WHY I AM A CATHOLIC, NOT A PROTESTANT OR AN ANGLICAN OR AN EASTERN ORTHODOX OR A NONE!

At the “Where Peter Is” blog, also known as “Where Francis Was” Pedro Gabriel has a video on why he is a Catholic and remains so:

Pedro Gabriel shares his personal faith journey, as a gradual process shaped by study, experience, and a desire for intellectual coherence.

Pedro talks about the moments that forced him to take his beliefs seriously again: his growing up in Portugal, the 2007 abortion referendum, his work in medicine, and his encounter with the writings of Pope Benedict XVI. He also reflects on how his faith was later challenged and refined during the papacy of Pope Francis.

This is a reflection on faith and reason, authority and conscience, and what it has meant to remain Catholic while trying to think honestly and consistently.

My response:

For me, the hierarchy of reasons why I remain a Catholic consists of the four or so most important reasons:

1. Jesus is One Divine Person, with two natures, Human and Divine

2. In His public Ministry He began to found and form His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

3. By the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and and mediated through the Catholic Church, which the Risen Lord founded, I can experience salvation through God’s grace that enables me to repent of my sins, and to strive to know, love and serve Jesus Christ in this world and to be happy with Him forever in heaven and with the communion of saints and angels!

4. I am a Catholic because I want God forgives the Original Sin of Adam and Eve and my own personal/actual sins through the ministry of the Church He founded and through that Church leads me to eternal life in heaven won for us by the same Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

In other words I want to go to heaven. That’s why I am a Catholic.

Everything else, faith and reason, nice liturgies, popes that look like popes in dress and manner, are all icing on the cake but not essential to me remaining a Catholic. Because Jesus founded the Cathoic Church is the only reason I remain a Catholic. If that wasn’t true and heaven is an automatic thing, I’d be a none and practicing pagan in every aspect of the word.