Why Are You Catholic?

[ThomasPeter]

as i work my my through my faith crisis, i am wondering what has brought some people to the church. my question is; why are you Catholic? if you were born into it, why did u stay? if u converted, why did you? was it somethig you read? saw? heared? was revealed in prayer? thank you very much!
tom

[dUSt]

I think these questions are better suited for Open Mic. I'm moving.

[theculturewarrior]

I'm Catholic for a variety of reasons. I love the Eucharist. I love to be able to pray to Jesus in the Eucharist, to witness the consecration of the Eucharist, and to be united to the visible Body of Christ through the Eucharist. I'm Catholic because Catholic doctrine makes sense to me. Even with my limited understanding, I can perceive the sheer fullness of the Catholic Faith. I'm Catholic because no other Church in my estimation is as fully [b]One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.[/b] Because I love Mary and this is her Church. No other Church understands Mary as fully as the Catholic Church...not even, from what I've seen, the Eastern Orthodox. (No debates, please, save it for the debates thread!) I'm Catholic because I can relate to Catholic worship. The sacramentals, the smells, the bells, (when I can get 'em) make me want to melt.

And lastly, I'm Catholic because my grandparents prayed and fasted for me. And I'll pray for you.

[shelly_freak]

reconciliation and the eucharist does it for me

[Oik]

For me it is and will always be the Eucharist.

This is a question I have heard a lot lately. The answer I gave is not only my answer, but the answer I have heard from others.

Even if were to one day deny the Church, the Pope, the people, the culture, and/or all things Catholic, I can never deny the Truth that the Eucharist is the Flesh and Bllod of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is my sustanence, my life source. were I to fall a way from the Church or deny her teachings, I would long and suffer for the Eucharist. Because the Eucharist is the Sacrament, I would long for the other Sacraments as well. Jesus is Truth. That is why I am Catholic .

[ViolaPower3000]

I grow up catholic but didn't become one until i found SEAS. My Mother and father wanted me to found the faith and church that I liked. But one day when i went to go to see my viola teacher play at SEAS i was hooked to the church i could fill it's calling. So, my Family and I started going and then I joined the choir playing viola when ever i could. A year later Me and my Mom went to RCIA and are now catholic, and now my mom and dad are now after 25 years really married. :-)

[IcePrincessKRS]

I'm Catholic because my Mama raised me right!

[Sinner]

Im Catholic cause it is the first, the one, the original. My folks brought me up in it. There was a point in my life when I lost all that was important to me. When I had lost everything......... I realized all I needed had been waiting for me in the Church all along. I love Her.

[traichuoi]

didn't know there was anything else

[StColette]

Let's see because God gave me to my parents who were Catholic, they raised me Catholic, they taught me about the Catholic Church, then I taught myself about the Catholic Church, and God has kept me in the Catholic Church

[traichuoi]

just kidding...

I truly believe the Catholic Church has the entire TRUTH.

That's why I stay. That's why I fight for it. That's why I pick up my cross. If I didn't believe the Catholic Church is the one true church then everything I do is done in vain.

And if you ask me, "What truth?", look no further than what everyone else has stated...the Eucharist...the Sacraments. I truly believe in them.

Anyone who has ever told me that they are contemplating leaving the Church or that they already are in the process...i ask them, "But what about the Eucharist?" and they never have a response...a good one anyway...

you're in my prayers!

[BeenaBobba]

I'm Catholic because, after much study and prayer, I came to the conclusion that the Catholic Church is the one, true Church started by Jesus Christ. I concluded that the evidence suggested that God's existence is more probable than God not existing at all, so I ruled out atheism. After reading about other religions and Christianity, I came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is God. After reading the Bible and studying history, I knew I couldn't support Sola Scriptura; so, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't be Protestant. After studying history and Tradition, I came to the conclusion that there is much evidence for the papacy in the early centuries, and that the primacy of one man in the Church is necessary; so, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't be Eastern Orthodox.

God bless,

Jen

[cmotherofpirl]

I am Catholic because it is TRUE. If I didn't think it was true I would be Jewish.

[Luthien]

The Catholic faith makes so much sense if you know the catechism.


I was raised Catholic, and wasn't really knowledgeful of what the Church actually stood for.

Now that I know the catechism, I understand more.

Im so in love with the Eucharist, I'd crawl on my bare belly over broken glass to receive it.

[Guest JeffCR07]

I was raised catholic, but have only just recently begun to really understand what that word means.

Men criticise the Church for everything, and in doing so prove her Truth to me time and again. Some point the finger and say that she creates weak and submissive pacifists, while at the same time others point the finger and say that she creates bloodlusting warmongers. These critics are wrong in their judgemental analysis of the Church, through if you combine all of their contradictory claims, you get a remarkably clear picture of the Church:

I am catholic because it is the only faith that can hold within itself the paradoxes of the world. It is in the Church that Warring Crusaders and Peaceful Monks stand side by side in Christ. It is in the Church that God dies and we are born again. It is in the Church that one is free to believe in both science and mysticism. It is the Church where the lion can lay next to the lamb without becoming the lamb itself, for it still remains a fearsome, terrifying, powerful lion

The Church is the one body in all of history that is not a "product of its times." The Eastern Orthodox are the product of a crumbling empire and a governmental authority crisis. The Protestants are the products of corruption and the beginnings of humanistic/liberal thought. But the Church existed when that Empire was strong and remained firm when it fell, lasting [i]through[/i] the crisis. The Church lasted [i]through[/i] the corruption. The Church has turned humanism towards God.

The Church is the rock against which the waters of the world crash. In every age the attack against the Church comes from a slightly different angle. In every age, people point out the flaws and the cracks in the rock. And in every age, the water breaks and the rock remains, for the "crack" is not really in the rock, but is mearly an image of the water which broke upon it from the Age before. And so we realise that the flaw is not in the Church, which stretches across both space and time, but in ourselves, who are incapable of being timeless.

But it is in embracing the Church that we can take some of its own timelessness into ourselves and come to live not in the world, or of the world, but [i]for[/i] the world.

- Your Brother In Christ, Jeff