Well, I had lots of questions.
There was the stuff I never learned in Catholic school.
And there was the stuff I did learn, but didn’t know why
we believed it.
I knew the basics, but clearly, there were no limits to
the depths of my ignorance.
What did the early Christians believe? Do we have to
confess every sin in Confession? Is purgatory more like a waiting room,
or fire-filled torture? Will we have our real bodies in heaven, or do we just
float around as souls? How did the first Christians interpret Scripture? How
did the Catholic Church decide which books would become part of the Bible? Do
Jews and Catholics share the same teachings on morality? What’s the Church
teaching on genetic manipulation of embryos? Cloning? tatoos? Hypnosis? Marital
and pre-marital guidelines? Surrogate mothers? Is Christ’s once-and-for-all
Sacrifice of the Cross made supernaturally present to us during the Sacrifice
of the Mass? Was it true that all other Christian denominations had broken off
the Catholic Church at some point? What were legitimate things to pray for?
So I had to keep running to the bookstore, perusing
magazines, sifting through web sites and calling the pope (but he was busy
praying).
Meanwhile, I found that friends my age were wondering
about many of the very same things. People wanted to know what the Church taught
on one issue or another. I think they recognized that if the Church with a
direct link to Christ’s apostles didn’t have it right, then there was no hope
for anyone else getting it right. But without a monk in our closet to consult,
it can be hard to pinpoint the answers.
The answers are all out there. Those who seek them will
find there is no end to the majesty and richness of the Catholic faith, and the
overwhelming evidence that it’s true, true, true.
The more stuff I come across,
the more I realize I have not even begun to tap the surface.
But here’s what I’ve got so
far.
-Claire
P.S. By no means do I mean to imply that all Catholics
are as ignorant as I was. In fact, I would say I was an embarrassment to the
others. When I actually got my foot in the door at daily Mass, which I didn’t
even know existed, much less that the pope wants us all to go, I found all
sorts of people of all ages in the pews, many of whom I’ve known since I was
young. These people knew exactly what was going on.
When I showed up for Catholic Bible study, some of the characters there had so much knowledge of Old and New Testament history and interpretation, it seemed they must have read nothing but theology since they were two years old. Which reminds me of my grandfather, who taught himself Greek during retirement so he could read the Bible in that language.
So the moral is: don’t be like me. Don’t ignore something
that is supposed to be the center of our life.
Don’t ignore the God that will be the center of our life
from the moment we die and for the next billion years after that. Don’t ignore
the God that wants to hug us in heaven so much that he left paradise, and came
here to have his flesh torn apart so that this would be possible.
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SAINT AUGUSTINE ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
“In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most
justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the
Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope,
enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me,
beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His
resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15-19), down to the
present episcopate.
“And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so
many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish
to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church
meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.
“Such then in number and importance are the precious
ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic
Church, as it is right they should...With you, where there is none of these
things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds
my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion...For my
part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the
Catholic Church.” -- ST. AUGUSTINE
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