I Believe What the Church Teaches.

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, 

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the bodyand life everlasting.”Amen.

The McCarrick report came out months ago. I didn’t write about it then because I was bound up in my own internal conflict between my intense love for the Church and my absolute inability to support rape, rapists, sadistic sexual perverts who prey on other people, and men who support men who abuse women and children. 

I was so conflicted, and so overwhelmed with grief because of what many of the bishops had done and were doing that I couldn’t write about the McCarrick report at that time. I had a clear opinion about the report and what I thought it meant. I just wasn’t ready to say that opinion in a public forum. I needed time to deal with my own self before I did that. 

I believe the things the Church teaches. I believe the Gospels and the Apostles Creed right down to the ground. I believe that God is real and that Jesus Christ is the only hope of salvation that any of us have. I have experienced the Living God acting in my life in ways that signify loving care and also loving patience. 

I know the nakedness of sin, and the loving cloak of the forgiveness of God. 

That is why I love the Catholic Church so deeply. The Catholic Church, for all its faults, can and does manifest that forgiveness to people who need it. I can tell you from experience that the level of forgiveness that the Catholic Church extends to people is not available in any other denomination or faith that I have known or dealt with. 

I believe what the Church teaches and I am profoundly grateful for the love and forgiveness the Church has shown me. I believe the two-thousand year teachings of the Catholic Church, the basic Christian truths that are the Gospel of Christ manifested in this world. 

I know — know — that I have experienced the love of God Himself in a direct and profound manner. I know that someone, some One, spoke into my consciousness with words that saved my life and my soul. Whether it was the Holy Spirit or one of my angels, I do not know. But it happened. It was real. It saved me. And I know that. 

That is why the McCarrick report is so profoundly disturbing and painful to me. I want to offer you one more chance to read the McCarrick report and to ponder its implications for yourself. You can find it here, on the Vatican website. Give it a look.