On my post last week at Catholic Sistas, Shawna asked a simple but important question:
What do you think prevents people from stepping back and really examining their fundamental claims and seeing truth in the Catholic Church?
The answers are as numerous as there are people. But here’s just a few big oness:
1. Suppression of Christianity
Many people live in countries where Christianity is persecuted and even outlawed. Think Islamic countries and Communist ones in particular. You can count on zero hands the number of Christian churches in, say, Saudi Arabia. When the penalty for becoming a Christian is death, fewer people become Christians; fewer can even give it a fair shake, presuming they can obtain accurate information about the Faith.
2. Sin
Sin is a reality in the world. It makes us stupid. It can dull or even kill our conscience. It clouds our judgment; it wounded our very nature and darkened our intellects (though not completely!). As such, we have trouble exercising our God-given rational powers correctly.
Also, sin leads us to preferring the glitter of evil to the (always more difficult) narrow road to truth. This is why we renounce the devil and the allure of evil when we renew our baptismal promises.
3. Bias Growing Up
Even people who are Christians often grow up in a home or church that are biased against Catholicism. Without even being aware of it, these persons are indoctrinated in anti-Catholic ways that are very difficult to overcome. Francis Beckwith had an insightful reflection on this subject which he termed “plausibility structures.”
4. Toxic Culture
Cultural propaganda can be toxic to Catholicism. In our country, scientism and moral relativism have taken deep root in the psyche of most Americans and are pervasive in schools. These erroneous ideologies are antithetical to Catholicism.
5. Scandals
All these would make it hard enough to become Catholic. But add on top of them the scandalous actions of Catholics throughout history, from ancient times to the priestly sexual abuse scandal recently. Terrible. It takes someone with a strong faith to be able to see past these evils to the truth of the Church herself.
That’s what comes off the top of my head. What other obstacles do people face to seeing the truth of the Catholic Church?
22 thoughts on “What Stops People From Being Catholic?”
Hi Mrs Stacey Trasancos, wishing you personally and your splendid magazine well and good fortune. My suggestion is that suppression of Christianity is going on in all of Churches all over the World every Sunday. Since I, was resigned as a Sacristan some ten years ago, I have had to work out strategies of how to survive and still attend Church each week. The main strategy is to say a short Rosary, single decade only, and allow the majority of Church-goers to disperse. Another stategy is to exit from the Church at speed. The main consideration is never be predictable. Its all rather sad really since one of my main problems is isolation and lack of people with which to communicate. Any feelings of elation after the Mass must be ruthlessly suppressed in my particular case. At this moment in time I hasten to add that I do not blame the married/in a relationship individuals, and in any case it is only a small minority who cause the difficulties. We cannot expect people to refrain from expressing themselves for the period of the Mass and then to restrain themselves as some quiet single person appears at the back of the Church. The single person, especially un-married males, can espect some unpleasantness one way or another. It all seems a bit sad to me since the ‘singles’ with time on their hands and great flexibility have so much to offer the Christian Cause, chris
I think this is closely associated with bias, but I was at first repelled by the Church because I didnt understand the contemplative nature of Catholicism. When I first observed Catholic worship (after years of happy-clappy evangelicalism ) I perceived it as “dead”. It took quite a while for me to understand the true nature of the Church. It would be an act of charity if we could learn to describe our Faith in a way that people who used to hold the same misconception that I had could come to see the beauty of contemplative worship
Here are a few more obstacles that are hard for people to overcome in order to convert to Catholicism:
1. Pride. One obstacle is that the person would have to admit they were wrong. This is one of the greatest challenges since pride dwells within the heart of man so deeply.
2. Hard work. It requires a great deal of effort to work through all the straw man depictions of Catholicism and to really find out why Catholics believe what they believe. For example, Catholics don’t have relics because they are superstitious but because they are Biblical.
3. Apathy. The majority of people don’t care enough about truth in order to see if they are wrong and if Catholicism is true. Let’s face it, most people, at least in America, are more concerned about the next reality show coming on or the next football game than things like Catholicism.
It’s just plain old hard. And it comes off as joyless and no-fun. The sexual morality is enough for anyone relying on human strength to conclude that the Church is preaching something impossible. (which it is, without the Holy Spirit, that is).
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Poor catechisis. People left the Church in droves because they didn’t understood why the Church taught what she taught. When the way the Church expected them to live conflicted with the way the world offered, they chose the world because they saw no reason not to.
