Signs of the Times: Reasons to be a Roman Catholic Today

“Each individual is headed for an everlasting life of bliss depending degree of one’s trust in God. If that degree of trust is sufficient the individual can share with Jesus in the victory of goodness over evil, of life over death. ”

The Christian religion is derived completely from Jesus Christ, his person
and his teachings. The Roman Catholic Church, especially since the resent Vatican
Council II, offers individuals the opportunity to make contact with Jesus of
Nazareth, Jesus, the Christ, by updating its basic teachings, the Creeds, making
better use of the Scriptures, improving the Sacraments and its basic organizational
structure on the parish level.

The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest of Western Europe’s political and social organizations, affords its members a regular opportunity to begin each new week making effective contact with God Almighty in a moving and helpful way. And, it provides the mechanisms to further that relationship through the use of its resources and prayer life in a practical manner. It has improved other Sacraments as well, and this is a work in process.

The Roman Catholic Church is in every community, and affords its members the opportunity to meet regularly and meaningfully with like-minded persons, for religious and social purposes. In doing so, it helps meet a number of key human
needs.

One of the most important of human needs is to gain a sense of where one is going, what it is really all about. The Roman Catholic Church, echoing the convictions of Jesus Chris, insists the news is truly good in this regard. Each individual is headed for an everlasting life of bliss depending degree of one’s trust in God. If that degree of trust is sufficient the individual can share with Jesus in the victory of goodness over evil, of life over death. The outlook does not demand a rejection of the existence of evil, but it insists upon the possibility of victory over it. Everything Jesus said or did is predicated upon this conviction, and that is the hope the Church holds before the world, despite every evidence of a contrary view, for every individual person.

In the age-old commitment of finding and promoting the truth, in its various forms, and resolving the differences between science and religion, for example, the Roman Catholic Church has provided humanity with a priceless treasure. In doing so its combination of rigidity and flexibility has proven to be amazing and unusual. The individual, regardless of his or her inclinations and institutional loyalties, has been able to associate with congenial others under its very wide umbrella, at a price to be sure, but nonetheless realistically.

The members of the Church have on occasions violated its openness, but these instances have been most often unusual and of short duration. In its self-confidence, which can border on arrogance, the Church has preferred to outlive its foes, rather than to do battlewith them. It remains to be seen as to whether this approach will remain possible in today’s fast-moving world.

In summary, then, the hope the Church offers every individual person is the source of its appeal and strength. That hope resonates with something that is deep within each individual It is a conviction based upon the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a faith that captivates and continues to do so throughout much of the world.