I’m happy to know that you’re getting closer to the Catholic Church.
I’m a cradle Catholic, from a family that’s been Catholic since the 7th Century—I have been told.
Don’t let the current Pope scandalize you. (He scandalizes me!) Popes come and go.
You can sense the people’s respect for the church by how the people dress for its meetings. At the local Catholic Church I see people attending Sunday services in shorts and T-Shirts, and the priest dressed in beautiful vestments shaking their hands as they leave.
If there were no confessionals or forgiveness, how many people would be in the church?
If the lineage of belief in a person’s family background is to be considered, then what does a Christian tell a Jew, Muslim, Hindu, etc., who would say that they can trace their family’s beliefs back a thousand years or more, too?