“I’m Catholic, but… I don’t believe in ….” How many times have you heard those dreaded words? What does being Catholic even mean? Is it merely a cultural identity tag that people inherit through birth, or does it mean so much more? Can you be truly Catholic while then denouncing certain Church doctrines?
By its very definition, being Catholic means existing in a faithful relationship with the Magesterium, and accepting the notion of Apostolic Succession. How can anyone claim to be Catholic while openly disagreeing with the teachings of the Apostles’ successors? Protestantism today displays the visible scars of this individualistic approach whereby essentially theology and dogma are moulded around individual convictions. If you don’t like an interpretation of a particular section of scripture, then simply move to another Church until you hear a homily that you agree with.
Unfortunately Catholics are not immune to this phenomenon of adapting God and theology to our own needs and desires. If we don’t like a particular teaching of the Church, then we may simply chose to ignore it, or worse still openly object to it, while still maintaining that we are ‘Catholic’. Who am I to disagree with the Magesterium of the Holy Catholic Church? Is there a chance that some of the teachings of the Church will challenge me both intellectually and spiritually? Of course. May I have to spend significant amounts of time in prayer trying to understand a particular doctrine? Of course. But what I do not have any right to do is declare Church doctrines as errant – to struggle with doctrine is one thing, but to declare it false is another.
The Holy Catholic Church does not pretend to be a democratic institution in which theology is determined by the majority of believers. Truth is NOT determined by a majority, but by a simple minority of ONE, the GREAT I AM, OUR CREATOR AND LORD!!!! OUR JUDGE AND GOD!!!! JESUS CHRIST, TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN!!!! The Author and Protagonist of ALL TRUTH!!!! Truth does NOT fit neatly into sound bites!!! Life is NOT that simple!!! Neither are we nor should we be!! At the head of the Church is Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit was sent to guide the Apostles (not you or I) and their successors into all truth. Do we really expect that the way of God would not challenge us? Do we really expect the way of God to be susceptible to societal changes of opinion?
Should we then simply blindly accept whatever the Church teaches? I’d hesitate to go that far. God gave us minds, hearts, wills, and intellect for a reason!! Use them, rightly, to give Him honor, laud, glory, and praise! Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory!!!! I believe that we are all called to faithfully examine our own beliefs and those of the Church. If you do find yourself in a situation where you are seriously doubting Church doctrine, then what should you do? Well here are a few suggestions that have helped me in the past:
Make sure you know what the Church actually teaches. I can’t remember the amount of times that I read a ‘belief’ of the Catholic Church, or had people question me about so called ‘beliefs’, and later discovered that that Catholic Church doesn’t even teach these ‘beliefs’! Always check a teaching with the Catechism or your local parish priest. After all, you may find that you have spent precious time doubting something that the Church of Jesus Christ has never even believed. Papal infallibility can seem off putting when you falsely assume that the Church believes that Popes are born without sin and are actually incapable of sinning throughout the lives. The concept becomes much easier to digest when you understand what the Church actually believes.
Spend time reading around the topic/belief you’re struggling with, and try to understand the origin of the Church’s belief (e.g. scriptural verses) and the implications of the belief. Merely being able to recite the Church’s teaching on contraception doesn’t mean that you will automatically find yourself agreeing with it. Spending time learning what the church believes about the marital act and studying Humanae Vitae will, however, help to understand the Church’s teaching. It is beautiful.
Pray about the issue. The God of the Universe, of Heaven and Earth, of Time and Space is eager to help you understand His Truths. Don’t ignore Him. He will give you ALL you truly need. Knock. Seek. Find. Have it opened unto you. O ye of little faith!!!! Don’t be afraid to tell God that you really don’t understand something, and that you actually find some beliefs incredulous. I’ve always found it really helpful to ask the Saints to intercede on my behalf and join their prayers with mine when I’m going through periods of doubt. AMEN!!!! AMEN!!! AMEN!!!!!
The above list isn’t meant to serve as an infallible guide to resolving all our spiritual doubts and needs, but I’m offering advice from my own personal experience of doubting the beliefs of the Church. Interestingly enough, I can honestly say that I’ve always managed to become fully reconciled with the teachings of the Church. Of course some teachings have been more difficult than others to agree with, but through the grace of God I’ve always been moved to a point of complete communion with the body of Christ.
So the next time we hear the words “Unam, sanctam, catholicam” at Mass, let us spend a minute to dwell on their implications, and may we remember that there is only one church of Jesus Christ, and that church is not answerable to you or I, but is headed by Jesus Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit.”
Pray Psalms 135, 136.
ALL I want, in this life, or the next, is MY JESUS!!!
Love,
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistencies and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” -St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England, "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Don't neglect your spiritual reading. Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom
