Why Should I Remain Catholic?

Shall I call you my brother if you are not? Shall I call you a friend if we’ve never met? Of course not. But we in the Catholic Church call people our brothers and sisters who are not. Is this charitable or loving? Not in my book. So I will not call people who reject the Body of Christ, His holy Catholic Church, my brother and sister.

This lie keeps them stuck in the lie they live. By telling them they are parts of the Body of Christ when they have rejected, directly or indirectly, His actual Body, then they have no reason to search any further. They are fine with their Jesus, who accepts them living gravely sinful lifestyles, who accepts that they broke their marriage vow and are in an adulterous second marriage, who doesn’t care that they get high and drunk, who accepts mortal sin and the rejection of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. Why should they search any further than this false Jesus when we, imperfect sinners, who are part of His true Body, tell them it’s all good? We are all the same. We all worship the same God. They won’t search any further if that is the message we give them, and we will be partially responsible for their possible eternal separation from Him whom they think they have found but are in fact still seeking.

Martin Luther and John Calvin were not "reformers"; they were rebels and heretics. They led people off the true path to Christ, and those who have followed after them since have strayed further and further from the truth. The false Jesus they worship is very comforting, and so, because we do not call their false faith what it is, they strip away believers from the true Catholic faith.  And still we say nothing. We do nothing. Instead, we pray together and work together on social issues, but we say nothing to bring them home. So, is there any reason to try to bring them back, or are they fine in their diluted faith?

I wonder why I should remain Catholic sometimes. If we are all on the same path, then what difference does it make? Why go to daily Mass? Why am I confessing my sins to a priest? Why do I ask the Saints for their intercession? Why do I kneel and receive Him in the Eucharist on my tongue? If we are all the same, then why bother living the difficult life that true Catholicism calls me to?  If what many of our Catholic leaders believe is true, then there is no point, which is why the Church continues to shrink.

Thankfully, by God's grace, I know the truth. And I will not turn away from it. At the same time, I will not lie to people and leave them in their false Christianity. This is who I am and what I am called to. So please know when I say you are not my brother, it is out of love, not pride. I want you to be my brother, and so I must tell you the truth in love. Lord help me.

By calling you brother, I keep you from true brotherhood.

If your cholesterol is high, is telling you it’s fine so that you don’t feel bad about it loving?

If your cancer screening came back positive, but I wanted to maintain our friendship, and I knew finding out you had cancer would upset you, should I keep the truth away from you, knowing this will also keep you from the treatment you need?  Is that loving?

Keeping people from the Eucharist and Confession is far worse for their souls than keeping them from bodily health through denial of bad physical health, isn’t it? Of course. So in charity, stop calling people brothers and sisters who aren't.

Human-Written, AI Spell-Checked 5/2/21 AD