Religion - a respectful discussion, for those interested

If you want to understand why the Catholic Church is so popular worldwide, why so many people still call themselves Catholic today, over 2000 years since the Church's origin, you need only look at the Catechism. This is the official document of the church's teachings and practices. It explains everything you need to know about the Catholic Church, and it's available for free in an online version:

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-te...techism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm

Similar to a jigsaw puzzle, all of the pieces may not make sense to you individually, but when you read the whole thing, all of the pieces fit together beautifully, forming a complete picture of the reality of our shared human condition. It really is universal (the meaning of the word "Catholic"), and it applies equally well to people of all cultures, worldwide. That's why the Catholic Church is the largest organized religion in the world. There's a reason it's survived repeated persecutions from world leaders, and organized attempts by governments to eradicate it. It just works for people, in their everyday lives. When practiced faithfully, it gives people a beautiful and profound sense of meaning and love in their lives. It helps people make sense of suffering, and it helps them to "weather the storm" of life's struggles (disease, family struggles, etc). It enhances every aspect of life. I know this because I have personally experienced life first without the benefit of the Church, and then, thanks be to God!, a life transformed by the Church, and today I live with a profound sense of inner peace, joy (when I am close to God and avoiding sin), and a beautiful sense of life's meaning and purpose. Through all of my experiences in my 40+ years of life so far, I know that God exists, and I have experienced His transforming love in my life; I know the difference between a life lived practicing Catholicism, and one lived skeptically without those graces and benefits, and I am so grateful that I have found my way to the Truth!! It's not through my own doing, but with the help of God and the people in my life, the teachings of others, that I have found my way to the Church enjoyed by so many millions of people worldwide!

 

You are right about that, but who says I don't also try and serve people in my life offline? This thread is only a small part of what I try to do to share what I have learned. I try to stay humble, since without the help of God and other people in my life, I would be lost. In fact, I was lost, in my early to mid 20's I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, no idea what career I wanted to pursue, not living my Catholic faith in any kind of real way, just going through the motions, and I was obviously not happy with my life. It was only through many struggles, and with the help of other people in my life, that I found my way to a true understanding and active participation in the Church, and at the same time found my way to my life's work in terms of my career. Today I work to help people in substance abuse recovery programs, and I find my work extremely fulfilling. I find good, humble people who have hit rock bottom, from mistakes they have made in their life, some of them served prison sentences, some of them from terrible family situations, but they have been humbled by these experiences and they are ready to start over, and receptive to learning a better way to live. Along with the medical aspect of recovery, they are encouraged to pursue a spirituality in their life; they are encouraged to read the Bible and other religious works to find a spirituality that will help them find order and structure in their lives. The "12 steps" of AA and NA employ spirituality in their programs, and although these treatment centers are secular, they offer church services, Bibles, and other religious resources to their patients because they know that religion works for people in their lives. It's backed by numerous scientific studies. Even if you think it's only a psychological effect, there is no doubt that spirituality and religion helps people in a very real way in their lives. If it didn't, these secular, non-religious organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Therapeutic Communities would not use them.