An open Letter

To whom it may concern:

This is an open letter, for all to read. I am proclaiming my faith in a very public way; I am stating my love of the Catholic Church and my love of God for all to read.  

Let it be known that my love of the Catholic Church does not indicate that I have issues or concerns for the Church. In fact, just the opposite is true, it is because of my love for the Church that I do question her, and have issues with her.

We are called to obedience to the Church and to God, and I am obedient, to the best of my limited ability. I am of a fallen nature, and I am a thinking person, so I have an obligation to question and search for truth.

My questioning of the teachings of the Church in no ways removes me from the Catholic Church, but once again it pulls me in deeper. Education is a corner stone of the Church, we, as Catholics, have an obligation to keep feeding our souls and minds, and the only way we can feed our mind is by learning and questioning and researching. We owe it to ourselves and to the Church and to God.

God did not create us to be just followers, rather he created us to be a free will thinker, now that doesn’t mean that we can make up or own doctrine or gospels. In fact the opposite is true, with freedom come obligations and responsibilities. We have a deep responsibility to the faith, the Church, ourselves, others and God. The weight of freedom is heavy, but the chains of slavery are binding.

God created us to be free thinkers; we have to grow in our love to God and Church, we can not maintain our childhood love that we where taught (most Catholics have a 6^th grade level faith). No God calls us to grow in our love and understanding of the Church and of Him.

 

 49“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

 51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.

(Luke 2:49-52)

As a boy, Jesus thought as a boy, but he grew in wisdom, meaning he was educated, and in favor with God and men. Jesus was human, and had free will, but he knew the importance of education in his faith (church) and in God.

Jesus loved his faith (church) and loved his Father (God), but that did not mean he just took everything at face value, he looked deeper in to the subject to form his faith.

Now Jesus did have an unfair advantage, he is God, so his questioning was not like ours; he knew the heart and mind of God, where as we have to hope we know the mind and heart of God.

When we look into the faith or teachings of the Church, or even in to the direction that the Church is going, we have to carefully and prayerfully tear the layers off the teachings, looking deep in to the history of the teaching, the Church and the community it originated from. We have to remove the layers of the modern age, to see the original text and thoughts. From there we can slowly and carefully replace layer upon layer to rebuild the teaching, to see how each layer was added, and why.

We can not, and should not, assume that the top layer is the only layer you need to look at. Much like a fine piece of music, remove on layer of sound, and the whole of the music is diminished, yes its still music, but it is no longer the same, the whole meaning and feel of it has changed.

So open your mind, and see the Catholic Church for what she is, a treasure trove of knowledge, all created by God, to help you move closer to the Church and to Him.

 

Paul