(15 minutes | The audio player is below)
I talk a lot about Catholic attitude. In this Firebrand Brief, I want to go a layer deeper and talk about Catholic mindset.
There’s a difference between knowing Catholic things and thinking like a Catholic. Religious education gives you information about the faith. Faith formation shapes the person who receives that information. It forms the soul to receive truth, live charity, listen with humility, and reflect the light of Christ in the world.
That distinction is important because a lot of folks in Catholic media, particularly independent Catholic media, are very good at producing Catholic critics. They catholify their controversy machines by also talking about doctrine, tradition, feast days, Church history. Those are all good things to talk about but when the formation program is a controversy brokerage, the material does little more than teach the Catholic faithful how to be critical of the Catholic Church, and turns the Catholic faith into a political party.
Stating facts doesn't always tell the Truth, and forming others in the Truth involves more than just sharing knowledge or information. The Catholic faith involves a good catholic mentality and attitude. When we fail impart those things, we're not forming future saints, we're just running a religious-ed program.
A Catholic mindset starts with a basic instinct: when the Church speaks, I listen. Not blindly. Not with my mind turned off. But as a child listens to his mother. I don’t begin from suspicion. I don’t begin by assuming the Church has to prove herself to me. I begin from the conviction that Mother Church is right, and if something challenges me, my first question is not, “How did the Church get this wrong?” It is, “What am I missing?”
That kind of mindset doesn't mean we have to pretend that every Catholic bishop or cardinal is above criticism. It means we listen, consider openly and honestly rather than with a critical ear.
The Catholic faith can't live just in the intellect. The devil knows doctrine better than any of us, and he is in hell. The faith has to transform us, and that transformation requires a good Catholic attitude and mindset. It's a mindset of humility, reverence, openness, submission, charity, and the instinct to stay at the Church’s side because she is our mother. Where the Church goes, we go. Not ten steps behind, nagging her to turn around, but beside her, listening and learning.
God be with you all.
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