Why Be Catholic Amid So Much Scandal?

[Warning: The following is in need of revision, and somewhat of a rant admittedly, but here are some thoughts that I wished to express so as to answer the question in the title of this post]

There's no denying it: these days it is very difficult to be Catholic, especially in America*. It seems every time one turns around one hears about another example of priestly abuse or some bishop guilty of covering up such.  Sometimes it's some other form of corruption. But whatever the case, it makes it very difficult to acknowledge that one is a Catholic to other people, especially if you make clear that you actually believe in it all. In some ways, it is more difficult to do so now than even in the days of the Roman persecutions. Granted, no one is likely to be fed to lions or thrown into prison for proclaiming their Catholicism in this country (well, not yet anyway). However, at least under the Roman persecutions, you knew that whatever propaganda was fed to bloodthirsty mobs to justify such atrocities, nevertheless you could rest content knowing the truth was far different.

Not so these days. To be sure, anti-Catholicism is as common and ugly as it ever was. But these days if you open a newspaper or click a link to read some screed against the Church, you can't just automatically dismiss it as a piece of bigotry, and nothing more, as in days gone by. For now all too often those in position of authority in the Church have given plenty of ammunition to the Church's enemies by their scandalous behavior. While that might not be the real reason for the attacks made against the Church, it sure is useful as a pretext! In any case, it almost seems as if many bishops and priests are in competition with each other to see who will receive the biggest millstone! (There are- thanks be to God!- many honorable exceptions among the ranks of the clergy, however, who live saintly lives.)

That said, the laity are not exactly innocent, either. For we more or less have the bishops and priests we deserve. For over a half century, too many laity have been Catholic in name only, treating their faith more as a cultural thing, and not taking seriously the demands that a relationship with Jesus Christ entails.  They ignore the teachings of the Church, and even more the call to holiness we are all called to. How many "Catholics" are indistinguishable in their morality from our anti-Christian culture as a whole, for instance? Even those who would otherwise count themselves as faithful Catholics and try to practice their faith can be very timid in their living it out most of the time (something, alas, I recognize only too well in my own case- I make no pretense that I'm somehow an exception to that rule. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.) All of that combined makes it very difficult (to put it mildly) to evangelize our society.

And the preceding doesn't even begin to take into account the only too-prevalent ugly liturgies, almost non-existent knowledge of basic Catholic truths among many Catholics,  and various other problems we see in the Church. Sometimes one is tempted to wonder how many people, even among the clergy, have the basic level of faith that even the demons have (cf. James 2:19).

The one thing that is abundantly clear is that the Catholic Church, most certainly in the West in general, and America in particular, is in a very sick state. Which raises the question among many people, "Why continue to be Catholic, when there is so much corruption in the Church?" (Certainly, I know things would be much easier for me if I were, for instance, to leave the Catholic Church and become a Baptist again.)

There is one thing, however, that stops me. It is a reason that will always prevent me from leaving the Church, despite all the scandals mentioned above. It is the one reason that even knowing all of the above, would compel me to convert to Catholicism today if I was still a non-Catholic.

That reason is that, however many problems there are among the human elements in the Church, it is still in its very nature a divine institution, and teaches the truth, however poorly its members may fail to live it out at times. (Indeed, the very fact it is a divine institution would suggest Satan would try to corrupt its members even more than most other people, for fairly obvious reasons)  It is the church that Christ, the Son of God, founded, and to which all people are called. I have no right to oppose God's will in this matter. Yes, even if that means I have to be in a church filled with the modern-day equivalent of "publicans and sinners". After all, I'm one of them.

This writing is not meant to be an apologetics piece defending the divine founding of the Catholic Church (something, however, I am more than willing to defend elsewhere). However, it is meant to answer the question "How can you believe an institution to be founded by Christ when it is filled with so many corrupt members? Why would you remain Catholic?"

The answer to that question is quite easy to answer. It is because Christianity is a religion for human beings. As the writer G.K. Chesterton wrote, "Christianity is not a religion for good men, but a religion for men." For the fact is, no matter where you go, you will find abundant evidence for the reality of original sin. The Catholic Church is hardly unique in having corruption among some of its members or even leadership.  The crimes that some Catholic leaders are guilty of, for instance, are even more common among those outside the Church, among other Christians as well as non-Christians. Scandal in the church has been a problem since the days of the Apostles, as the New Testament (such as in the letters of St. Paul to the Corinthians) shows quite clearly. Leaving the Church for somewhere else wouldn't solve that problem.

I could, of course, try to do "Lone Ranger" Christianity, a me-and-Jesus "only" religion, or even the whole "spiritual, not religious" route (which, if I am to be honest, sounds to me indistinguishable from mirror worship). But even then, such "independence" would.....not really be independent. Instead of having accountability from acknowledged standards that I am well aware of, more likely I would only subject myself to the drift of the culture as a whole. I would breathe in an atmosphere of unconscious, and therefore unexamined, dogmas- in other words, prejudices. (None of us are as independent as we like to pretend.) That's not exactly what I would call a healthy alternative. And that doesn't even begin to take into account that, even could I truly be "independent", I myself am a sinner, and cannot escape having to confront the problem of sin and scandal, since it can be found within my own heart. That problem doesn't go away by my simply turning into a self-righteous Pharisee.

No, the sinfulness of certain leaders of the Church or its members would not make me leave. You will find the same thing anywhere. That anybody (even, alas, among clergy) can be great sinners is what is to be expected in a religion that teaches the dogma of original sin (which dogma, as Chesterton noted, one can find overwhelming empirical evidences for in the street.)

What you won't find just anywhere, however, is the holiness of its members who actually follow its teaching and way of life. You won't find  a St. Francis or a St. Therese just anywhere.  That's what I find interesting. That's where Catholicism is unique.  When her members follow the Church's guidance, and can reach such levels of holiness- that is the marvel that should stand out before our eyes. It is not the scandal that is universal among the fallen sons of Adam (and resulting from ignoring the Church's guidance) that should grab our attention, but the sanctity that is so rare in our world that should stand out.

However, as alluded to earlier, what ultimately keeps me Catholic is that I am convinced of the truth of Catholicism. And I won't forsake the truth just because its followers have sometimes betrayed it (including myself by my own behavior). To do so would be itself the ultimate betrayal, that is to say, to betray Truth Himself, Jesus Christ, just as much as Judas betrayed Him. Am I to become Judas so as to protest scandal? That is a paradox that I cannot bring myself to accept.
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*I am, of course, aware that many people will point out the persecutions in others countries like China that Catholics undergo, and say American Catholics hardly have "difficulties" in comparison. Certainly, that is the case when it comes to material circumstances. But I am referring to spiritual considerations, and when it comes to the spiritual poverty in American as compared to Chinese Catholics....