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12 reasons
I enjoy being Catholic
Kudos to Kathy Coffey whose
article titled: "Ten Reason to be Catholic" was
the springboard for me posting my 12 reasons.... many
of them the same :)
I ENJOY BEING A CATHOLIC BECAUSE ...
- We are the community that
remembers Jesus
I see this especially in the surrendered lives of those
who show us Christ's face, His hands and eyes and words
and compassionate touch. We call it the Mystical Body,
but it means that we recognize Jesus in the laughter
and voices of those around us; little kids, retired
folks, teenagers, all those in whom Christ continues
to take flesh.
While all Christian communities remember Jesus, Catholics
do so in a particular, liturgical way. When someone
we love has died, we usually try to recapture memories
of that person through our senses. We remember Grandma's
tortillas, or the song that Grandpa sang off-key. One
of my friends whose husband died broke down when she
smelled his after-shave lingering in his shirts.
We remember Jesus in the same way. We remember Him
as we enter into the un-bloody sacrifice of Calvary
in daily Mass:
- the sound of His voice telling stories;
- teaching us through the Word of God read to us
- His words as He breathes onto bread and wine which transforms them
into His Own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
In Scripture, we find him still in
the simplest human activities, eating and drinking,
gathering with friends and telling stories.
Personally, I set a reminder every Friday at 3:00pm.
When that reminder goes off, I say a small prayer of
thanksgiving or I say one decade of
the Chaplet of Divine Mercy ( it takes less than a
minute to complete! )
- Catholicism has universality
We Irish have our gifts, but mariachi music isn't one
of them. So I've been grateful to the people with Spanish
and African-American backgrounds for the richness,
the color, the vibrancy they bring to our faith. No
one tradition has the resources to meet the challenges
of the next century. Yet in the Church, we find the
pluralism that the human race will need to survive.
What universality means in practical terms is that
on Wednesday night I can visit a poor parish where
the people come through pouring rain to sit on folding
chairs in a gym with a leaky roof. Then on Saturday,
I can fly to a mega-church which cost millions, a parish
with the highest concentration of M.D.'s and Ph.D.'s
in the country. In both places, we explore the same,
unchanging Sunday Gospel and re enter into that ONE
unbloody sacrifice of Calvary, that crosses all the
differences.
Whether a Catholic is in the USA, Spain, England, Italy,
Russia or anywhere on the face of the earth, generally,
one hears the same gospels and enters into the same
unbloody sacrifice of Calvary. Whether one attends
an Ordo liturgy or Tridentine liturgy, it is the same
worldwide for that type of liturgy; it is universal,
it is Roman Catholic!
A range of liturgies in different languages makes makes
the universality of the Church visible. Within that
universality, you will find the liturgies of the Church
celebrated in:
- French
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Vietnamese
- Polish
- Creole/French-Creole
- and others
- Catholics make bold claims
.... and they are true!
- The Real Presence of Christ in the
Eucharist
- The Church is infallible on issues
of faith and morals because the Holy Spirit protects
the Church from officially teaching error.
- Our Blessed Mother is our spiritual
Mother because St. John represented mankind
Sometimes these startle people of other traditions. "Who
do you think you are?" they might ask.
We answer, seriously and repeatedly, that we
are Christ's full and complete presence on earth today. We
cooperate with God to build God's kingdom in this world.
In the Eucharist, we consume the Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Christ and so partake in Divine nature.
We may sound arrogant, but this is what Jesus meant
when he said, "You will do greater things than
I have done." How's that for a bold claim?
- Catholics always have
something to celebrate:
- Catholic Education Week in January
- St. Joseph in March
- Our Blessed Mother Mary in May
- The Sacred Heart of Jesus in June
- The Precious Blood in July
- Guardian Angels in October
- The Communion of Saints in November
- Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Guadeloupe
- St. Nicholas and Santa Lucia in Advent
- Mardi Gras, "burying the Alleluia" on
Ash Wednesday
- Resurrecting the Alleluia on Easter
- Pentecost
- The Marian feasts -- the list seems infinite.
I would say that on out of 365 days
in a year about 80 percent of them, we honor some Saint.
For me personally, if no Saint is being honored by
the Church, I go back to my pre Vatican II Tridentine
Calendar and celebrate the Saint on that calendar.
I have vivid memories of retreats
to my Benedictine friends in Harvard, Massachusetts.
I was always impressed with the amount of partying
these monks did after the Easter Vigil Mass. They had
people, sandwiches, drinks, and desserts. These guys
knew how to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord!
One year I remember going to bed at 4:00am on Easter
Sunday morning!
Even now where I'm a parishioner
at St. Patrick's. We are blessed to have Perpetual
Eucharistic Adoration, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
day and night.
The simplest way to put it is:
"Catholics, day and night, are just party
animals on Earth AND in Heaven!"