I attended Mass with my husband for 20 years before I converted. I didn’t really understand the differences between the Protestant denomination I grew up in and Catholicism, so I didn’t think it mattered. Funny thing, in all those years, not one person asked me if I would like to join the church.
What stops some people is that thoughtful, open-minded, ecumenical Protestants who might/would otherwise convert to Catholicism tend to be involved, along with family members and friends, in good Protestant congregations. When one’s spouse and children are heavily involved in a thriving Protestant congregation it can appear selfish to want to pack your ecclesial bags and move elsewhere, especially to unknown territory.
Ditto Pio Lofton regarding pride. It can be difficult to swallow the fact you’re wrong. Not necessarily to yourself, but to everyone else.
It may simply be that there isn’t a very good evidential case to be made for Catholicism. “Too much the work of man; too little the work of God.”
Peer pressure.
1. Confessing one’s sins to another human being!
2. Acknowledging the authority of another human being to be obeyed. (The Pope).
3. Devotion to Mary.
4. simple straightforward prejudice.
5. lack of interest in the truth. (We’re all the same really, we all believe in the same God, divisions are man made. Followed logically this would take everyone back to the Catholic Church right?)
6. It’s a matter of emotion not intellect, and those emotions have to be acknowledged and addressed before the intellect can take over.
7. It takes time, sometimes a lifetime. Patience, patience, patience.
8. The cares of the world get in the way.
9. They would have to change their lifestyle.
How many reasons would you like???? How many “non” Catholics are there in the world? That’s how many reasons. Everyone is unique.
Priests and Dre’s.
“You want to have your children baptized? I never see you in Church.I won’t baptize your baby.”
“The godparents aren’t confirmed.You have to get other godparents.
“You’re eighteen and you want first Communion.Can’t be done.You have to go to two years of Catechism…then we can talk about it.
We want to be confirmed before we can marry you.Classes start next year.
Remember,no effort is made to welcome these folks nor to start a relationship…just cold hard requirements.
Legalistic attitudes,unsmiling welcomes (if any).Making the sacraments unattainable.Sure formula for loss of potential good Catholics.
Re Malchus: What makes you so sure? What makes you so sure that you know precisely how God operates?
Joseph Vellone, I think you have a point regarding being welcoming– somebody wanting to get their baby baptized, or who want to be godparents, or who want to get married in the Catholic Church can be and should be treated as an opportunity to evangelize: to explain kindly and gracefully why those requirements in light of how awesome the Catholic faith is and that you want them to want this.
But at the same time, I see where the priests and DRE’s are coming from: the Sacraments aren’t to be treated like commodities or mere formalities, and some of the blame can be laid at the feet of the other party, too. I’ve read many a complaint from priests who are overworked and understaffed as it is, whereupon they then have to deal with somebody unschooled in the faith (and who often can’t be bothered, either) demanding one thing or another, and when they don’t get what they want, it’s somehow all his fault.
It’s interesting that the complaints you cite all pretty much revolve around spiritual adulthood in one way, shape, or form.
Godparents should be confirmed Catholics in good standing because of what the very name implies: godparents are to aid the child’s parents in rearing that child in the Catholic faith. It’s an honor, and a gift, certainly. But it’s a very real responsibility: “those to whom more is given, more will be expected.” Care of a child means care of the whole child, for it involves the child’s spiritual needs. As a godparent to a child being baptized in the Catholic Church, you are to help raise that child as a Catholic. If you are not yet confirmed, you have not taken on the spiritual responsibilities of a Catholic adult. This is not being “legalistic.” This is doing what is best for everybody involved.
If you are 18 and unschooled in the Catholic faith, you can’t just be given Communion. You may be a legal adult, but again, are you spiritually an adult? Receiving Communion without discerning it is spiritually dangerous. This is why the Catholic Church does not have an “open table” policy, because receiving Holy Communion is a public act: with your actions, you are saying, “I believe and accept all that the Catholic Church teaches to be true.” And this doesn’t just apply to everyone who wants to receive Communion in the Catholic Church but who isn’t Catholic or hasn’t yet received First Communion, but to all Catholics in general. By the way, just so we’re clear, struggling with hard teachings is different from unbelief and willing dissent. We all struggle, and that’s when we should be asking for God’s grace to understand and live what we profess to believe through persistent prayer.
