Why I Remain a Catholic

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If you read this column last week, in which I related several experiences when I was turned away by members of the Church, you may ask why I remain Catholic, especially when the Catholic Church is stained by scandal, rife with hypocrisy, where because of my sex I am treated like a second-class citizen, where I know I belong but often am not welcomed by those who claim the place as theirs, rather than ours.

The easiest answer, and the truest, is that of the Galilean fisherman who became the rock on which Jesus built the Church. When Christ asked the Twelve Apostles if they would join those who quit following him because it was too hard, Saint Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

Often I am sorely tempted to leave, but I stay because of my friends, who welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, visit those in prison, bury the dead, give alms to the poor, counsel the doubtful, and comfort the sorrowful. I see them forgive injuries, bear wrongs patiently, teach our faith, and pray for the living and the dead. They journey together with me and others, acting as guides to a lifegiving relationship with God. In theology, this spiritual act of mercy is known as admonishing the sinner, but my friends who practice it do not condemn or judge; instead, they admit that everyone falls at times, and they offer a helping hand up, a welcoming smile and encouragement to continue together on this pilgrim’s path.

The Church is a community with more people like my friends than like those who shunned me. I stay because by doing so I am inspired to imitate the best of those I meet.

I stay because a Sister of the Holy Cross once gave me sorely needed comfort; and because a Benedictine once listened to me as though I were the most important person in the world; and because a Carmelite prays for me by name; and because a Dominican once told me that, after having seen a child starving to death, he could no longer be silent about government policies that allow such a thing. And I stay because of that white-clad Jesuit in Rome who challenges me and consoles me, almost on a daily basis.

My Church has many women and men who have taken religious vows, and I stay because by doing so I am able to walk with them on this pilgrim’s path.

I stay because of the priests who wake in the middle of the night to answer a plea to come to the hospital to anoint the dying, who answer the doorbell in the middle of their favorite television program and comfort the weeping person on their doorstep, who listen and offer hope to a person drowning in despair, but who most of all administer the seven sacraments.

I have been that mourner calling to ask for the anointing of sick, the tearful teenager on the priest’s doorstep, the one in despair seeking hope. I stay in the Church because by doing so I am able to continue to receive the sacraments and so be strengthened on this pilgrim’s path.  

I stay because our church has people who give peaceful, prayerful witness outside abortion clinics; and programs like Walking with Moms in Need, which provides mothers help with raising their child. I stay because the Nuns on the Bus advocate for social justice despite having been criticized by the Vatican, because Father James Martin ministers to the LGBTQ+ community despite the death threats he receives from some who call themselves followers of Christ, because Sister Norma Pimentel advocates for the immigrants at the U.S./Mexican border in a political climate that treats them less humanely than animals, because Sister Helen Prejean brings attention to the barbarity of the death penalty even though many people dispute that this is just as much a prolife issue as opposing abortion. I stay because Mother Teresa’s nuns continue her legacy of serving the poorest of the poor; because of the uncounted, nameless men and women religious who teach children in schools, labor in hospitals, minister to farm workers in the fields, who in fact go anywhere and everywhere in the world to help ease the suffering of the least of God’s children. I stay because countless anonymous members of the Catholic laity do the same, and all of them do it for no other reason than love.

I do not have that kind of love, but if I stay in the Church, perhaps I will acquire it as I walk along this pilgrim’s path.

But I stay most of all because I have felt God’s love, known his mercy, been guided by his Spirit, and all of this has happened because I have the Church and her people to guide me on my path toward salvation.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.