Are you a Roman Catholic?

Is it simply because your parents are Catholic?

Here are the reflections of one Catholic on this important question.

May it help you to form your own answer:

I am a Catholic because...

Jesus Christ has captured me! No one in all history can compare with Him--His sublime teachings, His perfect love, His power to heal hearts, minds and bodies. In Jesus, heaven touches earth, God is with us, the Reign of God comes....

Day in and day out, I experience the liberating power of Jesus' Presence in my life- - loving me, sustaining me, guiding me, challenging me, healing me, empowering and ripening me. In Jesus, I touch God deep within me, and all around me. Jesus brings out the very best in me.

Jesus and His Good News would have been lost in history, except that Catholics for 19 centuries have been practicing and preaching His Way of Love. Millions of Catholics, down through countless generations, have been captivated by Jesus. Catholics have come together to share the Word of God in the Holy Bible and in the Holy Eucharist. United in faith and love, the Spirit of the risen Jesus continues to live and work through us.

Through the Catholic Church, I have come to know and belong to God's family- - in baptism, in prayer and worship, in preaching and instructions, in the Holy Bible, in suffering, sacrifice and service, in the great witness of the saints.

Although other Christian Churches also seek to know and serve Jesus, and these brothers and sisters teach and inspire me, it is the Catholic Church that was founded by Jesus, Himself through Peter and Paul and the other apostles. All through the centuries, and all around the world, the Catholic Church has been the most authentic and consistent witness of the Good News. In order to faithfully advance the Reign of God in the world, the Church must continually seek to be renewed and reformed. Love and unity among Jesus' followers suffer whenever Christians, and the structures they create, refuse to be renewed and reformed in His Spirit.

Although many non- Christian religions also help to advance the Reign of God in the world, it is through the Christian religion, and in particular the Catholic Church, that the Reign of God breaks decisively into human history, providing the leaven to raise up saints and a society rejoicing in justice and peace.

In my heart of hearts, where I am one with God and all creation, it is through the Catholic Church that the deepest desires of my heart for ultimate meaning and love are fulfilled.