I was raised a Roman Catholic. I was baptized as an infant, made my holy communion and confirmation, and went to church on Sunday. Why is it right to be a Catholic? Should I stay Catholic just because I was raised Catholic? Where does an individuals choice come into play? I not so sure that just because a religion is right with my mother, it has to be right for me. Your thoughts?
It is a recent idea that you choose a religion based on individual choice, or what suits you. It puts you in danger of missing the most obvious question: Is what the Church teaches
true? This isn’t about your mom or even whether you like the other people at your church, or like or dislike incense or chasubles or the outer trappings. If the trappings don’t speak about the truth to you, they aren’t worth the trouble. Ritual is nothing, if it is not first and last about the sacred truth. A poor ritual that is deeply about the truth, though, is miles better than the better-staged or more-moving ritual that speaks less than the truth. (This is why Catholics who understand the True Presence will prefer a poor Mass over a well-excuted Protestant service every time. There is not a depth of truth in any religion that approaches what is in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.)
You are right that there was something off in those times in history when your religion was thrust upon you, whether you believed it or not, or those times when it is more culture than religion. I had a friend who, having been asked what religion he was, had to go home and ask his mother. His mother was shocked that he did not know! Why she was shocked is a mystery to me. The family had hardly been to Mass since before this young man was able to make his first communion. His ignorance of the faith was so profound that he once asked me, “Why do people say Jesus was Jewish? I thought he was Christian.” He was baptised, so he was as Catholic as you or me, but he was a very poorly formed Catholic.
That religion ought not be something your parents stamp on your head as a child and that you never question thereafter doesn’t make spirituality into an entirely personal choice, though.
Rather, since you are starting in the Catholic Church, ask yourself if what the Church teaches is true. If you find that what the Church teaches is true, then be well-assured that there is such richness in the spiritual practice and the lives of the saints of the Catholic Church that you can hardly get to the bottom of it. You’ll find a great deal of room for individuality there.
If you doubt something, though, don’t just leave. I did that once. It was a huge mistake. It turns out that I had not correctly understood what the Church taught. I wish I could have a do-over on that one. If you think you disagree, then, take your question to someone well-equipped to give you an adult answer. Pray about it. Yes, ask the Holy Spirit to give you lessons, too! If you don’t ask God questions or have never listened for answers to guide your life, you haven’t even tried living the Catholic faith yet. The truth is in the living, too.
Also, be assured that it is very normal to ask the question you are asking. It happens when a person goes through a period of questioning, of re-examining the things that have always just been taken at face value, and asks these very questions: Is this true? What does it mean in my life, that this is true? How are the truths of the universe going to play out differently in my life than they did in my parents’ lives?
You won’t be at it for long before you realize that asking how to orient your life around the truth is going to serve you a lot better than asking how to orient your religious practice around yourself.
