INSPIRE2020: Why I Am Catholic

I am participating in the six-month #INSPIRE2020 challenge, in which Indian Catholic content creators write about a particular topic every month. This month's topic is 'Why I Am Catholic'. Also, follow Desi Catholics on Insta and FB!

I am Catholic because my parents chose to have me baptized. But I am a faithful, believing Catholic instead of an agnostic or atheist because of a combination of many factors:

A consistent life ethic 

The litany of the saints 

Truth, Beauty, Goodness 

The Eucharistic Jesus 

Adoration chapels 

The grace of Confession 

Theology of the Body 

Mother Teresa 

Saint John Paul II

The call to holiness 

Holy balance 

A place for every culture and nation 

A place for the little ones 

A commitment to social justice 

Redemptive suffering 

A place for the misfits and outcasts 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church 

The Emergency Novena 

Consecration to Jesus through Mary 

Travelling Rosaries 

Mary’s maternal care 

Spiritual warfare and sacramentals 

The St. Michael prayer 

Guardian angels 

Reason and faith 

The Church of Peter 

The promise of Jesus

The early Church Fathers 

Authority given by Jesus to dispense the sacraments 

Faithfulness to the truth entrusted by Jesus 

The Charismatic renewal 

The living saints 

An openness to renewal and re-examining ways of doing things 

Vatican 2 

Catholic communities focussing on discipleship and evangelization 

Catholic Twitter 

The fellowship of wise and holy Catholic brothers and sisters 

I’m Catholic in spite of 

The abuse scandals 

The hypocrisy of many leaders 

The polarised political American Catholic Church 

The lack of clarity and unity in communication and teaching from most Catholic leaders 

A failure to live by the Spirit 

Lack of fellowship and accountability in most Catholic parishes 

Parish politics 

My Catholic convent school 

My parish youth group

My parish culture

Many loud Catholic celebrities and speakers 

A failure to evangelise even our own flock 

The lies and half-truths coming out of many seminaries 

A culture of authoritarianism and clericalism 

Horrible Church music 

Rad-trads

New Ages practices promoted by Indian Catholic priests

Pauline bookstores

Action songs 

“The difficulty of explaining ‘why I am a Catholic’ is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.” (G.K. Chesterton, Why I Am A Catholic)

I wrote a more detailed post here: When I Get Tired of Being Catholic