Cranky, grizzly, off-putting Catholics are part of the “test.”
If you want Jesus bad enough, you will (hopefully) see past the debris and slog your way through to the Center. The Catholic Church is not a ‘club’ that admits only nice guys. (Ain’t THAT the TRUTH!) Thank God, or they would not have taken me in the door.
One of the things “insiders” don’t realize is how offensive it is when they disparage doubts and label every question as spiritual pride.
OK. Two thirds of what keeps people away may BE pride, but they experience it as something else, such as truth (as they see it) or difficulty based on their training, or the prejudice they grow up with. I myself cut my teeth on the teaching that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon and the synagogue of Satan. :bigyikes: