I admit to a love of traditions, not man made ones, but the traditions of the Church as it has stood for almost two thousand years. I was not raised Roman Catholic, I was raised fundamentalist Protestant. I came to problems that I found through studying the early church fathers, through discovering the lives of Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas, and through a rigorous study of Scripture. Unfortunately, or at least that's how I felt, everything came up Catholic. At every turn I found the Catholic teachings to be in line and on point with Holy Scripture. The final wall collapsed when I read the Council of Trent myself.
Are there Catholic cultural traditions that exceed Christian thought? Yes. Are they part of Canon law? No. Realize that half of my time spent arguing with Christian brethren and sisters is defending Catholicism, the other half is spent seeking to teach the true Catechism and Catholic beliefs to Catholics. Both Catholicism and Protestantism have the same fundamental problem...the laity are poorly taught and the clergy suffer from an inability to teach. This is why I am entering the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic in the 1200s. St. Dominic founded this order of friars in order to correctly teach and root out the heresies that had entered into the Catholic culture. Thankfully, due to the intervention of the Holy Spirit, those heresies have never been officially announced or supported by the Church. Indulgences was enacted through the administrative power of the Pope and not through the Magisterial power of infallible moral declarations. The Church has a strict adherence as to how the Pope speaks on certain issues. He can believe that UFOs are real, but we believe, and history has born this, that the Holy Spirit ensures such beliefs, even if spoken are never spoken Ex Cathedra. This is the difference between a papal bull and a papal decree. A bull is the personal opinion of the Pope, such as Pope Benedict XVI's book on theology and Christology are through the offices of Papal Bull. The Encyclical on Human Sexuality by St. John Paul I'm were through His ex cathedral power and is held as infallible. Read it, you'd be amazed at finding that His declaration on human sexuality is entirely in line with Scripture.
Is there something wrong in the Catholic Church? Yes. Every generation, Satan tries to defraud and destroy the Church and every generation sees Christ intervene through His Body and upset the corruption. It is my belief that the Reformation and the Counter Reformation were part and parcel of Christ's ensuring the cleansing of His Church.
However, I must state that as of right now, there is one thing that convinces me that the Roman Catholic Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of the Nicene Creed. There is only one Roman Catholic church, where as every other form of Christianity has broken apart. There is no Orthodox church or Protestant Church. There are Orthodox Churches and Protestant Churches, but one Catholic Church. I don't deny my brothers and sisters outside of the Church. I believe with all my heart that the majority of Protestants and Orthodox are Christians who are saved and are going to the New Earth and that we will spend eternity together. But for me to deny where Christ has called me to, would be to deny Him.
I love Jesus with every fiber of my being. He is the Lover of my soul, the center of my world. I don't just love Christ, I am in love with the God who is Love Himself. He has saved me from being a slut and whore. When I read Hosea Chapter Two, I heard in the center of my being Christ declare that He had come to remove the Baals from my mouth, and that I would no longer call Him Lord, but Husband. He proclaims this to us all. When I finally submitted and asked Him to take my life, I had a series of dreams. In every one, I saw myself in a friar's habit, specifically the Dominican habit. At the end of my dreams, I heard a voice that I had heard when I was seven years old. The voice has always said the same thing, "Will you be this, will you do this for me?" And every time I said yes. Then, the voice responded, "Come now my love, my lovely one come. For you the winter has gone and spring has come. The turtle dove sings in the land again. Come now my love, my lovely one come." Imagine to my surprise that on the day I started RCIA, the way an adult joins the Catholic church, that the very verse we were to study was from the Song of Songs, and it was that same verse.
I am where I am called. To quote Martin Luther, "Here I stand, I can do no other."
