My main thesis

My main idea for this blog will be "The Roman Catholic Church is not what it says it is." Of course, "what it says it is" is found both in the Vatican II document, "Lumen Gentium," and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I'll provide links to these, and expand on these ideas over time. (This is a longer term project for me, remember.)

But the fact that Catholicism is still "a force" within Christianity, ("the premier church among churches," as Neuhaus has said) and yet it does not represent what is "true Christianity." I believe this and I will make a case for it. The "true Christianity" that may be found in Catholicism is buried in there somewhere, but that's the point: it's buried under useless, anachronistic accretions that serve more to uphold the power structure than to promote Christ to the world.

Which brings me to another thesis: This disparity that I am talking about ("the Catholic Church is not what it says it is") hinders Christianity in the world. It hinders Christ in the world today.

And as long as I am making thesis statements, I will say further that Protestantism (conservative, evangelical protestantism) will do well by reflecting on what has happened to Catholicism), and a remembrance of where Protestantism came from will serve Christianity well into the future.

I don't say any of this in a vacuum. These are longstanding, core beliefs that I have developed over a lifetime of being concerned about these kinds of things. I grew up Catholic, the son of a woman who was and is a very devout Catholic. I left the Catholic Church as a teen, for very good reasons. I came back in my early 20's because of an invitation from some very devout people. I even thought I wanted to become a priest, and, captivated by the life of Francis of Assisi, I looked very closely at the possibility that I might become a Franciscan.

Not long after that phase in my life, I married (within the Catholic Church), and eventually I have had six children (now ages from 2 up to 18). I was the guy in the front pew who always had two small children in his arm, and often had to walk out, red-faced, because one or more of them was fussing in some way.

But even with my convert's view of Catholicism ("there are things wrong, but there is plenty here that lends itself to the worship of the True God"), I came to the conclusion that I could not honestly teach my children that "The Catholic Church is what it says it is."

As I mentioned above, I will go into a lot more detail about that decision. But that is my thesis in a nutshell, and one of the major functions of this little blog will be to defend it.