Hello Rosary Lovers! In this post we will ask: ‘Why should I become Catholic?’
I’ve been Catholic since 2019, and I’m so glad I joined. I often realise that this is what I’ve been looking for my whole life.
In this post, I’ll share with you why I am Catholic and why someone should become Catholic.
Catholicism is Absolutely True
The first and most obvious reason to be Catholic is because it is absolutely true.
It is not just that Catholicism has lots of good things to teach us. EVERYTHING Catholicism teaches is true and is the truth. Any departure from any teaching of the Catholic faith is a departure from truth.
‘But isn’t truth relative?’
There is a very common way of escaping this conclusion today right from the start of the discussion.
‘O yeh – TRUE, TRUTH, etc. That’s a load of nonsense. There is no truth. There’s only your truth and my truth. Truth is relative.’
Now, mercifully, many people – perhaps most – don’t agree with this. Many people – perhaps most – do believe in absolute truth in some shape or another.
But for others – for many in the postmodern Western world – they need a bit of convincing that there is such a thing as real objective Truth.
I could go on all day about this, but let’s just bring up a few examples.
Science is objective Truth, is it not? So if one rejects the fact that there is Truth, one ought to reject the idea that Science is anything more than something purely relative.
Well then, is the earth flat? Is the sun a big planet? Do dinosaurs still roam the earth? Perhaps there never were dinosaurs.
If truth is what you make it, science is fundamentally nonsensical. There would be no solid reason to believe in science over anything else.
If Johnny eats a poisonous mushroom, is that mushroom really poisonous? Or is poison just something relative to each individual?
Perhaps Johnny thinks, ‘Ah, this mushroom is poisonous to others, because they think it is so. But not me, I’m different, the truth for me is that this mushroom will be fine.’
So Johnny eats the mushroom, and Johnny gets really sick. He may even die.
The reality is that he will need to be rescued and taken to hospital, or else he will die. That’s the truth of things.
That’s the difference between truth being relative and truth being absolute and objective.
It is true, in all cases, everywhere, that if a person eats that poisonous mushroom, they will get sick and possibly die. There are no exceptions.
Morality isn’t relative
Now there are moral claims like this as well. There are some things that are so reprehensibly bad that they are condemned by all governments and all nations.
For instance, is cannibalism wrong? Or is it only relatively wrong? Is cannibalism only wrong if someone chooses to think that it is? What about someone who chooses to think that cannibalism is fine?
What about consent? Is cannibalism fine if the individuals consent?
But what is consent? And why should consent by the means for establishing whether something is truly right or wrong?
If two people consent to stab each other, is this fine and morally acceptable?
What about polygamy? Or infanticide?
Or war? Or destroying the planet?
If people were to really think about this, the case remains very clear that for the vast, vast majority of people – for everyone really – the bucks stops with us all at some point. We have standards and we wish to hold other people to those standards.
This is why lobbyists and movements in protest exist.
For every one of us, there is something that is so evil and so bad that we all oughtrightly condemn it as morally evil and wrong.
This is pure and simply the way the human mind is wired. And it’s because of human conscience.
When someone brutally murders someone, we don’t all say, ‘But what if the murdered person consented to being murdered?’
We don’t say: ‘But murder is only wrong relatively. I’m personally open to whether murder is right or wrong.’
No-one says this.
We all condemn murder as shocking, awful, terrible.
Why? Because someone has taken the life, violently, of another human being. It is wrong, and it is ALWAYS wrong, in every single context.
We don’t even have to have rational proof that it is wrong. Can you prove that this is wrong, with intellectual argument?
I’m sure there is intellectual proof that such a terrible murder is very wrong, but there’s something within us that screams out, ‘NO! That is WRONG, VERY, VERY WRONG.’
We don’t need rational proof. It is just wrong, period. End of discussion.
This is human conscience talking, God’s gift to us for knowing right from wrong.
Truth Claims are either true or false
Now what is true for moral rights and wrongs is also true for truth claims. When someone makes a truth claim, it is either True or False.
(Admittedly, there is also a middle-ground, where something can be not entirely false, but not entirely true. We won’t get into that here. Suffice to say, this is the opinion of the Catholic Church about other world religions. They are not entirely false, there is often much good and truth in them. But they are not entirely true either.)
So when someone says: ‘I am God,’ either they are wrong or right. It’s either true or false.
When someone says: ‘Abortion is a human right,’ this is either a true statement or a false one.
When someone says: ‘There is no God,’ this statement is either true or false.
When someone says: ‘You can change your sex/gender,’ this statement is true or false.
When someone says, ‘There is no absolute truth, only relative truth,’ this statement is either true or false.
If it is true, it is self-refuting and therefore cannot be true. If it is false, then this worldview shouldn’t really be believed to be true or sufficient.
Catholicism cannot be disproved
Now if Catholicism isn’t true, there’s no point being Catholic.
Catholicism is certainly helpful to my human nature, and it certainly makes me happy. But if it isn’t true, it is – in the end – pointless. Because ultimately I am Catholic to get to heaven and be with God forever.
