Why It's Awesome to Be Catholic

Reasons Why Being Catholic Is Awesome:

• The Holy Eucharist - the REAL Body and Blood of Christ - not something symbolic but the real deal! And this isn't a once-in-a-while opportunity - this is available at EVERY SINGLE MASS all over the world!

• The Catholic Church is the oldest Christian denomination, having survived centuries of persecution and She is STILL standing strong. And why wouldn't She be?  Christ himself said that even the gates of the netherworld would not prevail against it!

• The Catholic Church can make and prove the claim of apostolic succession - no other denomination can do that and prove it.

• The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ Himself over 2,000 years ago. Every other denomination has the name and date of its founder but none can prove that theirs was founded BY Jesus. Only the Catholic Church can do that! 

• We believe that our holy brothers and sisters already in Heaven can and DO pray and intercede for us here on earth!

• Is your Bible missing the books of Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach, and Baruch (also known as the "Deuterocanonical Books"?  The Catholic Bible contains all of the books that dear old Martin Luther threw out because they went against HIS views when he decided to break away from the Catholic Church. The Protestant Bible doesn't contain Scripture related to intercession of the angels and saints, praying for the dead, purgatory or a host of other things because those were in the books that were tossed out. Pick up a Catholic version of the Bible and see what you've been missing!

• The Communion of Saints!  We have saints for who will pray for us at times when we aren't able to pray as we'd like to. After all, they're already in heaven with Christ, not down here in our hectic, busy lives!  Talk about having friends in high places. ;)  And what wonderful examples of role models!  

• We respect life - from the womb to the last breath. (This is why you cannot legitimately be Catholic AND pro-choice.)

• The teachings of the Catholic Church are the same now as they were when Christ established it. We don't conform to society. (We're rebels with a cause!)

• We have the Pope!  How awesome it is to have someone to guide us in our faith and to give us an example of holiness here on earth!

• You can go into any Catholic Church in the entire world and know what to do, how to respond, what prayers to say, what to expect - because it is the same all over the world.

• Unity!  You will not go into a Catholic Church and find priests arguing over Sacred Scripture with the congregation. 

• The rituals - We all kneel, make the Sign of the Cross, pray, respond and sing in unity. When I go into the church, I know that I am going to be doing what everyone else is doing (and if you're just visiting and not a Catholic and you don't know what to do, that's okay, too!). I much prefer going into the church, crossing myself with holy water and kneeling in silent prayer before Mass as opposed to going into a church and being distracted by social chatter, tuning of instruments, practicing of loud songs and feeling like I'm outside during social hour. When I enter a Catholic church, I truly feel like I am in the Lord's house. There's a time and place for socializing with other parishioners!

• Tradition - Not tradition like having turkey every Thanksgiving, but Tradition (with a capital 'T') which is basically the passing down of information from Christ throughout the generations the part of God's revealed word that is not contained in Sacred Scripture (most non-Catholics will argue over this one because they don't have Tradition and if it isn't specifically in the Bible, they are very reluctant to believe it ... of course, most of them also believe strongly in the Holy Trinity, but the word "Trinity" isn't in the Bible ANYWHERE!).

• The Holy Rosary - True, you don't have to be Catholic to recite the rosary (did you know that already?  Good for you!), but it is something super special that helps us to meditate on the life and death of Christ and in doing so, we find ourselves being brought even closer to our Lord. Additionally, the rosary is a powerful weapon against the devil!  We aren't just holding pretty beads for no reason!

• The seven holy Sacraments -  Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick. 

• Sacramentals - Holy water, the holy rosary, novenas, religious medals, fasting, crucifixes, scapulars, icons and other items help us to focus our minds on God. We DO not worship idols, statues, anything or anyone else but God and God alone!

• Our Blessed Mother Mary - Granted, other Christian denominations have Mary, too. However, they don't give her the recognition and veneration that she deserves!  After all, she brought the Salvation of all mankind into the world when she, having free will just like the rest of us, could have certainly said no!

I could go on and on about why I love being Catholic and all of the amazing things that go along with it like the feast days, patron saints, a Lenten fish fry every Friday at the Catholic churches, incredible charities (the Vatican Bank donated $70 MILLION dollars to Catholic charities in 2012) and so forth. I knew that when I made the choice to become Catholic, that it was honestly the only right choice. The Catholic Church is the church Christ established on earth. It was, is and always will be. Granted, it may not always be the easiest (our own selfish natures sometimes prefer to do things our own way instead of God's way, which is why so many people leave to join the more liberal denominations) but it is always the best. This is the Bride of Christ. What better choice is there?  :)