To those of my many friends and family who are not Catholics,
but who “look on” (through me, through other friends, through the media’s
accounts) and perhaps try to understand the Catholic Church or to understand why
I am - or someone else you know is – a Catholic, I have a little something I
would like to say.
The Catholic Church has both a religious element and a human
element…as do all truly religious organizations on this earth.
To explain what I mean by saying a "religious element", we who are Catholics
believe that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church (even if it didn’t initially
have the name “Catholic”) and we
believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Catholic Church throughout the
centuries in its doctrinal religious teachings. Don’t worry. I’m not asking you
to agree with me on either of these two premises. I’m just letting you know that
this is what we believe and this is what I’m referring to as the religious
element.
The human element consists of her members (and leadership),
who are essentially subject to both sin and error. This element has been with
us in this world from the beginning of time. It has been with Christianity from
the time Jesus Christ walked this earth. Judas betrayed Christ and Peter denied Him.
Paul and Peter argued about how new members should be accepted into the Church.
The Catholic Church has some authority over its members and
its observances, but the Church can change, over time, in its matters of
discipline (for example, how we practice penance or what languages to use in our
religious services).
The Church can change - and also lets different members have
different ideas - regarding many aspects of how we live in this world. Certain
principles remain, but how we deal with some of them, or apply them, might
change over time or might differ among people.
So, when you hear that a particular bishop said something
that you don’t understand, or some priests did something terrible, or if you
feel that this Facebook friend is always angry about something, try not to make
assumptions about your Catholic neighbor based on someone else. We who are
Catholic all believe - hopefully- in the same basic religious doctrines; but we
are not responsible for what someone else thinks about politics. We are not
responsible for how someone else applies our religious principles to the real world or
how someone chooses to live. Nor do we
always agree on some of those matters.
I, for one, did not decide I wanted to become a Catholic for
any political or social reasons. I wanted to become a Catholic for what I came to
believe were religious truths, and also for the beauty, for the grace, and for the
peace and presence of God that I felt in Catholic churches. And those are all still reasons why I am
Catholic today.