Having felt utterly lost and out of place at Mass, I decided to do something about it. In the basement of the university library, I found a catechism by Fr. Hardon. During the next week, (which was the first week of classes, so I had more than the usual amount of free time) I read it cover to cover. I'm pretty sure my roommates thought I was nuts. Incidentally, the catechism helped not in the least with knowing what responses to make at Mass. However, I learned an enormous amount about the Catholic Faith.
I was more than ever convinced that there was nothing in the Catholic Faith that I could find an objection to. Still searching for what it was that I, as a Protestant, was supposed to believe that was different from the Catholic Faith, I looked to the reformers. I wanted to know if they had a compelling argument that would justify the break with the Catholic Church. I read Luther and Calvin in their own words (in translation). I found nothing compelling. In Luther, I found a man lacking the humility to admit that those who criticized him were correct, and thus driven farther and farther from the truth. Calvin just made me angry. And so I failed to find anything that would justify remaining as I was, outside the Catholic Church.
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