Be Catholic Despite Your Bad Parish

When I first converted to Catholicism, I was so excited. Well, perhaps I was a little nervous, but I had been listening to my, then fiancé, talk about all the depth, history and beauty of the Catholic Church and I wanted to love it as much as he did. He talked about the rich tradition and the unshakable truth there was to be found in our 2,000 year old faith. I was ready to fall in love but then… I stepped into a bad parish.

In retrospect, it wasn’t really a bad parish. I imagine it was more typical than it was bad. But, it wasn’t on fire for Jesus. It was filled with apathetic Catholics and a very bureaucratic office. I tried hard to get involved, and was met with lots of roadblocks and grumpy people. Where was this beautiful religion my husband was talking about? The Protestant in me wanted to high tail it back to my warm and fuzzy evangelical church where my brothers and sisters would hug me and tell me how much Jesus loved me.

But even then, even in those early days when a bad parish made me want to give up on Catholicism, I knew there WAS something beautiful there. There was truth and history. I set out to find it and I did find it. I found it in books. It’s funny how books can feel like a community, even though you read them by yourself. But there on those pages, I made friends and I met my mother Church.

It didn’t take long for me to soak up all the amazing and warm truths of our great faith, our Church. She hugged me and told me that there will always be broken people. That’s why we need Jesus. She told me that parishes sometimes get it wrong and they mean well, but they can focus on the wrong things and get distracted by process. She opened my heart and poured in the lives of the saints, the great healing power of the Sacraments and finally, the warm embrace I was looking for came from Mary.

I felt strengthened to deepen my relationship with Jesus. I felt empowered by the slow burning coals of Catholicism. She has wisdom. She has stood the test of time. She embodies the truth no matter how hard we try to cover her up with worldly fads.

Don’t give up on Catholicism because of a bad parish. By all means, don’t stop going to Mass. We need Mass. Mass is at the heart of it all. But don’t be disheartened by staff politics and lukewarm Catholics. Love them through their brokenness and seek to strengthen your own relationship with Christ through books.

We forget about books sometimes. Sometimes reading seems like it takes so much more effort than watching TV. But it feeds us in a way that television does not. Reading Catholic books gives us power, and it helps clean the slime off our eyes, so we can see the world as Jesus does, and not as the popular opinion does.

Here are six books I recommend that dissatisfied Catholics read. Hopefully they will help you see that you are not alone. And then I hope that they show you Catholicism is the most complete way to have a relationship with Jesus.

Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly

Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly

Evangelizing Catholics by Scott Hahn

Made for More by Curits Martin

For readers who want something thick and theological, read Evangelical Catholicism by George Weigel

For readers who want to help their bad parish become awesome, read Rebuilt by Michael White and Tom Corcoran

Don’t stop reading until you find the love and peace you’re looking for. I’m convinced that if we start reading books, we’ll come together and help put warmth back into the Catholic Church.