The term ‘EntirelyCatholic‘ has a specific meaning for me, but it does not mean that I claim to be ‘Entirely’ good, faith-filled, holy, or any other nice adjective.  Actually, I’m so far from perfect that I don’t think I can even see it from where I am…

The actual meaning comes as a result of my decades-long search for faith. I did just about everything wrong, but still wound up finding faith (Jer 29:13 is true!).  I started attending Bible study as an agnostic, and found my ‘logical side’ digging into first-century culture, word meanings, and consistency between verses.  The toughest part was finding an interpretation that stayed consistent as I moved from verse to verse and book to book.  Occasionally, I’d run up against two (distant) verses that contradicted each other, based on my current understanding.  To make a long story short, I started doing a lot of ‘logical’ research and found that the Catholic interpretation of Scripture is completely consistent and matches the ‘obvious’ meaning of the passages — even when I looked out over the huge amount of teaching and vast time span of the entire Bible.

I still research – nearly every day – and sometimes I’ll ‘dig deep’ to test the consistency of one position or another — and the Church ends up being right every time.

I’ve become so confident in the Church’s positions that I hold them up for myself – as a target to aim at, and as an ideal to aspire to. I know these positions ‘point me in the right direction’, so I’ve made a conscious decision to accept all of the Church’s teachings, even if they differ from my (current) emotional position. ‘Picking and choosing’ what I like wouldn’t be a search for authenticity, it would be forming a personalized religion. Truth is truth, and it doesn’t bend for personalities.

So, ‘EntirelyCatholic‘ is my effort to accept truth – all of it – and follow it.  There will only be one truth in Heaven, so I might as well get used to it now.

Peace,
Greg