Why Should I Know My Faith?

In a conversation with friends the other day, the question was posed on why one should bother to study his or her faith? Why continue study beyond the basic building blocks of fundamental faith understanding? In an earlier post I discussed the Church’s call to evangelize, specifically in regards to the New Evangelization. How, then, would it be possible to evangelize and spread our faith if we cannot explain it? Both in my work in the pro-life movement and as a Catholic, I have found that a deep understanding of one’s beliefs is essential to being able to share and explain your viewpoint with others.

Campus Ministry's Theology on Tap series is a great way to
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Last year as President of the Right to Life Club, I was thrown into a position where people often looked to me for their answers. In all honestly, in the beginning of the year I was not prepared to answer questions about why the Catholic Church teaches that contraception is wrong or where the Church stood on the death penalty or to thoroughly explain the pro-life teachings of the Church. In many cases, I believed in certain teachings of the Church because they were just that, teachings of the Church and as a Catholic, these were the teachings I believed in. Especially in regards to contraception, I would not have been able to defend my beliefs beyond saying it was a teaching of the Church. In conversations about whether contraception is right or wrong, I would be easily persuaded to the other person’s beliefs – whether they were for or against it. It wasn’t until I really started to look into the issue, knowing that I’d be asked about it at some point, that I began to see the Church’s teachings as a truth that I knew I could believe in and actually began to develop my faith around the issue.

What I learned from this experience is that if I don’t take the time to educate myself on my beliefs, then not only will I have a difficult time discussing my beliefs with others, but I would also be at risk of being easily swayed to an opposing view. This is not to suggest that we should not listen to other faith perspectives but that we ought to understand more than just the surface of our beliefs. For me, knowing that I was pro-life was a good thing but eventually it was not enough. Without researching the issue, it became very hard to defend my beliefs and even harder to share them with others, to evangelize the pro-life mission.

The study and a deep understanding of one’s beliefs is so essential to being an evangelizing Catholic because it allows you to express your beliefs in terms that the person you’re in conversation with can understand. Without a deep understanding of your beliefs, it can be very easy to fall into a trap of doubting all your beliefs, especially when you are not surrounded by a community as supportive as Notre Dame.

Our Lady is always close to us, especially when we feel the weight of life with all its problems.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 24, 2014

Understanding your faith can be as simple as keeping up with the Pope’s activities and teachings (try following @Pontifex) and discussing points you don’t understand with family and friends or the religious on campus. Here at Notre Dame, we are surrounded by some of the premier theological scholars of our age, take advantage of that and visit them at office hours or attend one of their lectures. Don’t be afraid to have these discussions with friends of opposing beliefs, often time their questions can make you question what is at the foundation of your belief and make you research what exactly your beliefs mean. Remember that it’s okay to question where your beliefs come from, and why you believe what you do, but these questions should fuel our studies of faith rather than lead us to abandon it. 

#prayforpeace

The authority of the Pope in the Catholic Church is often one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Church. The lineage of the Pope starts with St. Peter and can be traced all the way through Pope Francis, quite a remarkable feat for a 2,000 year old institution! Yet the role of the Pope is often very misconstrued by both Christians and non-Christians. The Pope’s main role is as the visible head and symbol of unity for the Catholic Church. The Pope’s role as “Supreme Pontiff” entitles him to make the selection of bishops and cardinals and to be the final decision in any disputes within the Catholic Church. While the Pope has always been a public figure, the public became fixated on the role of the Pope this past spring.

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On February 11^th, 2013, the Catholic Church became the focus of media worldwide. In what seemed like an unprecedented event, Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement—from pope-dom! All of the sudden, the Catholic Church was receiving positive press coverage from a bewildered media. The appointment of pope is a lifelong appointment so how could this happen, and why!? I’m sure all of you watched the coverage as main stream media attempted to explain the inner workings of the Roman Curia and the election of the pope, perhaps some of you even placed bets on who the next pope may be.

In a very momentous moment in the Catholic Church, the first South American pope was elected: Pope Francis. Of course, the crowd immediately fell in love with him, he was a cute old man, visibly humble and dedicated to social justice. There were immediate speculations on how Pope Francis was going to change the Church and how his history and personality were going to impact his role as Pope. 

Within his first few months as Pope, Pope Francis has shown that he is not going to fulfill the ‘typical’ role as Pope. From showing up to pay his hotel bill after his selection as Pope to insisting on living in simple quarters, Pope Francis has stayed true to his Jesuit roots to his devout humility in Christ. In a recent interview when asked about who he was, Pope Francis responds with “I am a sinner”. 

In many ways, Pope Francis has taken the world by surprise. From the surprise announcement by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of his retirement to Pope Francis’ ‘selfie’ that has taken over Buzzfeed, Pope Francis has proven that he is not going to going to stick to the traditional role of the Pope.

We witnessed his humility once again in his response to Syria.  Rather than issue an official promulgation on the stance of the Church, Pope Francis called for a worldwide day of prayer and fasting, along with the message “pray for peace”. In his actions, Pope Francis appealed to the universality of the Church. Prayer and fasting are both simple actions that Catholics and non-Catholics alike can partake in, and peace is a message everyone can agree on. The Notre Dame community joined in this international effort with an entire day of prayer and fasting for Syria.  Pope Francis spread his message to a worldwide audience with his a series of tweets from @Pontifex that included the message #prayforpeace. This trend took off as thousands of follows joined in prayers and fasting (and tweets!) for peace.

Pope Francis has transitioned into a tremendously important role with the grace and humility only a man in a deep relationship with God may attain. He calls us all to “replace dogma with love”, not to forget our faith but to ensure that we also remember Christ’s call to love. His faithful service to the Catholic Church has been a true witness to Catholics across the globe and through his actions we are reminded of our own call to a profound love for Christ.