A large number of dissenting Catholics often use the term “organized religion” with negative connotations. For example, you may hear, “I believe in God and Jesus, but I’m not much for organized religion!” This statement is a useful starting point to introduce the right understanding of religion and what religion’s role is with respect to our relationship with God.
Is Catholicism a Religion or a Relationship?
We live in a world of many different beliefs, especially religious beliefs. This situation has made many people ask, “who is right?” Many end up concluding that it is arrogant to hold that any one religion—including Catholicism—could be true. This, in turn, has led some Catholics to lose confidence in the faith.[1] As such, they are more apt to be tossed about by the various viewpoints that are readily available today, especially in the areas of science, philosophy and politics.
Let us ask, then, with so many different viewpoints out there today, can religious claims even be investigated to see if they are true? The Catholic faith, for its part, takes the position that religious claims can be reasoned out or investigated.
Take, for example, God’s existence, specifically, the God of Classical Theism, which is a Catholic dogma.[2]The Church affirms that the existence of God can be known with certainty through natural reasoning alone, and she is correct in that judgment.[3] The Church also holds that the Gospels are historically reliable — and in fact, the Gospels can be shown to be reliable accounts of what really happened in 1st century Judea, as they offer certain data that cannot be naturally explained. For example: the Crucifixion of Christ, the discovery of an empty tomb, the post-mortem appearances, and the origin of Christian belief.[4]
Indeed, religious matters can be reasonably adjudicated and both reason and historical evidence strongly converge on the truth of the Catholic faith. This can be said of no other religion, certainly not to such a demonstrable degree. But is it arrogant to say this? Notice that if it is arrogant to say it, then to deny it would also be arrogant. To deny that a religion is truer than others is just as much a claim to knowledge as affirming that it is truer than others.
But if the Catholic faith is true, why then are there so many conflicting opinions and beliefs out there?
At the origin of Christianity, there were many different religious beliefs, just as there are today. The early Christians, however, had a unique belief: God had broken into human history and revealed His true purposes for us. He gave us a Way to relate to Him, through His Church, and He commanded us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).
It is only in modern times, with its great distance from these historical events, that the fact of many people holding different beliefs has become a problem for people. But it is not really a problem. Many people simply hold false beliefs, and so there is still much prayer and missionary work to do. Why should that be a problem? Is spreading the truth, and overcoming falsehood, supposed to be easy?
In order to be equipped against falsehoods, there are two points that Catholics should be fundamentally clear on and communicate prudently and lovingly with others:
- To be a practicing Catholic is to relate to God on God’s terms.
- The Catholic Church is the definitive and historical link with God in Jesus Christ.
As Catholics, we should maintain the utmost confidence that our religion—our relationship to God, through Baptism, the Sacraments, and life of the Church—is the one, true religion. Whether considering philosophy, theology, Scripture, or history, the evidence points consistently to the essential truths of the Catholic faith, revealed by God and preserved by His Church. God has established an order to things, and as God’s faithful people, Catholics must simply follow God on His own terms.
God exists and has made us for a purpose. He sent His Son into the world to establish the Church as the means to achieve our purpose. The path, then, to eternal salvation is to be baptized and participate in the faith and life of the Church. Nothing can be more important than this. Furthermore, God has provided no other parallel means to salvation, because in the faith and life of the Church, He has provided the best means.
These teachings are what Catholics have proclaimed and believed since the founding of the Church. For this reason, the Protestant Reformation (or better, “the Protestant Revolt”), for all its good intentions and aspects, was a terrible sin against the one Body of Christ.[5] The Church is a single, visible community.[6] In the New Testament, Saint Paul calls the church “the household of God” and “the pillar and foundation of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). For those who seek union with God, the Catholic Church is the answer to their hopes. For it is the true Body of Christ, the fullness of the Christian faith, and the true religion.
“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth”—St Paul (1 Timothy 3:15).
