(Editor’s Note: In this final article of a series answering common objections to the Catholic faith, the author shares the ways the Church has been a gift to her life)
9. Latin – Latin is a beautiful, classical language that is home to many of the landmarks of Western Civilization as well as many Church Fathers such as Augustine and Tertullian and the later, celebrated Thomas Aquinas. Being Catholic is a perfect excuse to learn Latin and to read “with the heart of the Church.”
8. Tradition and ritual – Catholic holidays (ie Holy Days) are making life meaningful to me. What significance does Christmas hold if Jesus is not real and important? Or Easter? The holidays and ordinary time, from mornings to evenings or from week to week, is marked by the Church’s liturgy and tradition. When I walk into Church on Christmas Eve after weeks of preparation in Advent to welcome the God of All Being to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ, it matters. The Church has been celebrating Mass for two thousand years, and to participate in these ancient rituals as an actual participant, not a mere observer, is profound. All that longing for a higher reality that I described in the first post finds its temporary realization in the Catholic sacraments and the tradition that surrounds them.
7. Community –I have found the church second only to my immediate family members as a social support and resource. After school and college are over, the world of conferences, interesting speakers, events, charity drives, concerts, etc. seems to evaporate for adults. Some work places have a culture and do some happy hours, but those are usually rather thin in the way of social support. Socializing is certainly not the primary function of church, but it is a useful function for us flesh-and-bones members. How do I find a moms group, a young adult group, a food drive to help with at Thanksgiving, help for senior citizens, help when I move to a new area or perhaps am pregnant and in need? Many organizations do this, but where do I find them? Google? But I know if I ask around at church or call the church office, I can immediately connect with dozens of concrete ways to both get help or get involved. And in the process, I’ll likely meet people who are also trying to dedicate their life to Christ and His truth.
6. Beauty – The rich heritage of the Church has unparalleled offerings, in my opinion, of beauty in art and music. Medieval music, chant and harp, are particularly special to me; in high school chorus, medieval and renaissance pieces were my runaway favorites and they still are. There is something about the harmonies and rhythms that are deeply beautiful to me. I think that this knowledge of the beauty Catholic culture gave the world is one of the reasons I never hated the Church. Walking into a medieval Cathedral and seeing the spiraling heights and intricate stained glass windows produced in me a true experience of awe. Granted, not all Catholic art is good, but at its best, the Church has given the world a great bounty in beautiful creations that truly do lift the mind.
5. An explanation for suffering – A common objection about Christianity is “how could a good God permit so much evil?” such as childhood disease, murder and natural disasters. I see it the opposite way. In the Christian Faith, suffering has an explanation—man’s errors and selfishness. God designed the world to be good, and He loved us enough to grant us free will and to respect our choices. In Adam and Eve, we used that free will to sin, to introduce disorder and pain and suffering into the natural world. Though ultimately, I trust that through God’s providence, all our errors will be used to bring about the greatest good there could be. That is not to say this is the “best of all possible worlds” the proposition that Voltaire famously mocks in Candide. The evil in the world is a lack that we humans eroded into God’s good plan with our poor decisions, and we suffer for it. Yet somehow, God in ways we’ll only see on the other side of eternity, God will bring goodness out of it.
4. A grounding of morality – Catholicism teaches that every person is created in the image of God and therefore endowed with infinite worth. I must respect my fellow humans and pursue the good for them and for me. This alone, provides a coherent explanation for human rights and a basis for morality. It is possible and laudable to respect and love human life if one is an atheist, but there is no intrinsic reason to see humans as more innately valuable than turtles or plankton. Though Christians do not always live up to it, in Jesus’s call to love our neighbors and our even our enemies, we have all the justification ever required to offer unfaltering care to others based simply on their humanness.
3. Self-reflection and forgiveness—Because of the sacrament of Confession, I am routinely encouraged to reflect on ways I’ve gone wrong, hurt myself or others. I repent and seek to avoid these in the future. Of course I remain imperfect, but it is very good to look honestly at my own flaws instead of just chalking it up to “but that’s who I am” or even worse: blaming another person. I am not just a nervous wreck or a person with a bad temper; it is unacceptable for me to judge other people’s hearts thinking I’ve done everything right. No. Those things are problems, that with God’s grace, I can overcome. The accountability and earnest self-awareness promoted by the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps stamp out some of my laziest, most narcissistic tendencies.
2. Truth – The Catholic Church claims to speak the Truth about reality, the God who made the world, the humans He put in the world and what is a good way for them to live. The Church’s philosophy and theology are grounded in Revelation, but have also been thought-out, reflected on, and expanded upon for thousands of years. There is a treasure trove of thought within the Church about these essential questions of human life. At the very least, being Catholic encourages me to consider these things and take the “big questions” seriously such as: Who am I? Where did I come from? What makes life meaningful? What is a good way to live? And I believe that the Church offers an extremely cohesive, convincing and satisfying set of answers for these, indeed, the most satisfying I have encountered.
1. Salvation – Of course, the One God became a man in Jesus Christ to reconcile all humanity back to God so that we can enjoy eternal beatitude with Him in Heaven. Faith in Him and His promises is the number one reason to be Catholic. The narrative of Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation and Redemption both provide deep meaning to my earthly life and offer hope for the eternal continuation of meaning and goodness even after death. What could be better?
Stephanie Pacheco is a writer, blogger, and speaker in Northern Virginia. She earned a M.A. in Theological Studies, summa cum laude, from Christendom College and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Religious Studies with a minor in Government and Political Theory. She has presented at a conference of the American Catholic Historical Association and for Christian Women in Action. She lives with her husband and two young children.
