It’s gone viral! On May 11, 2024, Kansas City Chief’s kicker, and three-time Super Bowl champion, Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech to Benedictine College in Kansas. He has garnered the attention of MSN, CNN, Fox News, Today, EWTN, PinkNews, Vox, The Washington Post, The View, AP News, Forbes, People, NBC, Deseret News, Sporting News, and more. What did this man say to become an internet, TV, and social media sensation?

In his roughly twenty-minute speech, Butker addressed with passion and urgency many wrongs he sees in our society and in the Catholic Church. He addressed President Biden, Covid, Pride month, Catholic Bishops and Priests, Catholics living together, men, and women. His speech is rich with content and would need hours to discuss thoroughly. While society is up in arms about his comments concerning women and the LBGTQ, I think there is a bigger issue in his speech. And that is the theology of the Catholic Church.

Sacrifice of Christ Jesus

Butker strongly upholds The Latin Mass. He states in the seventeenth minute, “I believe the holy sacrifice of the mass is more important than anything else.” I assume Butker holds to traditional Catholic teachings as outlined in their own catechism. As such, the Catholic Church teaches things about the Eucharist which are not biblical and even dangerous.

According to Catechism of the Catholic Church 1364¹, “As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch [Lamb] has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out.” This statement is false. Christ carried out the work of our redemption on the cross when he died a sacrificial death for our sins. Partaking of the Eucharist (or Communion) does not carry out redemption, rather it presently pictures the past redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:28 says, “[S]o Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Furthermore, the Catholic Church teaches, “that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change...[is] properly called transubstantiation.”² This teaching comes from a very literal interpretation of John 6:54. However, to “eat Jesus’ flesh and to drink His blood is a striking metaphor for belief in Jesus. The immediate context (John 6:40), the entire book context (John 1:12; 6:29; 20:31), and the rest of the Bible affirms this (see Acts 16:30–31; Romans 3:28; Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5–6).”³ To say the elements actually turn into Christ’s body, including His divinity and humanity, misses the metaphor and leads to thinking His body is somehow carrying out redemption again.

Moreover, the Catholic Church states, “As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.”⁴ However, the Eucharist is not offered as reparation for sins, but offered as a gracious remembrance by which the church has been saved and is edified in their union with Jesus Christ. No one should think that just because they ate the bread and drank the cup that their sins that day were washed away. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is given by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone!

John 1:12 - “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

How great is it that all our sins are bought and paid for on the cross and that by believing in Jesus and His work, we are eternally forgiven and God’s children. Let us now, from this truth, eat, drink and remember His great sacrifice as a church.

One. Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

In the nineteenth minute, nearing the end of the speech, Butker states, “Never be afraid to profess the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, for this is the church that Jesus Christ established, through which we receive sanctifying grace.” The issue here is believing one can only receive God’s sanctifying grace through the Catholic Church, as if she is the mediator between us and God or between us and Jesus. The Catholic Church has raised herself to an inappropriate level of mediator over people through misinterpretation of Scripture.

The Catholic Church speaking of “Outside the Church there is no salvation” states,
“How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence 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.”⁵

This statement is troubling and even confusing. The church is said to be necessary for salvation. But how so? Simply, one must enter into it and remain. Do they mean entering into the worldwide fold of God’s people by grace alone through faith in Christ alone—joining born again believers worldwide—and remaining there? Or do they mean entering into the Catholic Church as a visible institution? It seems to be the latter. I would agree that Jesus’ church is significantly important, but the Catholic Church elevates her physical institution to a place of inappropriate mediator. It is Christ Jesus who alone saves and brings us into his invisible church worldwide. We do gather together in local places to worship and serve God and live as His church body. But your salvation does not hinge on declaring or remaining in the visible institution of the Catholic Church. It hinges on responding to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith in Him.

A Final Word

I commend Harrison Butker’s passion and courage to stand up and address significant issues. His actions are inspiring. However, his theology is a big issue. This is not new as the Protestant Church broke from the Catholic Church centuries ago for its incorrect doctrine of salvation, mass, and authority. I too desire to see the world reformed, men and women thriving in the home, and pride month banished forever. But these things will do no ultimate good for people if they don’t have a true understanding of salvation first. Thanks be to God that He has given us a true understanding of salvation and the church in His holy word.

Jesus answered him (John 3:3), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”