The controversial question and answer 80 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which condemns the "popish Mass," seems to some a harsh statement in this document otherwise admired for its warm pastoral style and genial tone. Viewing this question and answer as unnecessarily polemical and injurious to the Catechism's usefulness as a contemporary statement of the Christian faith, some Reformed denominations have removed it from the text. Cornel Venema provides...