Why I remain Catholic

Elizabeth Scalia, the blogger-extraordinaire at The Anchoress, has challenged her fellow Catholic bloggers to answer the question, "Why do I remain Catholic?" This is my attempt to answer this.

For me, being Catholic has never been a struggle. I have no amazing conversion story, I'm not a prodigal who has run home to the loving arms of Mother Church. It's kind of boring, actually; I've always been Catholic.

I knew Jesus was real in the Eucharist from a very early age. I was allowed to make my First Communion a year ahead of my classmates.

Despite the fact that I have both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in world religions, I've never been tempted to "jump ship." (I do have an abiding fondness for Buddha, but simply because I admire his tenacity in wrestling with life's Big Questions. He didn't get it all right, but he wasn't all wrong, either.)

I love the saints. I feel a strong and passionate connection and friendship to many of them. I talk to them all the time.

In my mind's eye, I can still see the black and red drawings in the Baltimore Catechism that neatly summed up huge theological truths in a way I could understand.

When I was 15, my parents sent me to Fatima, and I pledged myself to Our Lady. She has been far more faithful to me than I have been to her.

I vividly remember St. John Paul II being elected pope, and I became an adult in the church under his tutelage.

I love the liturgical calendar, the seasons of the church, that allow for mourning and celebration, temperance and conviviality.

Why do I remain Catholic? I remain Catholic because I believe Jesus is who He says He is, and that He founded a Church. I believe Christ gave us the sacraments. I believe in the powerful words of John, chapter 6: "I am the bread of life." I believe that Christ appointed Peter and his successors to guide us in the faith.

Credo: I believe.