And Still They Come

In perhaps one of the worst periods in recent memory for the Catholic Church, converts still make the holy trek to Rome, as this article in Catholic Culture reminds us.

An excerpt.

“A friend recently told me about a very prominent individual who has begun taking instruction in the Catholic faith. He apparently wants to do this quietly, and I’ll honor his wishes by not revealing his identity. If he continues down the path to Rome, the story will become public soon enough.

“The point is that despite all the bad news, despite the assaults on the Church and the maladroit official defenses, people still feel that pull: the tug on the fisherman’s line. The parishes may close, the budgets may not balance. Disaffected “cradle Catholics” may leave by the hundreds. But there are still those lines at the Easter Vigil. There are still those intelligent souls, searching for truth, seeing the light and following it despite the encroaching shadows.

“We joke about it: “Come on in; the water’s freezing!” Yet it’s not a joke at all. Being a Catholic is the worst thing in the world—except not being a Catholic. It’s tough to live in a Church plagued by scandal. It’s easy to become disgusted. But…

“Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." [Jn 6:66- 69]
In the end it’s not about the scandals, it’s not about the public debates, it’s not about the policies and the budgets and the statements and the personalities and the seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of human folly and sin. It’s about Jesus the Christ.

“People misjudge the Church because they gauge the strength of Catholicism against the models set by political parties and business corporations and public-relations agencies. Look—I’m not saying anything that you don’t already know—our Church leaders are utterly incompetent at politics, at business, and at public relations. The worldly-wise observers know that, and so they wait, confidently expecting that Catholicism will collapse. They’ve been waiting for 2,000 years. They’ll be waiting until Christ comes again. Because the Church will not collapse. And Christ will come again.”