This is in contrast the Jehovah Witness members who
are not allowed to celebrate Halloween, Christmas,
or even their own birthdays. What a dreary, gray existence
without a feast of fast to brighten up life!
- We draw on a rich
spirituality
I know of no other tradition
that celebrates the sacredness of the ordinary
as we do. All our sacraments name and claim the
divine depth that sustains ordinary life. So our
symbols that speak most eloquently are drawn from
the most usual earthy things: wheat and vine, water,
oil, touch. Such a sacramental theology says that
even when we are not aware of it, a wondrous grace
and mystery surround us always.
A Church that puts the Eucharist at its center
and, for those in a state of grace, rewards
the seeker, the hungry, those who don't have their
acts together, who don't know all the answers,
but who need to come back and are always invited
to return to the altar of the Lord.
Part of this rich spirituality consists of the
various religious orders within our Church. Contrary
to what some Christians have been told,
these are not divisions within the Church.
No, these men and women have decided to live their
WHOLE life for Our Lord Jesus by following an excellent
model of Jesus' holiness. Some of these saints
include:
- St. Benedict (The Benedictines
{OSB} )
- St. Dominic (The Dominicans
{OP} )
- St. Francis (The Franciscans
{OFM} )
- St. Augustine ( The Augustinian's
{OSA} )
- St. Alphonsus ( Redemptorists
{ C.S.S.R.} )
The Church declares these saints
to be excellent models of holiness and encourages
the faithful to follow their pattern of living. These
saints and founders set forth a different path of
holy living with Jesus being the ultimate model,
NOT the saint or founder.
Some decide to live there live out in an order dedicated
to Our Blessed Lord or Our Blessed Mother:
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel (
The Carmelites {O.Carm.} )
- Legionaries of Christ - dedicated
to Jesus ( {LC} )
- The Jesuits - another order
dedicated to Jesus ( {SJ} )
- The Marists - An order dedicated
to Our Blessed Mother ( {SM} )
- We care for the
poor and needy.
Each locale boasts its own examples, but across the
United States homeless shelters, hospices, soup kitchens,
battered women's shelters, AIDS treatment centers,
literacy programs, day-care centers, hospitals, and
schools are sponsored and staffed by the Catholic Church.
In many parts of the country we sponsor immigration
services and tutoring in English. Internationally the
work for justice continues though agencies like Catholic
Relief Services, Maryknoll and Jesuit Refugee Services.
When it comes to a solid reputation, Catholic Charities
is known to always give the biggest bang for the buck.
I believe only 6% of any contribution goes to administration.
These clear actions and positions are balanced by the
humility to admit we can't do it all. As the prayer
of Archbishop Oscar Romero said, "our limitations
are an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and
complete our work."
- The Church is a human family
so we have our share of tensions, family fights and
scandals, but The Faith remains pure.
This may seem odd, but I relish an image of Church
like a huge tent or umbrella under which everyone can
fit. Sometimes we seem to be splitting our seams, but
we all still stay because this is where we belong;
this is home. It is a tension into which we can relax,
a struggle that can be lived.
Somehow the Catholic Church holds it all in balance:
the treasures of the Vatican art galleries and the
poverty of the Franciscans; the exuberance of the charismatic's
and the quietness of Eucharistic Adoration at a Benedictine
Abbey; drums, guitars, trombones; and, Gregorian chant.
Any other Church would have a million splinter groups.
We contain it all. As James Joyce says, the Catholic
Church means "here comes everybody." Sister
Jose Hobday says her dad joined the Catholic Church
because it had more riffraff than any other.
But riffraff shouldn't get to our faith. I heard it
said "We are a hospital for sinners and a museum
for saints" - All in ONE Church!
To our embarrassment, sometimes those sinners are priests
and bishops into whom we have put great faith. But
some have scandalized or, worse, abused us by their
deeds, actions, or lack of
action.
When I think of the sexual crisis in the Church today,
I'm not here to make any excuses. As the eldest and
oldest in the Christian Faith, we have to clean up
our act. But we have to remember, this isn't the first
time scandal has entered the Church. Just read Church
history! Just read the Old Testament! Sinners then,
sinners now. The key to keep in mind that despite the "Judas
behavior" in the Church, the Church's FAITH remains
un changed and develops over time so the faithful in
the Church can better evangelize it and those
outside the Church can better understand it.
- There is a ministry and place
for everyone in the world.
I have been in three to five different parishes since
my youth. One thing I've noticed in each parish are
the myriad of ministries. The Catholic Church has a
ministry for every calling anyone has in the world.
Our job is simple: Daily regular prayer ( my favorite
is the Rosary ) and if possible weekly adoration. With
time, the Lord will show us the ministry He is calling
us to in the Church. I've been involved in at least
three ministries: Usher, Adoration Coordinator and
Soup kitchen. I have made many new friends and acquaintances
through all of them. I've been at some Churches that
have up to 30 ministries!