So when the Catholic Church says, ‘I am the true Church and the world’s one true religion, the very Body of God on earth,’ the Catholic Church is either right or she is wrong. This is either true or it is false.
So which is it?
I can of course say, ‘For me it is true,’ but the fact is it really is more than this. Catholicism is not only true for me, IT IS TRUE.
Catholicism is 100% TRUTH.
And of course, someone will say, ‘But just because you say that doesn’t make it so.’ Of course not. But then the burden rests on anyone who disagrees to present their case and disprove the Church’s claim.
But can anyone 100% disprove the truths of the Catholic faith?
No.
Can anyone prove the Catholic Church is not true?
No.
To do so, one would need some kind of infallible guide to tell us that the Catholic Church isn’t true.
My reason isn’t good enough to prove whether the Church is true or not, because it is fallible. I get things wrong all the time, and so do you.
Human reason and perception is very limited as to what is true and what isn’t. Human reason is not a reliable guide for figuring out truth.
So Philosophy and human reason cannot disprove Catholicism.
Science isn’t good enough because Science cannot disprove a world religion. That’s not the function of science.
Emotions and what I feel cannot disprove Catholicism because emotions are very changeable. They are like shifting sand or the waves of the sea.
Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am upset. Just because I don’t like some things the Catholic Church teaches doesn’t mean they are wrong or untrue. So emotion is not an infallible guide to what is true.
So we have no choice but to heed to an infallible guide.
Effectively, if we wish to know what is true or untrue, we need divine revelation. We need an invasion into human reason from the Transcendent realm.
The trouble is, there is no such revelation on earth other than the Catholic Church.
The other ‘revelations’ or ‘infallible guides’ are holy books of other religions, and these need to be interpreted.
But by what are they interpreted? By fallible human thinking, fallible reason and fallible minds.
So if divine revelation were found ultimately in Books, no matter how special, then this doesn’t lead us to divine revelation but straight back to human reason. Which is deeply flawed and is not a sure guide.
Essentially, when the Catholic Church claims that she is true, there is no way for humanity to refute her.
As has been said, ‘If you can’t fight them, join them.’
This is one of the biggest intellectual reasons for why I am Catholic. I found it impossible to refute the claims of the Papacy, and therefore had to – at least in theory – accept it to some degree.
Catholicism actually works
But on a much deeper and much more important note, the reason I think Catholicism is the truth is because I have tried it and tested it and found it to be so.
Catholicism actually works! It works because it is true.
I began a relationship with Mary and saw wonderful things happen in my life. There were many times it felt as if Mary was present with me every step of the way for months.
I decided to obey all of the Church’s teachings on marriage and sex, and it worked and my family and I are incredibly blessed and happy.
I appealled to the saints and found help in time of need.
I know joy and peace and love in my soul that I’ve never known before.
I feel like a new man, the man I was supposed to always be.
I feel pure, as a human being is supposed to feel.
I have a priest I can talk to about anything, who can confirm me on the right path. I don’t have to trust in myself anymore. What a relief!
All of these changes and benefits have convinced me from an experiential point-of-view that this Religion is the real deal.
Catholicism is Exceptionally Morally Pure
Looking at some of the Church’s teachings, it should be obvious that this is the most morally pure religion and philosophy in the entire world.
The Church teaches that one man and one woman should not have sex before they marry, they should keep their virginity intact. And when they marry they should stay married to each other until one of them departs this earth.
The Church does not accept that anyone can really divorce someone they are validly married to, and so marriage binds two people together for life.
This is the purest view of sex and marriage that exists. Many people may fight against it and dislike it.
But how can it be argued that the current divorce and remarry culture of the West, or the cohabitation of couples without marriage, is purer?
Purity is a lost thing in this day and age. Teenagers often lose their virginity at a young age. Many people have slept with many partners before settling down with someone.
Lies abound and honest people are hard to come by. Pornography is very easy to access and is destroying countless minds. Bitterness, family disputes and anger.
But purity is eternal. Humanity always recognises purity when she sees it.
How about abortion? Is the right for a woman to terminate the life of her unborn offspring somehow ‘purer’ than the Catholic Church’s teaching that every, single human being – from the smallest embryo to the oldest, frail person who can’t do anything for themselves anymore – is of the utmost value?
What about the Church’s teaching of forgiveness? The world would have it that there are some things some people do that are so bad they can never be forgiven. Such people are worthy of being shunned forever by society.
But the Church teaches that so long as someone has sorrow over their sin, no matter how bad it was, and never wishes to do it ever again, then God will forgive them anything.
And the Church warmly embraces such wrecks of humanity, because the Church knows that the power of forgiveness produces the greatest purity.
Or how about the Church’s teaching that artificial contraception is always wrong? Married couples ought always to be open to life and never do anything to directly interfere with their reproductive powers.
When a man and woman in holy marriage share their love with each other sexually they give the ENTIRETY of themselves to each other and hold nothing back at all.
This always rules-out any use of artificial contraception. There is surely no purer view of sex that exists anywhere in the world.
