Taking Stock ...

This is my first contribution to Catholic365.com; I am humbled to have been accepted as a writer by their editorial staff and, given the constraints of my doctoral studies, hope to post some thoughts from time to time about issues facing contemporary Catholicism from both an anecdotal and an academic perspective.

While I will let my biography do much of the “talking” regarding introductions, I will begin by saying I am not proud to admit that, for most of my adult life (until about three years ago), I was a pretty poor Catholic, both practically and doctrinally speaking; truth be told, I was one of those “CAPE” (Christmas, Ashes, Palms and Easter) Catholics you might often hear your pastor speak about in his sermon during those observances. Although I will not discuss the incident too much in detail in this piece (I will in a future one), on October 18, 2012, my older son’s best friend was murdered in a domestic violence frenzy fueled by jealousy and drugs; for the first time in my life, I was face-to-face with true evil, and the oft-quoted saying by Einstein that “evil is where God is not”.

In the wake of that incident, and ever since, I was forced to take stock of my life – and my beliefs; what I found was shocking. I had no problems condoning matters such as abortion, capital punishment, pornography and same-gender marriage, among other issues, rationalizing these as the lesser of evils; indeed, had I persisted in my fallacy, I would have changed my Facebook profile picture to that same “rainbow” filter that was so popular in June of this year to show “tolerance” (and, as I will discuss in another piece, tolerance by the LGBT appears to be a dangerously one-way street).

However, the lesser of two evils is, well, still evil on some level, and I feared for the salvation of my very soul. With the help of a vibrant pastor and a supportive parish, I have been able to sort fact from fiction, and Truth from fallacy, and it is a process I continue with each and every day through prayer, contemplation and regular participation in the Eucharist. As I post articles going forward, you will see a common theme – an affirmation of orthodoxy that has sustained and saved the Church throughout the span of centuries.

As I write about my journey “home” to the Church, I ask you to take stock of your own life – you might be very surprised as to what you find, and it might just cause you to shiver just a bit as to how much you may be placing your soul at risk; you never know the day or the hour, and you don’t want to be caught off-guard if called before our Lord, having to account for your deeds – or misdeeds – in your time here on Earth.

God bless …