Why I’m Catholic
Hear me when I say, I could write an extensive book on all of the reasons I am Roman Catholic. This blog post is intended only to share just a fraction of my personal experience within being a Catholic, as well as why I decided to remain Catholic. This has not been a linear journey that has only gone up – I have had real questions, real doubts, and hit real crossroads asking myself, “is this really how I want to live out my faith journey?”
Yet, by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit, I have discovered the abundance of freedom in being a Catholic. This is not by any means me shunning those who are non-Catholics. I have learned an incredible amount of zeal and passion for our Lord Jesus Christ from my Protestant brothers and sisters, particularly in my time at Samford University. My love for God’s Word has only deepened, and to the witnesses of Christ’s love that I discovered during my college years, I could never thank you enough.
With that being said, there is a particular wisdom I have found in the Catholic Church that I have yet to see anywhere else. There is clear doctrine, captivating mystery, and an abundance of resources as I seek to grow in deeper communion with my Lord and Savior for the remainder of my days.
So… why am I Catholic?
(This list is not exhaustive, but if I had to summarize the faith)
It’s the vessel I met Jesus Christ through - this testimony is personal.
I believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church - and I firmly believe this is the way Christ Jesus intended His Church to exist when He established it. (Matthew 16:18)
The Sacraments are avenues to carry out the gifts that Jesus has given us - and they are what sustain me. Hear me when I say, the God of the universe is not BOUND to the Sacraments. However, He does give us good gifts, and the gift of the Church provides us with these outward signs of invisible graces dealt by the Spirit of God. (Baptism: renewal and adoption, Reconciliation: forgiveness and reparation, Eucharist: intimacy and ultimate sacrifice, Matrimony: vocation that mirrors Christ’s relationship with His Church, the familial unity of the Trinity, Holy Orders: emphasizes the gift of the ministerial priesthood handed down through holy men walking with Christ, Anointing of the sick: physical healing and blessing)
Strong theology = strong Mariology (“If Mary isn’t the Mother of God, then to whom did she give birth?”) The Church is only concerned with mirroring the life of Christ - following the Father’s will, ministering to His people, and loving His mother. Why would I be scandalized to love who He loved?
The Church’s universality - I can go anywhere throughout the world and experience a Liturgy that encompasses worship that is honoring to God, surpassing all lingual and cultural barriers (I speak from experience, having attended the Holy Mass in Italy numerous times)
The clarity of the Church’s teachings… I have learned the great trustworthiness of Mother Church. (The Catholic Church has been referred to as a Mother for centuries, notably mentioned by St. Cyprian who spoke of the spiritual family of Christ. This family has been born through water and the Spirit - John 3:5, and is also known as the Bride of Christ - Ephesians 5. This Mother births, nourishes, teaches, and protects, just as any good mother would.) There is a centralized location where I can find the synopsis of all we believe, found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This poetic book is a comprehensive summary of Church teachings, broken into different parts. It is digestible, relatable, and crystal clear on what the faith is and isn’t composed of. If you have any preexisting notions about the Catholic faith, it is vital that you fact check what the Church actually teaches, found within the Catechism.
The best way I ever heard the Catholic Church described was by my dear friend, Claire Drennen. She said “the Catholic Church is like an accountable friend.”
This has stuck with me.
What true friend doesn’t want what’s best for their counterpart?
Think about it.
Who is your best friend?
Is it your husband, sister, roommate?
Can you claim to truly love them, support them, and want what’s best for them if you’re not willing to walk with them through every season?
When times get tough, do you, as a friend, say, “Good luck! Hope everything turns out alright.”
Surely not.
You journey with them,
Pray with them,
And even weep with them.
You invite them,
Encourage them,
And seek to carry them when they are too weak to even walk.
You hold them accountable.
You know what they need even when they don’t.
This – this is how I perceive the Catholic Church.
Within my own faith journey, I have had plenty of opportunities to discover a life with Christ outside of Catholicism. Especially during my time in college, there were numerous chances to get involved with local churches and ministries. All of which were beautiful and on fire, and full of the same Spirit of God that I had come to know in my own life. There was a population of vibrant young people, powerful moments of worship, and genuine opportunities for service within the community.
How could one turn this down?
