Posted on 02/14/2016 3:07:53 PM PST by NYer
Last year, in response to a Pew Research poll showing the American Catholic Church in decline, Elizabeth Scalia (now at the editorial helm of Aleteia) posted this challenge on her Patheos blog The Anchoress:
If you're Catholic and have access to a web-page, a radio program, a Facebook page, whatever, take a few minutes, and tell the world why you are remaining a Catholic in an era where doing so seems not only counter-cultural, but also counter-intuitive and even, perhaps, a bit risky?
Thoughtful and moving responses rolled in from all across the Internet, and continue to to do so today.
For my entry, I'm phrasing the question this way:
Why would I stay Catholic even if the whole world turned against the Church and labeled me a fool for remaining a believer?
The short answer: Because the whole world is wrong.
But it's a question that deserves a long answer, so here goes ....
First, I should define my terms. By "the world" I really mean the much narrower "worldly" subset of modern American and European Western Culture. By "wrong" I mean, well... WRONG. Dangerously wrong. Spinning out of control wrong. In the process of destroying itself wrong.
If the title of this article enticed you to click the link, chances are you already have a strong opinion about the Catholic faith. You either love it or you hate it. Either way, you are likely already aware of the "hot button" social issues on which the world and the Church disagree - abortion, contraception, so-called "gay marriage," euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, the "New Atheism," etc., etc., etc. And on every single one of those fronts, and many more besides (the "hot button" issues barely scratch the surface), wherever the world calls something "good" that the Church defines as "evil," I really do believe that the world is 100% wrong and the Church is 100% right.
I say this with confidence because those obvious "hot button" worldly issues are only visible symptoms of a deeper and more dangerous disease infecting the modern (and "post-modern") western psyche.
Western Culture has lost its mind.
In his book Theology and Sanity, the great Catholic apologist Frank Sheed put it this way:
... if we see things in existence and do not in the same act see that they are held in existence by God, then equally we are living in a fantastic world, not the real world. Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by him is not a matter of sanctity, but of plain sanity, because God IS everywhere and all things ARE upheld by Him. What we do about it may be sanctity; but merely seeing it is sanity. To overlook God's presence is not simply to be irreligious; it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there...
We murder babies in the womb and play Frankenstein with their cells not because we are evil, but because we are mad. We treat sex like a toy and each other's bodies like objects not because we are devils, but because we have lost all self control. Men marry men and women marry women (or have their genders surgically "reassigned") not because we are wicked, but because we have lost all sense of what it means to be either a man or a woman. Blind to the reality of God everywhere and holding up all things, we fall prey to false gods, first and foremost our own vane and bloated egos. We become our own gods and spin ever further from any kind of moral center, any semblance of a solid ground of reality beneath our feet.
This madness afflicting Western Culture is by no means "modern." It entered the world with the Fall of Adam and Eve. It is the madness of original sin.
And for the sake of our cure from this ancient affliction, the very real God atheists tell us does not exist, the one who created man and woman and the sacrament of marriage, who knits every baby in the womb and counts all the hairs on the heads of old men, who is everywhere and upholds all things, became one of us in a real physical body, in the real person of Jesus Christ, at a real, measurable time in recorded history. He really established one Church (the Catholic Church, from which all other Christian denominations schismed over time), was really crucified, really died, and really rose from the dead to make it possible for you and me and everyone everywhere to defeat sin and death and regain our sanity.
That's reality. And only the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of truth regarding it.
Whatever in the world disagrees with that truth or contradicts it is delusion, plain and simple.
So, the real question is not, Will I remain Catholic or embrace worldly values?
The real question is, Will I remain sane or embrace madness?
I choose sanity. I choose the Catholic Church. Forever.
In response to my choice, the world is welcome to call me a fool. I don't mind. I don't expect rational behavior from madmen. Now that really would be foolish!
Your journey brought to mind the homily, delivered by (then) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in his capacity as Dean of the College of Cardinals, at the mass celebrated before they were sequestered in conclave to elect the next pope. April 18, 2005.
Reflecting on Ephesians 4:14, he said:
How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.
We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceipt from truth.
We must develop this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity and is fulfilled in love.
You can read the homily, in its entirety HERE.
Pope Benedict XVI is a brillian theologian. One can draw so much inspiration from his writings, including his homilies.
Ratzinger was also theologian to St. John Paul II. No shabby feat there.
I always thought Jason Stellman, a former Presbyterian minister, summed it up well:
“In a word, I fought the Church, and the Church won. And what it did was beat me, but it didn’t draw me, entice me, or lure me by playing upon some deep, latent psychosis or desire on my part for something Protestantism just couldn’t provide. Catholicism went from being so obviously ridiculous that it wasn’t even worth bothering to oppose, to being something whose claims were so audacious that I couldn’t help opposing them. But what it never was, was attractive, and in many ways it still isn’t.
“But what Catholicism is, I have come to discover, is true.”
I will stand with the Catholics if the world should turn against them.
Hammer meet nail! Thank you for that NYer!
Thank you.
I second and third all your thoughts which are far more eloquent than mine!
Good for you. I am and will remain LDS (Mormon) although the whole world has been against us!
Did you miss the words Catholic Caucus in the title?
Not a doubt.
The muslims just don’t know it.
ya wanna tell them?
It was the FIRST Christian faith and it still works after 2000 years. Other Christian versions didn't emerge until ONE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED+ YEARS LATER.
Hmmmmmm.
I would be WORRIED if there weren't. The anti-Catholic remarks are always amusing to me.
Catholicism will spread, as its name indicates. "Catholic" means "universal."
We had a Nigerian priest in our parish for many years. He returned to Nigeria to head his priestly order.
I still miss him.
OUTSTANDING post.
I don't bash Protestantism. Why would I? So WHY do they bash Catholicism? Why don't they just extol their own 1500+ A.D. branch of Christianity? Who knows.
===================================
The site lists and explains the DOGMA that we Catholics must believe.
The rest of what we do or believe is either Apostolic Tradition or tradition.
I chose the Catholic faith. Glad I did.
And yet, here you are, commenting on Protestantism, bashing them for "bashing" the RCC.
And breaking the caucus label yourself.
Because we don't believe that *our own brand of Christianity* is what saves people.
Not one of the non-Catholics on FR promote their chosen place of worship as the One True Church, don't claim that by it alone one can be saved, don't claim that it alone has the truth or is the truth, don't claim authority over every person who names the name of Christ worldwide.
It's CHRIST who saves, not a church or denomination.
We promote Jesus, not a religious organization.
Lol. Well, I got a rise out of you. But, that is understandable since you left the Catholic Church in a tizzy-fit. I am really still sorry for that. I had THOUGHT that I liked you. But, since you don't SEEM to care for my thoughts, I didn't EVER think I would get a rise out of you ever again.
My godmother married my uncle, who had divorced his first wife. It bothered her for AGES. My uncle's first wife finally passed away and my aunt/godmother married my uncle (father's younger brother) in the Church. She was SO happy and finally at peace with her faith.
I loved her very much and still miss her. Our good Lord was kind enough to allow me to visit her in the hospital JUST before she died. I said that I LOVED her very much. She gave me her HUGE smile and passed away shortly after that.
Anyway, I wish YOU all the best; always did; always will. I also am sure that you are happy with your life now. It's a good thing that you are still on the site, posting things to think about. That's good too...as long as we both stay close to Jesus. HE is our salvation...no one else.
As always: God bless you and yours.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.