Why I am a Catholic
Why am I a Catholic? Several reasons:
- An ancient worldview
- Plausible, reasonable
- The religion of my ancestors
- Comprehensive; answers the question of the meaning of life (love of God and of neighbour)
- Completes the mental, emotional, and physical dimensions of life with the spiritual
- Tradition, ritual. A counterpoint to technology and the efficiency of the machine.
posted by Jonathan @ 1/22/2007 10:13:00 p.m.
8 comments
8 Comments:
Very nice. I share most of your reasons Jon.
May I add that it's a great structure to put yourself through, and which ultimately helps you in becoming more compassionate. I believe this to be of much importance.
In general, I believe that catholicism makes you a more complete human.
Juan - Great points - thanks!
As an atheist, I truly do wonder on the other hand whether isn't incompleteness, isn't it doubt, that makes one a more complete human?
"You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong."
(Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out)
Oh, how much I would love to have a friendly, playful argument! But then I learned not long ago that an educated man knows better.
So instead let me just cheer you on your search for the truth Jon!
Ah elzr, why are so many intellectuals atheists? We need you on our side :-)
Jon
Very nice Jon.
Those are all the reasons that as a protestant I would want to become a Catholic.
Is is possible to have all the wonderful life giving tradition without the difficulties of an organizational structure that may become more concerned with its own preservation than the health of its members?
Hi Ed - Most definitely! And I would surmise that your tradition is one such example.
I wish. In my tradition we have swung too far (in my view) away from tradition and therefore risk losing the connection to the ancient faith.
I suppose I want the best of both worlds.
- To be connected with the faith of the ages and also to see that God still does new things today (so for example liturgy would be is both ancient and modern).
- To maintain and preserve our traditions yet still allow them to be reviewed in the light of scripture.
All churches catholic, protestant or orthodox, maintain traditions and therefore must balance the voice these traditions with the voice of scripture. I don't see any good models for embracing where the church has come from while also allowing for changes.
One irony of church history is that the protestants left the catholic church because the catholic church put certain traditions above scripture. Now, 500 years later the protestant Church is at times guilty of the same.
Hi Ed - Alas, 'tis the hand we've been dealt :-)
Sounds like you value both the Christian tradition and sacred Scripture.
Post a Comment
<< Home