Why Catholics Go Astray in the First Place
Given what we have discussed so far, it is fairly easy to pinpoint how some Catholics go astray in the faith. They have lost sight of the fact that Catholicism is about union with God and going deeper in love with Him. While it is true there may be different influences that bring people to this place, it is generally the case that many of them have fallen prey to the idea that religion is more about rules and regulations than it is about union with God.
God, however, made us to share in eternal life with Himself and has provided the means for attaining this: the Catholic Church with her Sacraments and teachings. We should be Catholic precisely because we want to be happy and because God wants us to be happy. If we want to be truly happy—to be perfected as creatures made in the image and likeness of God—then we should embrace all of what the Catholic Church teaches, and not just some of it.
Generally speaking, many Catholics have fallen prey to two common misconceptions of the Catholic Church which prevent them from embracing the fullness of the faith. They are:
- The Catholic Church is a backwards, oppressive and merely human institution;
- The Catholic Church is unlinked, or detrimental to, the witness of Sacred Scripture.
In upcoming segments, we shall discuss these two misconceptions in more detail.
The Truth and Indefectibility of the Catholic Church
In the meantime, it is necessary to point out that for a Catholic to have a firm and confident faith, catechesis is required on the nature and mission of the Church. This fact brings us to the essential dogma of the “Indefectibility of the Catholic Church.”[7] In short, the indefectibility of the Church means that the Catholic Church will endure until the end of the world and will never become corrupt in faith, morals, authority, or sacraments. We can therefore trust all of what the Church teaches on faith and morals despite the many personal failings of officials in the Church.
The primary reason for accepting the indefectibility of the Church is because God taught it. Implicit support for this dogma can be found in Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus gives the parable of the house built on sand, and in the story of St. Peter’s confession.[8] Together these passages tell us that Christ founded a Church: a visible, hierarchical, unified body of believers to whom He entrusted His authority and Sacraments.[9]
Furthermore, the Catholic Church has stood firm in her essential teachings for 2000 years while Protestantism continues to fracture.[10] The promise of the Holy Spirit undoubtedly belongs to the Catholic Church, not to any individual person. The very endurance of the Catholic Church for 2000 years is just what we would expect given the dogma of indefectibility. It is important to note that indefectibility is not a testament to the holiness or strength of human beings, but of God — who by His power and grace does not permit His Church to defect, so that it might remain His instrument of salvation until the end of the world.
Keep the indefectibility of the Catholic Church in mind as we proceed, because this dogma is, in a way, the master argument for why anybody should become Catholic or embrace their Catholic faith fully and enthusiastically.
[1] Catholics in this state might still believe Catholicism is true (or partly true), but keep their religious beliefs to themselves. They fail to evangelize and to live their faith fully. They become indifferent, and are generally marked by low Mass attendance, a futile prayer life, and/or have little understanding of Catholic teaching.
[2] See the profession of Faith in the Trinity in Canon 1 of the Fourth Lateran Council.
[3] Confer with One Good Reason lesson 2, on Atheism.
[4] See Dr. Gary Habermas’ “The Minimal Facts of the Resurrection.”
[5] Schism—separating oneself from communion with the one Church—is treated in the Bible as a great evil (cf. Matthew 9:16; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 12:25). For more on Protestantism, see One Good Reason, lesson 4: “One Good Reason for Protestants.”
[6] Cf. Ephesians 4:4-6.
[7] For some insightful information, see Eric Giunta’s blog post, “The Indefectibility of the Church.”
[8] Matthew 7:24-27; 16:16-20; John 14.
[9] Moreover, we have the Bible precisely because of the Church’s Indefectibility. The Catholic Church decided what was (and wasn’t) Scripture. It’s the Catholic Church and the Bible, not the Bible without the Catholic Church.
[10] In their charge that the Church fails to “keep up with the times,” secularists are actually highlighting the doctrine of the Church’s indefectibility.