Introductory Story: “Fully Embracing the Catholic Faith”
Katie grew up attending Sunday Mass and went to a local Catholic high school. For her and her family, taking advantage of the Catholic faith life (going to Mass, attending bible studies, praying) was something you just did. Later on, she married her high school boyfriend and welcomed two children whom she and her husband baptized Catholic. At the time, Katie would have said she was very Catholic and often leaned on God and her guardian angel during her troubles, but looking back now, she understands she didn’t embrace the faith or the sacraments to their fullest. She wasn’t even aware that there was a deeper connection to Jesus that she could, and should, have been cultivating.
Years later, a sudden and debilitating illness changed all of that. Katie could no longer work and could barely take care of herself, let alone her family. She was devastated and searched for meaning and hope. She dove more deeply into her faith, learning about and taking full advantage of the sacraments and spending time in Adoration. God met her in her suffering, and she was suddenly acutely and intimately aware of His Love, Light, and Mercy. She developed a great devotion to Divine Mercy, the Blessed Mother, to Sts. Faustina and Teresa of Calcutta and many others. Not insignificantly, as a physician’s assistant, Katie came to understand God as the Divine Physician, and His love for her during her sickness shone through in everyday moments, especially through her own children.
Katie’s heart began to burn once more with revitalized love for God and for His Church. Knowing the importance of having faith in God and seeing him at work in her life even (and especially) in her suffering, Katie wholeheartedly embraced Catholicism with unprecedented interest and vigor. She began to encourage other Catholics to fully embrace their faith as she had, started a blog that calls others to find God in their everyday lives, and began to spearhead her parish’s family Adoration events.
“Fully Embracing the Catholic Faith”
Katie’s story shows us what often happens when someone has poor faith formation while growing up. They are much more likely to not understand the depth and richness of the Faith. Katie was lucky that she never really “fell away” from the faith or rejected Church teaching, but only lacked a deeper love and commitment. But many others are not so lucky. Due to their ignorance, many people fall away from the full practice of the faith, or they fall prey to perspectives that are decidedly un-Catholic, or even anti-Catholic. Of course, there are many reasons why Catholics adopt an un-Catholic perspective. Some are political reasons, others emotional reasons. And some fall out of sheer ignorance, others out of a genuine, free choice to do what they know to be evil.
In this lesson, we will identify several different general categories of Catholics. We shall also identify some predominant reasons why Catholics fall into these categories. Lastly, we shall discuss possible solutions to re-engage, and eventually reinvigorate, those who’ve departed from the fullness of the Catholic tradition.
Different Types of Catholics
Although most of these categories can and often do overlap with one another, it is useful to identify five basic types of Catholics that you might encounter:
- “Spiritual, not Religious” Catholic—Baptized and sits in the pew, but may read a lot of New Age (i.e. Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, etc). Very subjective and relativistic in their beliefs; very “feelings-based”. Although they still consider themselves to be Catholic, they believe that virtually all religions are true. They often attempt to incorporate New Age beliefs into their Christianity, in turn rejecting many core Catholic beliefs, if sometimes only unknowingly. Such Catholics are likely to take as much spiritual advice from Oprah as from their pastor.
- “Protestant Catholic”—Baptized and sits in the pew, but assumes the Church is of trivial importance. Christianity, for them, is predominantly about their private interpretation of the Bible. They assume a Protestant paradigm and feel they can arrive at their own religious conclusions. Because of this attitude, they may read books of Protestant pastors, attend Protestant conferences, and hold to certain Protestant teachings.
- “Secular Catholic”—Baptized and sits in the pew, but allows politics to guide their religious beliefs, rather than the other way around. Such Catholics may be deeply at odds with Church teachings on anything from abortion and contraception, to gay marriage and priestly celibacy, to peace and economic justice, and more. Such Catholics are more likely to have a Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump bumper sticker, than a “Pray the Rosary” bumper sticker.
- “Fallen-Away Catholic”—Baptized but no longer “sits in the pew.” These Catholics have left the Church and the practice of the faith. Their reasons for leaving usually involve disagreement with one or more Church teachings, being treated badly in the Church, or being upset over Church scandals. A prime example is anger over the clergy sexual abuse scandals. As a result of these things, the “fallen-away Catholic” (like most of the other categories) might have a jaded attitude about the Church.
- Faithful Catholic— Baptized, sits in the pew, and practices the faith.
It is important to recall again that many of the Catholics that have gone astray, have probably done so in ignorance. On the other hand, surely many of them have gone astray knowingly and willingly, and bear the guilt of disobedience, party-spirit, schism, heresy or apostasy.[1]
To discuss “One Good Reason” for Catholics, we will need to consider a variety of objections—everything from the authority of the Catholic Church to considerations on sexual ethics—and their possible responses. Doing so will better equip us to handle the wide range of objections we’re likely to encounter among Catholics — objections for why they don’t fully embrace the teachings of the Church or have stopped attending Church altogether.
It is also important to note that all Catholics are our brothers or sisters in Christ. They have all been marked with the sign of baptism, claimed for Christ—and even more, all within the visible bounds of the one Church that Christ established, the Catholic Church. For this reason, we should treat them all as we would treat our family members: with courtesy, respect, and a special, preferential love — even as we strive to bring them to fully embracing the Catholic faith. At the same time, we should not downplay the seriousness of their situation. Lukewarmness is a sin, and can endanger a person’s salvation.
“But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 (Douay-Rheims)
[1] Disobedience is here understood as a Catholic who acts contrary to the teachings of the Church and/or disciplinary acts from lawful Church authority (i.e. a Bishop or the Pope).
Party-spirit is here defined as an attitude of mind or disposition of a person to align him or herself with the ideas of a group (usually political) as opposed to the truths of the Faith (a synonym would be “factions”).
Schism is defined by the 1983 Code of Canon Law as “the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him” (canon 751).
Heresy is “the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith” (canon 751).
Apostasy is “the total repudiation [rejection] of the Christian faith” (canon 751).