Sunday, 17 August 2014

Learn Your Faith, Catholics

"....Catholic Church almost doesn't even need a defense. It's more like a lion; just let it out of its cage and it takes care of itself." Scott Hahn

To be a Catholic is not to be anti-intellectual. To be a Catholic is to study the Faith. One of the biggest problems with the Charismatic Renewal, is that it harbors anti-intellectualism.

That is the ONE reason I left my wonderful community after seven years of living the basic Christianity life. I never heard any heresy, but I was not encouraged to study, either.

I was considered "too intelligent", "too intellecual". The entire history of commentary and the Doctors of the Church was overlooked except by the few. I was thirsting after Aquinas, Bernard of Clairvaux, John of the Cross.

Those who did read, and study, went on to be "renewed" in the real sense of the word. On my bookshelves at home were Congar, Danielou, Boyer, and the Douay-Rheims. My educational and family background was too rich to ignore. Yes, I had read C. S. Lewis and some brilliant popular Catholic writers, but I wanted the real deal.

The Catholic Church created the great universities of Europe. She created the school system from the Benedictines.

She preserved the Classics, including the pagan Classics, for study. We must study to fulfill our baptismal promises. To learn the Faith is to learn to love God.

So, what are you studying right now?