"Why am I a Catholic?"
When I was a teenager, I joined a Catholic camp. During one of the sessions, Emeritus Bishop Dominic Su asked the participants (all of us are secondary school students), “Why are you a Catholic?” Several of us gave answers like, “because Jesus is our Saviour”, “because my parents are Catholics”, etc. Emeritus Bishop Dominic Su then told us that other religious or other Christian denominations can give the same answers.
So, how should we answer? I can’t remember the actual statement, but it is something like this, “Because Catholic Church is the Church built by Jesus upon Peter”. This can be traced back to St Peter from the current pope through apostolic succession (at that time, the pope was Pope John Paul II). And now, the pope is Pope Francis.
As I follow several YouTube channels, there are a lot of discussions regarding Pope Francis and what he has done recently. I am not smart enough to comment on those discussions but let us focus on what the Gospel says.
When Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, “the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”” (Matt 9:11)
When the sinful woman (not Mary of Bethany) wept at Jesus feet, “the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”” (Luke 7:39)
When Jesus was going to stay at Zacchaeus’ house, the people murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7)
This was how the Pharisees did, they wanted to stay away from the sinners so that they could remain “holy” and were distinctive from others. Similarly, the Protestants established their own “holy” church because they saw that the Roman Catholic Church was corrupted, and they wanted to be distinctive from others. So, if today, there are Catholics who deny Pope Francis as the pope, they are likely going to be the same way as Protestants.
Maybe now is the time to test our faith, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” (Jas 1:3).
Believe in Jesus that he said, “And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18)
Let’s pray for the pope, for the bishops and for the unity of the Church.
Further thought
Let’s say there is a sinful priest that had committed mortal sin celebrating mass, are you going to receive the Holy Communion?
This is an answer I would like to share. “Normally, to celebrate Mass or receive Communion while in a state of mortal sin would be to commit a sacrilege. Yet, the sacrament would be valid; that is, there would be a true consecration and a true sacrifice.”[1]
Besides that, let’s look at some paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
1128 This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: “by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that “the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.” From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1584 Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting. St. Augustine states this forcefully:
As for the proud minister, he is to be ranked with the devil. Christ’s gift is not thereby profaned: what flows through him keeps its purity, and what passes through him remains dear and reaches the fertile earth. . . . The spiritual power of the sacrament is indeed comparable to light: those to be enlightened receive it in its purity, and if it should pass through defiled beings, it is not itself defiled.
Lastly, I really hope that the recent incident of the Catholic Church doesn’t lead to one third of people leaving the Church.
[1] “When a Priest Is in Mortal Sin | EWTN,” EWTN Global Catholic Television Network, 2023. https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/when-a-priest-is-in-mortal-sin-4926 (accessed Nov. 16, 2023).