Now Is Not the Time To Leave the Catholic Church

Criticisms and Scandals

The Catholic Church has come under increasing pressure from horrific scandals. It is entirely understandable that so many people shy away from church or want to get out and leave. The cover-ups perpetrated by the leaders of the church tend to drive people away and keep them apart. The good that the Catholic Church has done and is doing becomes unrecognizable or lost in all the negativity. The result is that the Catholic Church is subject to scathing criticism, dislike, and is experiencing, like other churches, an increase in the “nones.”

Never mind that the Catholic Church has always been, is, and will be the advocate for human well-being. Historically, and to this day, the Catholic Church as an organization is one of the most significant contributors in the world to foster charity, promote goodwill and further belief in God based on reason. That right message is lost.

Little Rhody and the Catholic Church

I often wonder at how many different programs the Catholic Church helps to support.  So, rather than wonder, I took a look at my little state of Rhode Island, which has only one diocese. Specifically, I tried to find out what impact it has on our community? How many different charitable organizations it helps? How far it reaches in serving Rhode Island?

I was somewhat taken aback and pleased with what I discovered while talking with fellow parishioners, reading RI Catholic publications, examining the Diocese of Providence web page, and personally taking part in a ministry sponsored by the Diocese. The extent and variety of programs were encouraging to me as I honestly didn’t think it encompassed that much.

Spiritual, Educational and Social Services Efforts for All

As noted on its web page, the diocese consists of 178 individual corporations representing parishes, offices, and agencies: three hundred sixty-four priests, 91 deacons, 368 sisters, and 66 brothers under its purview. There are 11,700 children in diocesan-related elementary and secondary schools. The combined enrollment at Providence College and Salve Regina University is 7,321 students. This number helps serve the higher education needs of the geographic area and are also part of the Diocese of Providence community.

I counted over 29 social service programs the diocese funds either totally or partially.  These programs serve thousands in Rhode Island and not only Catholics. You don’t have to be a Catholic to participate in these programs; you have to be in need! The services range from childcare and shelters for families, to respite programs for caregivers of the elderly and sickly, to a myriad of multi-cultural programs from immigration services to settlement programs, a host of life and family well-being programs such as pregnancy help, post-abortion, and end-of-life issues. The diocese initiates and conducts bereavement and HIV/AIDS support groups. That is just a small sample of what our singular little Diocese of Providence is engaged in the social services arena.

Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital for Specialty Care Medical Center provides health care. Diocese Hospital Ministries coordinates various hospital chaplaincy teams to all the hospitals in the state and many nursing homes. Hospitalized and elderly throughout Rhode Island receive pastoral care.

The diocese, which serves such a small state with only about 1 million residents, is involved in a pretty impressive array of spiritual, educational, social, and health care programs.   An organization can talk about kindness and goodness, but it’s another matter altogether when it engages in activities that are all-inclusive and based on compassion and decency.

When You Extrapolate from Little Rhody

Now, extrapolate or generalize all of these actions in which our diocese participates to the whole of the United States, then to the Americas and Canada, then to other continents where Catholics are practicing. You might get an inkling as to the magnitude of the good that the Catholic Church accomplishes. Sadly, the bright light of the media focus so much attention on the scandals and give short notice or no notice to the good, just as the angry synagogue leader admonished Jesus as described in Luke 13:11-17!  Or, as Jesus himself describes in Matthew 11:16-20, noting the criticism that John the Baptist and he experienced in his day. To critics of the Catholic Church, then as well as now, the glass is always half empty as criticism abounds.

Stand Your Ground

There is nothing that can dissuade me from being a Roman Catholic. Jesus is my Savior, and this Church is His legacy. I pray for those clergy who have abused their sacred privilege, and I especially pray for their victims. I agree with Bishop Robert Barron. Now is not the time to run; instead, it is the time to stand your ground. We can do this by ratcheting up the love we have for Jesus by our actions. Stay, don’t leave; and if you have shied away, come back home and get more involved.

Reasons to Stay

The most important reason to remain is that Jesus built this church on the rock, which was Peter and the Apostles. If Jesus had not created this church, everything He said, did, and stood for would have passed away in the dust of time, and much of Western Civilization, as we now know it, would not have happened. Instead, the exact opposite has happened. Currently, there are about 1.2 billion Catholics. There is never a time to leave the Catholic Church that Jesus founded!

Additionally, the historical significance alone is worth the effort to stay with me. The Catholic Church’s contributions to western civilization in the fields of art, music, architecture, science, law, economics, morality, and fundamental human rights are well-validated (Woods, 2011). This church epitomizes the Mariner’s Cross in that it has been not only an anchor to Western Civilization, but it also has been its moral compass.

Catholicism has survived, thrived, grown tremendously, and universally because its primary root is the way, the truth, and the life. Love is willing the good of another; the Catholic Church is and always has been about love. God is love, Jesus is our Savior, and this Church is His legacy because He is love; He is God. Our goal is to evangelize His Gospel message through His Church, in His Church, and with His Church. There are many reasons to stay, but the one that sticks out most prominently is that it is true.

Rather Than Leave

I encourage you to look at your parish more closely and examine the number of ministries they are involved in instead of sticking your head in the sand and letting your rear end flap in the breeze like an ostrich, why not pick one or two ministries and become more involved?

If you’re concerned about abortion, join your parish pro-life ministry, and if your church doesn’t have one, start one! How about joining the parish bible study group, or if they don’t have one, start one!  You want to work with kids, get involved in the various youth ministries.

Come Home

This church is over 2,000 years old, and it has had its bad popes, priests, clergy, heretics, and schisms, but that is not the essence of the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church, with all its shortcomings past, present, and probably in the future, is still something very much worth standing up for and connected.

Many of the “nones” who have returned to the Catholic Church says the intense longing for the Holy Eucharist is the number one reason why they have returned.  Again, stay, don’t leave, and, if you have been away, come home.  Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist; He is still here waiting for you.  He welcomes you.  More than ever now is not the time to leave the Catholic Church!

Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee. (Augustine of Hippo)