There are two bedrock virtues of Catholicism for me.
Neither one is the theology, about which you are much more knowledgeable than I.
The first is the Church's uncompromising stand on moral issues. Just because the flock wants birth control, abortion, and divorce, the Church won't cave in to them. All the spin-off Protestant denominations basically amounted to people saying, if you won't tell me what I'm doing is ok, then I'll start my own religion. I admire the Catholic religion for standing firm on it doctrines, and refusing to condone certain behaviors just because they are commonly practiced and people want to be assured that they are doing the right thing.
The second thing is that the Church does not allow parishioners to run matters to their own tastes. I was a member of Episcopal and Baptist churches for extended periods, and I saw first hand how the influential members of the congregations ran things their way. Heck, they hired the ministers, and they fired them when they were hearing sermons they didn't like. One minister preached one too many sermons on selfishness, and when he didn't clean up his act as ordered, he was handed his pink-slip. I found these churches to be feel-good social organizations, rather than places where you heard the word of the Lord, unedited, like it or not, take it or leave it.
I am of the impression that Judaism holds much to these same virtues. |
