The Profession of Faith - What We Believe

“WHY CATHOLIC?”  PREVIEW OF SESSION ONE

Desire for God 

Have you ever seen a mountain peak loom before your eyes?  Or witnessed the wonder of human birth?  We are likely to respond to these awe-inspiring sights with the primal exclamation, “Oh God!”  The marvel of creation testifies to the existence of a creator whom we recognize instinctively as God. 

We can come to a conviction of God’s existence in other ways as well.  Rational people are prone to search for the source of things.  Where does the human body come from?  It comes from the body of primates.  And where does the body of primates come from?  It comes from that of lower forms of animal life.  And that of lower forms of life come from less complex matter.  And less complex matter may be reduced to the elements of nature. And how did these come about?  What put the process in motion and guided its development?  That entity, which necessarily exists outside creation, is the first source or cause whom we call “God.” 

We might also deduce God’s existence from the judgments we make on human actions.    A few years ago a teenage girl overheard a man in a convenience store trying to locate an auto repair shop late at night.  The man’s car had broken down on the highway as he was traveling home to Denver.  The girl told the unfortunate traveler that her father was a mechanic, would arrive shortly to pick her up, and perhaps could help him.  When her father arrived, he had the stranger’s car towed to his repair shop and drove him to a motel.  The next morning he picked the man up, treated him to breakfast, and fixed the car for just $65, parts included.  Would anyone refrain from commending the mechanic’s actions?  We would do so because a moral rule exists inside every person that enables us to judge human actions as good or bad.  We call this rule “conscience” and recognize it as a conduit of God’s will. 

We cannot perform a scientific experiment to prove that God exists like we might prove the Law of Gravity by repeatedly observing how objects fall to earth with the same rate of acceleration.  But we can reasonably conclude that He exists from different experiences like the ones just mentioned.  Of course, these experiences say little of what God is like.  To learn more about God, we have to consider His self-revelation in Scripture and especially in Jesus Christ.  The object of this first session of “Why Catholic?”, however, is to establish that God’s existence is not a matter of feeling or of opinion.  Rather, it can be rationally demonstrated and convincingly defended.

Rev. Carmen Mele. O.P. (Padre Carmelo)

Director, School of Lay Ministry

Pope John Paul II Institute

Diocese of Fort Worth

800 W. Loop 820 South

Fort Worth, TX 76108

cmele@fwdioc.org

817-560-3300x262