November 16, 2011 – Deuteronomy 27

I was thinking that it would be great if Catholics got together and made a list of things they believe and after reading what they were everyone would say “Amen”. That way there wouldn’t be any confusion about what Catholics are or aren’t suppose to believe. As I started to type that out I realized we do, the Creed we repeat every Sunday lays it out. But it doesn’t say anything about abortion, contraception, divorce, or other Cafeteria Catholic points that “Catholics” choose to ignore. Women as priest, homosexual relations, embryonic stem cells, to name a few others. Maybe we should write the Catholic teaching on these into the Creed. Then there would not be this option. If you don’t believe Catholic teaching on these, then you have some searching to do. Where is this language in the Creed. It is right there in the part where we say I believe in the One Holy and Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church. If you say that and believe it in the Creed, then you believe that the Church has God given authority to let us know what is right and wrong and we need to follow it, all of it. If you don’t believe that, if you believe the Catholic Church is another nice group that does good things and has good lessons but doesn’t require Catholics to believe or follow all of its teachings, you are wrong and you are not saying the Creed with any fullness. When you say the Creed, you pronounce what you believe and who and what you believe in. If you say that you believe in the Catholic Church with your lips but do not follow what she teaches in your thoughts and actions, what are you actually proclaiming during the Creed. “I BELIEVE” – think about what that means.