Together as sinners and in faith
Campus priest draws on student voices to illustrate the many sides of Catholicism
The Rev. Michael Belinsky, C.S.C.
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Faith and Fellowship
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Countless people accuse Catholics of blindly following oppressive rules of a bygone entity headed by an old man who wears a dress! Others assert that Catholic Christians have wreaked so much harm on humanity and continues to do so.
Some would have you believe that the Catholic Church is a bunch of buildings in Rome where evil conspiracies are concocted by secretive men who grasp for power even as they are tortured by their own lifeless celibacy.
Dare I disagree? Of course!
Roman Catholic Christians are members of the ancient community founded by Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago through his Apostles. Jesus Christ is the leader of this universal community which has as its earthly leader the successor of St. Peter, the Pope. Jesus Christ invites every person to the fullness of life through liberation from their sin. He provides us with the faith to be one with this communion through the worship of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
For instance, when we read the books of the Bible in church or individually (which, by the way, were put together as "Bible" by Catholic bishops in the first century A.D.) we approach the Lord in love. When we celebrate the Sacraments, "visible signs of invisible graces" (St. Augustine fifth century A.D.), we approach the Lord in love.
Roman Catholic Christians also believe that the Lord's unique presence is found "whenever two or three are gathered in His name," "where hatred is quenched by mercy," "whenever we help our neighbor" and in the Eucharist. His Body and His Blood are not only "food for the journey" or "medicine for our sins" but is the help we need to share God's love, mercy and forgiveness with others by all that we say and do.
Some argue that the Church and its members are hypocrites.
Yep. They are correct.
We are. We are sinners.
We are a people whose actions never completely match our words and our beliefs. One of the beauties of the Roman Catholic Church is that she enshrines the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the standard for our lives even as the Gospel is the very thing which convicts us of our own pettiness, selfishness, indifference, arrogance and hatred.
I was proud when Pope John Paul II publicly asked forgiveness from women, minorities, Muslims, Jews, peoples who were conquered by Catholic colonizers and all others who had experienced persecution, poverty and death at the hands of Catholics and their Church.
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