I began asking myself this question as I wrestled with Catholicism heavily in college. I felt like I had little Catholic community, like I was isolated on an island, just a few hundred feet away from a peninsula of Believers.
Why not just swim to shore and find a home with the people who were eager for me to join them?
Well,
It was within my own personal conviction of theology that drew me deeper and deeper into what the Catholic faith TRULY has to offer. This wasn’t a matter of if these Christians knew Jesus. This was a matter of knowing Jesus and being willing to ask, “how do I believe I could live out my faith in a way that is most conducive to what He commanded of me, as well as what would be most honoring to my Heavenly Father?”
My faith was no longer masked by preferences.
My high school experience with the Catholic Church was no longer my reality.
I had a lively youth group, but now I found myself in Mass by myself.
I had friends in my bible studies, but now I was hard pressed to find community.
I was used to prayer groups, but now I was alone in the chapel.
Did I even know how to hear His voice?
Was He truly with me?
It was within the accountability and friendship of the Catholic Church that I was reminded just why I was there.
When things: good and bad, were stripped away, all that was left was me and Him.
Between the two of us, particularly during the hours I spent with Him alone in the Eucharistic Adoration chapel at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, I had a few options. As with any other relationship, I could address everything. I could acknowledge that we were in an intimate space but not necessarily an intimate relationship. I had fears, doubts, concerns, questions.
I could tell Him I had been hurt by Him. I could tell Him I didn’t think His ways were trustworthy. I could yell at Him and pound on His chest and let all my anger out. I could sit and pout with my arms crossed, and eventually cry like a child in her Father’s arms. I could tell Him I felt like He had forgotten me… and I could see what He had to say in return.
Or, in my freedom, I could choose to ignore all of this. I could choose to ignore Him. I could take the easier way out. I could go through the motions, watch the clock tick as time passed in “prayer time” when I wasn’t doing much praying at all. I could write Him off, settle on my ideas that He had better things to do with His time, get up, and eventually leave.
But that’s not what Love does.
So, I began searching.
And this wasn’t just skimming the surface.
This was a DEEP dive.
I wrestled with things like:
Is “Tradition” just a word Catholics use to cover up age-old practices that have no scriptural basis?
Yes Mary was important, but why should I show her more honor than the next person in the Bible who was obedient to God?
Why do I have to confess my sins to a priest if the Lord can forgive me in private?
Why do people baptize infants if all throughout scripture adults are choosing baptism for themselves?
How do I know that the Eucharist is actually what Catholics claim it is?
You see, for a while, I feared my curiosity.
I was afraid that my questions would lead to a dead-end. That no one before me had wondered what I wondered. I lacked trust in the Church in more ways than one, and I was fearful that I would finally learn that the Catholic Church wasn’t the Church of Jesus Christ, and that I would need to uproot the faith I’d always known for the sake of discovering something biblical, something true.
Praise be to God that I could not have been more wrong.
Through years of deep research into the Mass, the Church fathers, early Church history, study of scripture, study of Catholic teaching, conversations with clergy, and countless hours spent in honest prayer, I have come to a conclusion.
My conclusion is that the Catholic Church is to be counted as trustworthy.
Mother Church is a font of wisdom that no human could ever attain on their own. The Holy Spirit is the One animating every part of the Church: her leadership, her people, her teachings.
The Church is a safety net, to catch me when I fall.
The Church is an accountable friend, who knows what I need and when I need it.
And most of all,
The Church is a home. A forever type of home – the one that walks hand-in-hand with us until we are, at last, in full Communion with the Lover of our souls.
So brothers and sisters,
Let us rejoice.
The gates of hades shall never prevail. (Matthew 16:17)
If you are interested in continuing a conversation on this topic, please don’t hesitate to reach out. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If you are eager to learn more, below are resources I have found helpful on my Catholic Walk:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Hallow App
The Fourth Cup - Scott Hahn
Rome Sweet Home - Scott Hahn
The Way of the Disciple
The Bible in a Year - Fr. Mike Schmitz (Or literally any of his videos)
Ascension Presents Youtube (Fr. Mike, Fr. Mark-Mary)
Pints with Aquinas Podcast
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist - Brant Pitre
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary - Brant Pitre
Let us, like St. Paul, pray with the truth of Ephesians 1:17-23:
“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”
Amen.
