Why are you Catholic?

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I was born and raised Catholic but it wasn’t until recently that I became acutely aware of my Catholicism and I’ve studied and read and studied some more and I am very thankful to be where I belong

Mary A
 
What a great thread, I can feel the power of the faith in here! :yup:
I’m going to have to go with Chesterton on this one too. Catholicism is **true **and the foundation of truth in every sense of the word.

Shamus:)
 
The Sacremants, especially the Eucharist

My wife and I are both cradle Catholics, but when we were bringing our kids into the Church in the 1970’s, the abuses of Vatican II drove us out.
We never looked for another religion, and never denied our Catholicity. We just felt the Church had pulled the rug out from under us.
Despite this, WE WERE ALWAYS CATHOLICS. When asked at the hospital or the Army, we always wrote “Catholic” on the forms because we KNEW the Church had the truth. The problem was that we were young and although I had been catechized by good, holy nuns (BVM),* I had never internalized the Truth of the Faith.*
Then, one day, my wife was channel surfing and happened across a little old nun dressed like the ones who taught us (guess who) talking about the faith.
We were now mature enough, and realized that there were many others like us.
Since then, we’ve rediscovered the orthodox (true) Catholic Church and learned so much from EWTN, Catholic Answers, reading, reading, reading and reading that it’s as if the Truth that is the Catholoic Church was lying dormant within us all those years and is now blossoming.
We didn’t need convincing, but if we had, a big part of the argument would be the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That outstanding document lays out the truths that have been believed by Catholics since Jesus and gives us the guidence of the Church. How blessed we are to have it.
Also, reading the Church Fathers shows that the Church has been the same from the beginning until now. THAT demonstrates the truth of the faith.
I’ll repeat…The Eucharist…Jesus Christ Himself coming to us. The love and humility, if we can but learn from Him, can teach us how to gain eternal life. What a gift!
We all have a lifetime of learning to do because we can never plumb the depth of the faith that the Church contains. Every new discovery is a treasure.
Si comprehendis non es Deus.
God bless, everybody
 
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Didi:
I haven’t read Key’s book – it sounds interesting. I probably have all the obvious reasons:

It’s the church Jesus started!

It’s the only place I can receive Him body, blood, soul and divinity in the intimate act of Holy Communion.

It’s the only place I can adore Him and pray with Him in the reserved Blessed Sacrament.

It’s the only church that has the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth!
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Well said!
 
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Poisson:
I’m a Catholic because I am not very intelligent.
By that I don’t mean to imply that one must be a dope to be a Catholic. What I am saying is that I have read works by some very intelligent people who are Catholic and some very intelligent people who are not Catholic. Now if these guys can’t figure this thing out what’s a guy like me, who has only an average IQ to do?
The problem is God seems to have implanted in me belief in Him. With my limited intellect I reasoned that if he wants me to know him,he would have established a Church that I would be able to trust. (so far he has not spoken to me directly).
The Catholic Church seems to be the only place which has any reasonable claim to infaillability. Thus I am Catholic. If anyone were to convince me that the Catholic has no infaillability I would become agnostic because there would be no sure way to know what to believe. I would have to rely on my intellect alone and I couldn’t trust that. :yawn: Sorry to bore you.
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I consider myself of average intellegence, and Poisson listed the main reason I’m Catholic. After 2 years of research I realized God had to have a better plan than all these divisions and opinions. And voila! There stood THE Church!
 
Because once I discovered the truth I had no option but to convert to the one holy catholic and apostolic church!
 
There are many reasons I am Catholic, but a couple stand out. First, I was raised Catholic with a non-practicing Lutheran father. Since my earliest memories of church, I always ‘felt’ the presence of something special (the Lord) in Catholic churches, and knew I was only in a building on those few occasions I attended Lutheran services with aunts and uncles.