When you get married in the Catholic Church, again, you should be confirmed, because you should be spiritually an adult. Marrying in the Church assumes that you will not only have children, but bring them up in the Catholic faith. And it’s kind of hard to do that if you yourself are not spiritually an adult for not yet having received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This is hardly “making the sacraments unattainable.” While dealing with people vis-a-vis the Sacraments can and should always be done gracefully, those requirements are part of making sure that those who receive the Sacraments know what they are. A priest’s responsibility is to care for souls, and he’d be doing someone a disservice if he did not let them know that adequate preparation is needed. The real formula for loss of potential good Catholics is for them to not know what the Sacraments are and/or receive them unworthily, whereupon they lose their faith. A priest once put it this way: if you want to lose your faith, then receive Holy Communion with a mortal sin on your soul.
@Wsquared. And what makes you? Why should anyone chose a particular sect of Christianity? Catholicism has several negatives, from an objective observer’s point of view, not least of which are the plethora of apparently man-made and arbitrary rules.
I have a hard time believing that man-made rules, in reality or in perception, are a real stumbling block. I am sure you don’t avoid schools, gyms, businesses, driving, dining, and so on, because of the man-made and arbitrary rules that are associated with all of them.
But, even in putting denominations side by side, which ones do not have what would appear to be man-made and arbitrary rules?
Just being against rules and/or authority of one denomination doesn’t really support your claim of objective observer status.
I said neither that I was against rules, nor that my suggestion that folks avoid being Catholic was based on “one denomination.” And your point regarding rules for things such as driving, etc. is not analogous: having everyone drive on the same side of the road can be shown to increase safety. Having folks condemned to hell for missing mass doesn’t have any evidence of truth – especially since the Church has changed it’s position on the subject without any apparent logic.
Esteemedwsquare
I appreciate very much your explanations “from the other side” of the rectory desk.
I have an Hispanic Ministry and have had one since l974.I can sympthize,but cannot condone what results in the
people being denied the sacraments of baptism,confirmation and first communion for what to me are frivolous reasons.
My family was an anti clerical Sicilian family who suffered under priests who almost had dictatorial powers over the poor people of early 20th century Sicily.Priests who squeezed every penny they could from the impoverished families of little Sicilian villages,and who often tried to have the their way with the girls of the villages. For this reason the people lost their ways of being practicing Catholics.I’ll never forget my grandfather saying he lost his faith when he entered the rectory on a Friday night and found the priest eating a steak,and had to go home and eat his small portion of pasta.
Anyway,I spent my seminary years praying for both sets of grandparents.Both sets of grandparents had religious and devotional pictures in their bedrooms and one grandmother had a wick burning in oil in front of a picture of St. Joseph.These grandparents had all of their children baptized and saw to it that they received their first communions.A result of this is that all the kids were married in Church,with a few exceptions.But Divine Providence saw to it that quite a few of the kids met the right priest along the way and became good Catholics.Both sets of grandparents devoutly received the last Sacraments when their lives ended.
Now,here’s my point: the better is the enemy of the good.When a priest denies baptism for the reasons mentioned above,he is in effect excommunicating that family.When the children of poor farm workers cannot get to the classes because the parents are using their only car to get to work,that child does not get his first communion.I have the parents teach them their prayers and the ten commandments..I give them a few classes.They know what they are doing make good confessions and receive the Sacraments devoutly.They don’t have to spend two years coloring and don’t end up after two years not even knowing their prayers.Many start showing up for Mass,not every Sunday but quite often,keep their Catholic identities and at least are in the right Church with a good Catholic background.
I must also make very clear that 99% of the mothers desperately want their children to be Catholics and to receive the sacraments.
Your priest who denies baptisms to people who don’t or can’t go through the hoops is responsible for the loss of many souls and for the hispanic baptist churches flourishing because of legalistic priests.
St Andrews Chandler Az. You don’t have money you can’t be Catholic. 12 years of Catholic schooling for me and my children will never know the faith because of red tape.
I’d love to be a catholic and am struggling with that now, but what puts me off completely is the Mary worship. Yes, yes, yes, I know many catholics are going to write back saying “We don’t worship her, we venerate her!” but what I see is worship pure and simple. I don’t need Mary to intercede for me before Jesus; I can go directly to Jesus himself! I’m sorry if this upsets people but I find it very, very offputting and realise it’s a great shame because Catholicism has so much to offer.
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment, a common concern. Can you explain what exactly you see that makes you think that Catholics are worshiping Mary?
God bless,
Devin