This week’s Principal’s Message deals with a very sensitive topic. It’s probably one of the most personal topics one can discuss with a person or group because it involves one’s salvation and where one will spend eternity. What I speak of is the idea that “I believe in Christ, but not the Church”. “I am a spiritual person, but not religious”. This sentiment, which has become very popular today, is just not sound theology. In fact, it is the antithesis of what we are taught in Sacred Scripture and by our Catholic tradition.
In Ephesians 1:22-23 it says, “And He put all things beneath His feet and gave Him as the head over all things to the church, which is His body”. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan writes the following in his daily devotional entitled,
Who Do You Say I Am? Many want a King without a kingdom, a shepherd but not the fold, a general with no army, a spiritual family in which I am the only child, faith but no faithful. A quarter of our people raised Catholic no longer consider themselves such. The faith of our fathers apparently has no claim on them. Some seem more loyal to the baseball team they cheered as a kid than to the Church in which they were baptized and raised. Believe, yes: belong, no.
These people want the Lord, my Lord, not our Lord. It cuts to the core of Catholicism, for of course we believe that Christ and His Church are one. As we pray every Sunday at the Creed and have been praying for seventeen centuries, “We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church…..” It is a package deal for a Catholic: Jesus Christ and His Church. And this moves us to rejoice in the Church as a golden bond keeping us tethered to Christ, not as handcuffs that we try to unlock. Too many Catholics find it convenient to “cherry pick” what they will believe and not believe regarding Catholicism. It seems that this attitude is becoming more and more prevalent as time goes by and, if we’re not careful, it will erode the entire foundation of our Church which is that Christ is the bridegroom and we, the Church, are His bride. The need to come together as a community of believers has never been so necessary, so vital, to the Church’s future. Afterall, we know through Sacred Scripture how it all turns out. The question you have to ask yourself is, “Will you be on the right side of history? Where will you spend eternity?” I believe the answer lies in the teachings of the Catholic Church. I pray that you do as well and commit to being part of the one true Church going forward!
Please check our website, Facebook page and the Church bulletin for updates and upcoming events that you can enjoy with us. Please continue to pray for our school, its staff, students and families, and our clergy as we strive to provide an education that is unapologetically Catholic, family centered, caring to others and respectful to all.