Second, and most importantly, for most of my 20s I stopped attending Mass because ‘it did nothing for me.’ I always thought of myself as Catholic in spite of my failings. When my wife became pregnant for the first time (I was 30), we wanted to have the baby baptized. That decision ultimately led me to attend Mass again. In a short time, I litterally hungered for the Eucharist, but knew I could not receive without a serious confession. At the time we had an older Irish pastor who sort of frightened me and I did not think I could have that confession with him. I was in graduate school (night school), and decided I would go to the Newman Center after class one night. As fate (God, that is) would have it, I kept forgetting. I wanted desperately to go before the baby was born, and the day was fast approaching. Finally one night I had again forgotten but was not far from school when I remembered. It was a Tuesday night and I would again be at school on Thursday, so my first thought was “I’ll go after next class.” No sooner had I had this thought when a LOUD voice in my head said “NO! Go tonight.” The voice was so clear that I did a U-turn and confessed that evening. When I arrived home (late), my wife was in labor and our daughter was born at 4:59 AM the next day. I will forever be grateful to God for His mercy and compassion toward me that evening and always. My faith has grown steadily stronger since.

The Church is the Lord’s, its truth is His, and I am blessed to have been born into it through His grace. Praise You Jesus, Thank You Father, and Bless You, Holy Spirit!

Chuck
 
I was born catholic, and married a non-catholic girl in the church. Of course, she promised to raise any children in the church. Our daughter was born, and she promptly took her to the methodist church to be baptised. That drove a wedge between us, and 11 years later. we were divorced. I met my present wife later, and we were married in the methodist church. At the time, I didn’t want to go through the annulment process, and risk messing up our marriage. In the 10 years following, I didn’t go to mass, but there was always something in my head that told me I should. A few years later, my mother died, and we had a funeral mass. Afterwards, my wife stated how beautiful it was and how it emphasized the life after death, and not so much the gloom and doom of it. She said she wanted to learn more about the church, so we went to a local priest, went through rcia, got an annulment, and we both came to the church. I’m glad I’m back, and no matter what, I’m not leaving again. Thank God for putting me back on the right path.
 
So many good answers. Some have already offered my answer, “Because of the grace of God.” (Poisson’s angle is also very very good, if we understand that by “intelligence” he really means the sign of pride that often takes people away from God and His Church. That’s not real intelligence, of course)

So, let me add this thought: it is not a question of why I picked the Church, but why God picked me to be Catholic. And that’s a miracle I hope I have an eternity to marvel at.
 
  1. She is the one true Church founded by Christ
  2. She doesn’t err in faith or morals
  3. She has a rich and varied tradition
  4. She encourages intellectual inquiry
  5. She has all the sacraments
  6. She gives hope to all
 
There is a depth to the Catholic Faith that is truly inspired.

In so many other faiths, one eventually runs into errors and contradictions that are clearly man-made. An Holy Spirit-inspired Church established by Jesus would fracture into 20,000+ pieces. That what you have with the post-reformation faiths.

As for the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is my hope that they may be reunitied with us within the next 50 years.

I believe all souls are Catholic. Some are just closer to home than others. It is my hope that all of our brothers and sisters find their way back someday.
 
I am Catholic because I was born into a Catholic family, and even though they are Sunday Catholics I love the Church.

I have seen alot, far too much, in my 19 years and I always fall back on my faith through the Catholic Church. Nothing anyone does to me, nothing I can do, nothing I will ever do can separate me from the Communion of Saints. And that is so very comforting during times of tribulation to know I have not only the love of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but also of Mary and of all the saints and angeles.
 
Here is my reasoning for being Catholic:
  1. Christ established a church, not churches. He did not intend for their to be 33,000 different varieties of the truth. Truth is singular.
  2. If Christ established one church, then which one is it? Is it one of the varieties that started 1500 years after Jesus died? Or would it be one that claimed its beginnings with Jesus.
  3. Only one Church claims that it originated from Christ, and has remained unchanging in its teaching from the time of Christ, and has the unbroken history to back it up. Only the Catholic Church can claim this. Besides, our insurance (or assurance) agent is Jesus Christ…“the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).
 
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