Yes, I am Catholic and proud to be Catholic. And Yes, I truly, sincerely and completely believe that the Christ Himself established the Church and the fullness of truth resides therein. I also realize that for others who still find fault with the Church, my sentiments come across as a sort of triumphalism. This is the furthest thing from my mind and my heart.
My journey to where my faith life is today has come full circle; and I mean full circle. I was born on a chilly day in March and before that month would be over, I had been brought to the Church and baptized. I was raised Catholic from the beginning, learning my prayers, going off to Sunday Mass with the family and attending Catholic schools when we could afford it and CCD classes when we could not. I grew up as a young man still on fire for Jesus because of the Church and even was once elected President of the CYO. I attended a Catholic High School run by the Salesians of St. John Bosco. I loved going to school Mass with 600 young men singing and praying in a huge school gymnasium. I begin dating in high school and fell for a girl who would become my wife; she was Methodist. But not for long. Wendy and I, early on, knew that we would be married and she told me that my faith was strong and she would gladly become Catholic. To me, I was so pleased at her decision and equally pleased that her mom & dad agreed! Our faith remained intact as we went off to college and we planned a Catholic wedding and marriage. And we lived our Catholic faith during our young married years, had our son promptly baptized and toted him to Mass with us week after week. When we moved to a new part of town, we begin to struggle with fitting in at a new parish; no fault of the parish, spiritual immaturity on the part of a young couple. As we involved ourselves in raising a family, buying a house and developing and growing in career, we were exposed more and more to others who were not Catholic, including those who were convinced that Catholic equaled wrong. Up to this point, I never even considered that the Catholic Church could be wrong. And at the same time, despite being a cradle Catholic, I did not know how to defend the Church.
And indeed it happened. The wheels came off the bus. One of my own siblings declared that she was no longer Catholic and my mom and aunt were borderline hysterical. Wendy and I found ourselves getting busier and busier with all things life and we realized on occasion that we missed Sunday Mass. As I got more involved in a leadership organization that had plenty of weekend activities, the occasional miss turned into weeks and months and years. Others who knew I now was struggling challenged me to go to other services and to read the Bible in a new light. Yet God remained in charge. Despite my absence from Mass, He was working on me. When others came at me to attack the Church, I still defended. These were the heady years of the pontificate of a Saint, Pope John Paul II. I followed him intently, even feeling guilty that he was teaching truth and growing church and I loved his message, but I was not motivated to go to Mass. I began to read the Bible on my own. I even, at one point, had my sister send me some verses that I believe were intended to explain away Eucharist from a very non-Catholic perspective. During this period our 2nd child was born after we lost a child in a miscarriage. These events prompted a very modest return to Church and the Baptism of our new baby. I was now reading and researching Scripture, and I got my hands on what is called Apologetic material. As my little family planned to move to the "country" I was having my eyes opened. Reading Scripture I found things decidedly Catholic; there was the Mass, the role of Mary in salvation history, the Sacraments, yes, all 7 Sacraments are in the Bible, the Eucharist as what Holy Mother teaches, the Real Presence, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. I made a promise to God, and an offhand comment to Wendy, when we arrive in Abita Springs, we will find a church and try to go back to Mass.
As we settled in to our new home we found a Catholic Church right smack in the middle of town, almost as an anchor at the heart of a community. It took us a month or so to decide to pack it all up one day and get back to Mass. Our first encounter at St. Jane de Chantal Catholic Church was beautiful and mysterious and liturgy was celebrated beautifully. And the little "country" church was packed. Soon I found myself at Confession, embarrassed that I had to tell the Priest it had been years and I forgot how to confess. He looked at me and said one statement I'll never forget: welcome home! The rest is history. That little country parish was not so little and not so country; I flourished there and found out things I never knew, because of my own ignorance or lack of effort. There was Bible Study, yes the Bible, adult faith formation, a robust CCD program we quickly enrolled our daughter in. I became a Knight of Columbus, was invited to be a lector then later a lay minister of Holy Communion. Fast forward about 7 years and I was being challenged by my Pastor to look into the diaconate, fast forward another 6 years and I was ordained; Deacon Mike Talbot.
Holy Mother Church rescued me; Holy Mother Church saved me; she, for me, truly was the faithful and devoted Bride of Christ, the Rock against which even hell can not prevail. I learned through my journey what Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen always said so eloquently: "There are not 100 people in America who hate the Catholic Church, there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be. Amen Archbishop! My Catholic Church today just witnessed 6-7 million Filipinos brave the rain to participate in Mass held by the Holy Father, Pope Francis. That's 6-7 million, with a capital M. Today, millions more will file into Catholic Churches from my little "country" church in Abita Springs, to bombed out, half ruined churches in the Middle East, to some of the grandest Cathedrals across the world. Today, my Catholic Church, will give proper praise and worship to God, in a liturgy handed down for 2,000 years, in every nation, on every continent, in every time zone as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This week, my Catholic Church will feed more hungry people, assist more poor people, educate more youth, open doors to hospitals and medical clinics to the sick, minister to more men and women in prison, and be present to more dying, hurting, confused and struggling people than all the world religions combined, and it will take them longer than a week! Not triumphalism, fact. My Catholic Church, wherever She can, will offer Mass all week long. Across the world, hundreds of thousands will be going to extra classes in the evening to be prepared to enter the Church. Across the world this week, my Catholic Church will bring more people to Jesus Christ because we preach Sacred Scripture, we hand on Sacred Tradition and we look to a Magesterium who is protected by the Holy Spirit to instruct faithfully. And just this week, when you find Pro-Life Marches and rallies across these United States, you will find at the forefront, my Catholic Church. It is the Catholic Church that stands against the prairie fire sweeping the land to promote a culture of death, to dismiss artificial birth control as no big deal and governments who seek to redefine marriage. It is my Catholic Church that stand for truth, in season and out of season.
As Pope Francis says, to worship Jesus, to praise Jesus, to declare Jesus Lord and Savior, to do all these things without His one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, makes no sense. United fully to Him is His Bride, for us our Holy Mother Church!
No comments:
Post a Comment