Not being Catholic

Not being Catholic

I am Catholic, but there are a lot who aren't. There are a lot who were raised in the faith but did not continue in it. There are many who do not baptize their children. Why? What do we do?

Two persons, both raised in nominally Catholic families critiqued the church for worshipping Mary and the saints. They fell away from the church on account of a false understanding of her teachings. I often question how important teaching is, but this kind of event makes it clear. Catholics must be educated. Without this, there will be error in the words and souls of many. And Christ is truth: in him there is not No but only Yes. I heard many flippant lies told today. Surely there is no great crime in a brief lie, yet to lie habitually is not becoming to one seeking the truth. And all should seek the truth.

Another thing is birth control. How many think it a standard! Yet how contrary to marriage. I met one married couple today who when asked about children said they were far foo young and busy to have children. My only thought: why did you get married then?! It's kind of bogus. Even on a natural level, it can be discerned that marriage and all sexuality is primarily ordered to the origin and care of children. For a Christian, these things are even more manifest, for the sacrament consists in a total self donation which bears immense fruit, physical and spiritual. Yet no one teaches this. Some do and the Lord will bless them.

In today's wedding, though it was Protestant, the preacher said basically all true things. How marriage reflects Christ and his Church, how it is to be indissoluble and fruitful, and so on. This is consoling.

So we must teach the faithful and actually all peoples insofar as the opportunity comes. But the truth is not enough. We must present it with love, for the will is unfortunately mixed up in great part with the intellectual life of man. Even that is not enough. We must recommend souls to God through the intercession of Mary, the most fruitful virgin and mother.

I met a couple other Protestants recently and they gave me great hope. They asked many questions. They cared for the truth and loved Christ. It seems that these are the kind of individuals with whom an intellectual conversation will be the most possible and the most fruitful. When many such as these have entered more fully into truth, it will radiate from them according to their character and this variety will appeal to more, make kingdom of God more known.


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