There’s the purity of the man upon the Cross, the infinitely lovely and all-divine Son of the living God. See him there, soaked in his own blood from head to toe, out of pure love for us, each and everyone of us. See him, the sinless one, crowned with thorns for us mere mortals and sinners.
This is the purest religion and philosophy I have ever come across, by a long way, and believe me I’ve studied quite a few of them.
If anyone can show me anything purer, I’d love to listen.
And of course, people may respond, ‘Sure Catholicism teaches some pure things, but it’s too black and white, the standard is simply too high, it’s not practical and it’s unrealistic.’
That’s just it: we need such a high standard because the Church knows we are all so infinitely special! We deserve such a high standard, even if we seldom reach it.
At least the Church offers such a standard to the world. Purity is possible and it can be found.
Just because purity is rare these days doesn’t mean governments should give license to impurity. That’s not helping anyone.
Catholicism is Natural
One of the greatest pulls I had away from Protestant Christianity to a much more Catholic worldview was a simple phrase by the Apostle Paul: ‘Does not even nature teach you these things?‘ (1 Corinthians 11:14).
Paul establishes an important principle here: nature teaches us much that conforms and agrees with the holy Catholic faith.
For instance, when we lose a loved one, it is very natural to want to keep speaking to them. This is forbidden by many forms of non-Catholic Christianity, and by some other religions, but it is promoted by the Catholic Church.
We pray for our departed loved ones, and it is acceptable to speak to them and ask them to pray for us.
Or imagine that the Virgin Mary came back to earth. Wouldn’t the world flock to her? Wouldn’t even non-Christians flock to her, to touch her garments? This is the Mother of God.
God has a Mother, truly, really and forever. And if that is true then Mary is a MASSIVE deal.
This is absolutely natural. If we have a God who is King of Kings and he actually has a living Mother, it is no wonder that from earliest times believers in the Church began talking to Mary and praying to her, asking for her help and telling her they love her.
Or take the holy sacrament of Confession. It is absolutely natural for someone who has committed a grievous act to want to confess their crime and so get rid of their bad conscience.
When we feel really bad about something we have done, we need to come clean. It’s hard, but it is what our souls desperately need.
Catholicism provides this for us in Confession, with the additional perfect safeguard of the sacramental seal: a priest you confess to cannot FOR ANY REASON AT ALL ever disclose what he hears you tell him in Confession.
Even if that priest could die for not telling someone what you told him in Confession, he cannot reveal anything. That is incredible confidentiality! And we all need someone like that to talk to in life.
Or take the Father-Child relationship that exists amongst priests with their parishoners. What a beautiful, natural relationship. We all crave good relationships with our parents, and Catholicism provides us with an entire family: brothers and sisters, even spiritual fathers and mothers.
Or how about the incredible buildings and cathedrals of Catholicism and all the amazing art? Don’t we build glorious places for rulers, kings and queens?
Shouldn’t the Infinite and all-holy God have a tremendous building to dwell in? Shouldn’t he have the greatest kinds of art depicting him and his friends?
What about the holy sacrament of Baptism, which washes away our sins?
When people become aware of the bad things they’ve done, sometimes they feel a longing to take a shower or a bath, or wash in a river. Hindus do this. Converts to Islam often take a shower when they come to the Islamic faith.
There is something about water which to human nature speaks: ‘I can make you clean, not just outwardly, but inwardly.’ In Holy Baptism, by the power of God and the sacred name of the Trinity, God washes not just our bodies, but our souls with pure water.
There is nothing unnatural about Catholicism. All of it conforms with human nature and what humanity inwardly seeks.
In fact, Catholicism is written into the DNA of every human being. It is part of who we are, even if we aren’t Catholic.
There is no religion in the world which conforms so well to human reason as Catholicism. It is the most self-consistent philosophy there is.
There is nothing in Catholic teaching which contradicts any other aspect. It all hangs together perfectly, and if you lose one precious part, you may as well lose the whole.
Catholicism is Supernatural
The last thing to say for now is that Catholicism is a supernatural religion. It lifts humanity above the realm of beasts and animals and makes us into divine individuals.
We call these sorts of people saints. These are people just like you and me who lived in this world, but many of whom after coming to the Church and obeying her teachings began to do the most marvellous things the world has ever seen.
The miracles of St Padre Pio from just last century beggar belief.
The incredible acts of mercy and love of St Mother Theresa.
Eucharistic miracles, which still occur.
The visits from Mary that are witnessed by many, such as at Fatima.
The bodily healings of so many people who pray to saints.
The Catholic teachings which show us all a higher path, a path to divinity itself.
The power of the sacraments which help us to follow the Church’s teachings and turn us into holy and supernatural people.
The Catholic faith is JAM-PACKED full of miracles and the invasion of the supernatural. You have to see it for yourself. And then realise what God might do for you and in your own life.
Conclusion
Anyway, I hope this post has been of use to you.
Why should you become Catholic? Because:
- It is absolutely true
- It really works
- It is the purest worldview in the world
- It is natural to our human nature
- It is a supernatural faith
You have nothing to lose by checking it out for yourself.
God bless.