Why am I a Catholic?

After one has spent pages detailing the failures of the Church, primarily the hierarchy, to live up to the ideals of Christianity, it is necessary to say why I am still a practicing Catholic. Every day I run across people who ask “why if you feel that way are you still a Catholic?” The simple answer is Peter’s: “Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life!” But those words are increasingly difficult to distinguish in all the clamor and debate today. As one realizes that the Church only gives us the principles but we must make our own decisions as to their application, right and wrong are no longer simple obedience to another human, be he bishop or pope. Before God it is my decision, not theirs. And that is what my faith comes down to: it’s God and me and no one else

There are others who have supporting roles: my parents who shared their faith with me and my brothers as we recited the family rosary each night, my god-parents, my aunt and uncle, and some priests from my childhood. And my wife by the love she shows me each day, a tangible image of God’s unconditional love. But my Christian dignity is as an individual for whom Christ died and I am privileged to make the choice to respond to His love in love and trust and faith.

That’s not exactly the question I set out to answer. I suppose some may feel I’m too lazy to change or too stubborn or too dumb, that I don’t know any better. I don’t! I believe that Christ is the divine Redeemer, the Son of God. I’m not even sure what that means, which is what faith means, but I believe. And I believe that He lives not just with the Father in Heaven but also in His Church, His community of believers here on earth.

And while I believe that that community extends beyond the Catholic Church, to include many other communities who share our faith in Him, I believe in His abiding presence in this community. And especially His Eucharistic presence in the consecrated bread and wine we share at mass. And as Christ shared his life on earth with weak and sinful people and ate and drank with them, He still does so today in the Church. So I accept the sins and failures of the Church in its members.

So what are the benefits of staying in the Catholic Church? The authority of the Church? Yes and no. Yes to the authority of the Church as the whole People of God, No to the curial office boys in scarlet robes who appropriate that authority to themselves. Yes to my bishop who has never demeaned his office by mendacity in covering up the sins of his priests, who shows pastoral concern for his people. No to those who have lied and sheltered clerics who have shattered the lives of the little one in their care.

That’s not getting me very far. I believe that the fullness of the Church founded by Christ exists, inheres, is present in the Catholic Church and I want that fullness. I know other Christians who believe likewise about their Church, I believe it about mine. I do not question their faith and I pray that it brings them closer to Christ as I find mine does me. I believe that there are certain basic doctrines of our faith which are common to all Christians, but there may be differences in non-essentials, in how we verbalize or visualize or express these truths and that even in these teachings there is a hierarchy of truth, some beliefs are more foundational and essential than others.

And I believe that all of us are called to salvation, all of us are redeemed by Jesus Christ, not just Catholics or Baptists or Lutherans or Christians, that Christ died for all men and makes salvation available to all. I do not fully grasp how He does it, but I believe He can and He does.

I believe that at death life is not ended but merely changed. I cannot conceive “eternity” nor heaven nor even the presence of God, but I look forward to it, aware of my own inadequacy and sinfulness but also of God’s loving mercy.

I also cherish the sense of community, of common goals shared with others, of belonging to and working with others toward a goal, an ideal of loving, joyful fellowship, not always present, but once achieved never totally lost or forgotten. This sense of community is the essence and ideal of being church and of the support which church membership offers in times of stress or need , of anguish and loss of hope.

I started by quoting Peter: “Lord to whom should we go. You have the words of eternal life.” I finish with the same thought, the same security.