- We have splendid heroes and
heroines as models of holiness to follow.
One difference between a sacred culture and our contemporary
culture is that the sacred culture holds up its heroes.
These are the people worth imitating. The Franciscans
in California, for instance, named their missions (and
eventually the cities) Santa Barbara, San Francisco,
San Jose, Santa Rose, San Diego.
Another model of holiness, one of my favorites, is
St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of Western Monasticism.
Catholics have an array of heroes and heroines to follow
going all the way back to the Early Church Fathers
who lived from 33AD to 800AD. All one has to do is
read what they taught and preached to find out....
IT WAS CATHOLIC!
- Through the Eucharist, the
Lord Jesus allows me to work with him.
Through the Eucharist, the Lord Jesus allows me to
work with Him to bring all mankind into the fullness
of truth, the fullness of salvation, the fullness of
love. These aren't my works. No, these are the Lord's
works, working through my body and mind in a similar
way that The Lord uses the priest's body to consecrate
the sacraments of the Church. I am NOT divine in nature,
but God allows me to partake in His Divine work of
saving mankind through the various ministries He calls
me to work in.
As my pastor has said, "Through the Eucharist,
the Lord meets us 'right where we are'
and assists us in growing in holiness from there."
- Because suffering, from the
Catholic perspective, is a "Win-Win"
One of the things I enjoy most about being Catholic
is that once you understand the Catholic view of redemptive
suffering it's a "Win-Win". Yes, it was finished
with Christ and what is finished is finished. Nevertheless
the Holy Scriptures show us that Jesus has chosen to
have us partake in his body in a mystical way, and
therefore in his suffering in a mystical way. St. Paul
tells us:
For him I have accepted
the loss of all other things, and look on them
all as filth if only I can gain Christ9and
be given a place in him, with the uprightness
I have gained not from the Law, but through faith
in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on
faith,10that I may come to know him
and the power of his resurrection, and partake
of his sufferings by being molded to the pattern
of his death,11striving towards the
goal of resurrection from the dead.12 Not
that I have secured it already, nor yet reached
my goal, but I am still pursuing it in the attempt
to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me. Philippines 3:8-12
As Catholics when we share in the joys of life, we
share in Our Lord's joy; when we share in the pain
and sufferings of life, we then share in his sufferings.
Unlike other faiths, the Catholic view of suffering
is not meaningless, but cleansing and redemptive.
Suffering burns away the self-love we have committed
by sin. But what if suffering comes our way when
we are in a state of grace and living a holy life?
Is that suffering in vain? Not from the Catholic
view. We believe not only in the Church on earth
{the Church Militant}, but also the Church Suffering
{in Purgatory} and the Church Triumphant {In Heaven}.
It is these points in time where we can offer our
sufferings for the Church Suffering in Purgatory.
We are a family on earth, in Purgatory and in Heaven.
Just because we have a personal relationship with
Jesus here on earth doesn't exclude a family relationship
with others in the Church weather it be with the
Church Suffering or Triumphant.
I've remember times when I've been in bed with a
bad winter cold. Usually I have a 101 degree temperature,
coughing with a throat that feels like I'm swallowing
razor blades. At those times I'll be saying to myself:
"Boy this hurts...Praise
the Lord...Boy this hurts...Praise
the Lord."
Why? Because although the human side of me feels
the pain and suffering {Boy this hurts}, because
through the Eucharist I partake in Divine Nature
and offer my sufferings for the benefit of the Poor
Souls in Purgatory, I say {Praise the Lord}! I praise
the Lord because in His Divine Plan of Redemption
he allows me to assist my other family members suffering
in Purgatory. WOW what a great family idea!
- If I fall through sin, the
Lord is there to pick me up and make me new again.
Seeing that I, like any human,
am tempted by Satan and fall from grace from time
to time, the Lord is always there to pick me up.
Through the sacrament of Reconciliation He instituted,
I can be assured that when I hear the priest say:
"Through the ministry
of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you, in the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit."
I am re-justified and made new
in Christ. And unlike the 600 + laws of the Old Testament,
the New Testament sacraments He established are so
easy, and more powerful as long as I strive to make
a strong firm purpose of amendment and do the assigned
penance the priest gives me.
WHAT A DEAL!!!
Thinking about joining the Church
but your sins are too serious?
Thinking about coming back to the Church?
Don't be afraid! Search out a holy
priest who will assist you on your journey.
You've started your walk into the
Church but found scandal where you are?
Find another priest and another
parish then report what you found to that local bishop.
Welcome home!
Mike
Humphrey
AskACatholic.com Web Administrator
P.S. There is one more reason
why I enjoy being Catholic:
We have a sense of humor! Over the
10 years CPATS.ORG has been on the web, guess which
page on this web site is the fourth most popular
page?
{ click here }
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