Catholicism is one of the most popular religions in the United States today, and there is a good reason why it is. People need morals and standards to live by. Being a good Catholic means being noble and righteous to your fellow neighbor. This is a profound way to live. If you lend a helping hand to someone, that person will be more likely to do good for another person. If this trend grew everyone would be generous to each other. Catholicism’s morals promote higher principles among humanity as a whole. The Catholic Church only asks of you to donate your time, effort, money and commitment to the church. As long as you can abide by this and the Ten Commandments, which are the Church’s ten sacred rules, you will be rewarded with everlasting life in Heaven with God.

Since Catholics are so willing to help others, they do a lot of good for society. For example, the South Boston Catholic Academy holds many fundraisers to help the poor and less fortunate. The Greater Boston Food Kitchen donates time to feed those who cannot provide for themselves. They even do community services out of the kindness of their hearts. This shows that Catholics are extremely generous and caring to their fellow man. Catholics are able to use their knowledge and teachings of the Lord to help out others as God would have wanted them to do. It really helps out our society that people can be this giving. Maybe if everyone was a bit more like this we wouldn’t have so much hate in the world today.

The Catholic Church shows support for its members, just as its members show support in return. A sense of family and community is felt amongst members of the church. Similar to a real family, a member of a certain parish may tend to become very involved with the other members in it. The people of the church are there for each other and are willing to help each other out. Some people need the security of knowing there are members of the church who can help them with their problems; which proves how effective the morals of the Catholic Church are. Among the other members of the church that may help you with problems you may encounter, there are also many religious figures that can help you through troubled times as well. The list of Patron Saints is a large one. If you have been abused or are in an abusive relationship there is Saint Germaine Cousin. After September 11th many Catholics may have prayed for St. Genevieve, patron saint of disasters, for consoling. Even those doubting their own faith may look to St. John Neumann, patron saint of catholic education, for reassurance. If you have a problem in your life, there is most likely a patron saint to help you with it.

Being a member of the Catholic Church is an excellent way to help yourself and solve your problems due to the large amount of people who want to help their fellow neighbors out. Most people in the Catholic Church are very nice and willing to help others with their problems. The Church’s unofficial “motto” is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Which basically means: treat others the way you would like to be treated. This is not taken lightly at all in the Church. Most everyone helps out others because they know that they would like help if they were in the same predicament. Even if, within the Church, you can’t seem to find someone who can help you with your problems, whatever they may be, there is always confession. When you go through the Sacrament of confession you unburden yourself with your troubles and worries and give them to the Priest to heal. The Priest absolves you of your wrong doings and you are healed by God with prayer. If you’re apologetic for something that happened this is a great way to cleanse yourself, but you must be earnest and true with your request.

Although there are some positive attributes of the Catholic Church, it is not all butterflies and rainbows. Within the Catholic Church people are very trusting and genuine, which is good, however; this means they are a lot more susceptible to being taken advantage of. For instance, parents who have their children become Catholic and go through each sacrament may give a little too much trust in the church and the Priests. Parents should not have to fear the Catholic Church, but they have to be aware. Within recent years the amount of Priest pedophiles being found within the Catholic Church is astounding, although not surprising. The teachings of the Catholic Church can be easily taken out of context and used to manipulate children and parents. It is just a shame that people cannot trust holy and righteous religious figures such as Priests. Why become part of a community/family where you cannot even trust your leaders to watch after your children?

Not all Priests are pedophiles or child rapists, however; some Priests are good people, but they also teach illogical practices in the Church. One of the biggest, most illogical teachings within the church, that has been passed down year after year, is the story of creation. The story of creation has two ways of being told: The first is the Garden of Eden story, where Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit from tree of knowledge and are condemned from Eden by God forever. The second creation story is the Seven Day story, which says God perceives one day as a thousand years and vice-versa. The Seven Day creation story says that God created the world we know today in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. Catholics teach the former story to children to be able to grasp the concept more easily, but they teach the latter story to adults who can understand the concept of creation better. The only resource to back up either of these stories is one book: the Bible. Another, more reasonable, creation story is the theory of evolution. Unlike the Catholic creation stories, evolution is backed up by many scientists who have done extensive research on the subject. Ask an evolutionist, “Why do you believe in the theory of evolution?” the answer is: “Because it makes the most logical sense.” Now ask a Catholic, “Why do you believe in the stories of creation?” and they would most likely answer: “Because we have faith.”

Often, teachings in the Bible can be misleading or misinterpreted, which is why people need to have so much faith to believe it. The bible is the only foundation we have to base the Catholic religion on in today’s age. The Bible is a Catholic’s rulebook and history book. It is the only recollection of Jesus Christ’s life that has been written down, and even at that there is no way of knowing that anything said in the Bible is truth. No part of the bible was written by Jesus himself. It was only written by those who referred to themselves as his disciples, or those who were close to him. It is historically and factually accepted that Jesus Christ was a man who lived and walked this earth. This does not confirm that everything in the Bible is truth, however. For all we know Jesus’ Disciples/friends might have thought he was a pretty cool person and wrote an entire book on him and his life based on exaggerations. Perhaps he had just bought the wine for the party and his friends recorded it as him “turning water to wine”.

In the Catholic religion, it all boils down to faith. The problem with Catholics is that they have such a large amount of faith in their religion with no logic, which is not good. You have to take everything in moderation, or else you are a drone; someone who just takes in information and accepts it as fact. If you listen and agree to everything anyone tells you as truth, you’ll never think for yourself. This is how people become manipulated. You need to keep an opened mind, like with anything else, but especially with religion. If you are willing to keep an opened mind to the Catholic Church you cannot be ignorant to the logic which opposes it. Catholicism is made up of the general population of humans who have either lost all hope, or need to find a spark of hope in the dark world we live in. This is why a majority of Catholics choose their faith over logic. It’s because they need hope and they need something to believe in, even if it doesn't make any logical sense.