How to Remain Catholic

by Admin · August 25, 2015

BY MBONGISENI NYATHI

Most Catholics would like to enrich their faith and spiritual life � but many, it seems, are not sure how to do so. Some do not understand or appreciate the rituals and ways of doing things in the Catholic Church, so they join other churches that do things in a simpler way.

Such Catholics find the Mass boring, which may be because they do not understand the meaning and spirituality behind the Eucharistic celebration. They want good music, dancing and exciting sermons, they want to laugh and be entertained by a pastor. And, when they leave the Catholic Church for other kinds of worship, they leave behind the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

The Catholic Church indeed has a big challenge and a responsibility to communicate our faith in an understandable and deeper way.

How does one remain a Catholic in the midst of so many churches around us? I would answer that if one puts in a little effort, the Catholic faith grows on its own, gradually encompassing more and more of one�s life.

Firstly we must understand what faith is. It is a belief in a certain truth, namely God. The Church exists to evangelise the truth of God. To remain steadfast in our Catholic faith, we must be consistent in our engagement in the Church.

To act in faith requires our assent to the fact that the Catholic faith is founded in the love of God who is the truth.

Of course, the world is full of temptations, and leaving one�s church is one of them. Peer pressure can be strong, and the proselytising of certain churches can be persuasive.

Many Catholics watch Pentecostal programmes on TV channels (especially since Catholic TV is excluded from South Africa�s screens). They see Pentecostal pastors performing �miracles� on stage, jumping around as they pray, shouting loudly, speaking in tongues. After seeing all this, they compare that with the reverent, dignified Mass and think there is no Spirit in the Catholic Church, that there are no miracles in the Church.

Of course, that is a false view. Our trials do not vanish by the act of joining another church which advertises its miracles on TV. God does not reward you for choosing another church with more animated preachers.

God hears the humble prayer from wherever it comes. We show our faith actively by conquering all our weaknesses and holding fast to God who is the truth; the graces we receive from God are not dependent on the entertainment offered in a church.

Instead of church-hopping, we must rather become actively involved in parish life. Don�t just go home straight after Mass and then come again next Sunday to again go home straight after Mass. That can indeed be boring.

Youths should join the parish youth groups (and if the parish hasn�t got one, it is failing the youth). Women can join the women�s association in their parish, and men the men�s associations. Participate in the activities of the parish.

The fellowship we find in the parish keeps us close to the Church and to God � and it boosts our faith.

We must read the Bible faithfully, and take care to understand it. One needn�t leave the Catholic Church and join another to do that. Even if one goes to another church and yet reads the Bible without understanding it and strong faith, one will not see the effectiveness of the Word of God.

The Catholic Church is the house of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:19-22; 1 Tim 3:15). The Second Vatican Council, held from 1962-65, is rich in its teaching on the Church as the Family of God, to which we belong as Catholics.

Our priests are there to gather God�s family together as a brotherhood and sisterhood of living unity, and lead it through Christ and the Spirit of God the Father. We, as Catholics, are part of that family. Why would we want to throw that away?

And, finally, why would anybody want to live without the Eucharist which brings us into deeper union with Christ Jesus and his Holy Church?