the Fathers – which provides for an environment of spirituality that connects the Christian with the faith of generations of believers long past.

In Catholic liturgy, we bow together, make the sign of the cross together, and adore the Blessed Sacrament together, among a variety of spiritual practices we undertake together. This is very much what makes it Catholic.