Table Of ContentTHE TRUTH
OF
CATHOLICISM
INSIDE THE ESSENTIAL TEACHINGS
AND CONTROVERSIES OF THE
CHURCH TODAY
GEORGE WEIGEL
For
the Faculty, Staff, and Students of the
Pontifical North American College in Rome,
1995–2000
Contents
An Invitation to Come Inside 1
1. Is Jesus the Only Savior? 5
CHRIST AND THE CONQUEST OF OUR FEARS
The Two Things Jesus Reveals 7
Getting the Story Straight 10
An Outrage? 13
Living Beyond Fear 16
2. Does Belief in God Demean Us? 19
LIBERATION AND THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB,
ANDJESUS
Rumors of Angels 23
God: Fatherhood and Mercy 27
The Trinity 29
God Beyond “Spirituality” 32
iv Contents
3. Liberal Church? Conservative Church? 35
WHY CATHOLICISM IS NOT A “DENOMINATION,” AND WHAT
THATMEANS
The Church as a “Communion” 40
Called and Sent 43
Formed in the Image of Mary 45
Archaeology Teaches a Lesson 47
Liberating Doctrine 50
4. Where Do We Find the “Real World”? 53
LITURGY AND THE EXTRAORDINARYORDINARY
“Shining from Shook Foil” 56
God’s Work 59
The Priest as Icon 65
Prayer and God’s Thirst for Us 69
5. How Should We Live? 72
THEMORALLIFE AND THE LAWSTHATLIBERATE
Fitness for Beatitude 76
Freedom for Excellence 77
The Law That Liberates 80
Conscience and the Primacy of Truth 83
But What About Compassion? 87
A Word About Confession 89
6. How Should We Love? 92
CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF SEX
What Sex Teaches Us About Ourselves 95
What Sex Teaches Us About God 98
Is It Just Too Much? 103
Engaging the Issues 104
Contents v
7. Why Do We Suffer? 112
REDEEMING THE WORLD AND ITS PAIN
No Accidents 115
Redemptive Suffering 117
Weakness and Strength 120
The Vocation of Suffering 123
The Final Act 125
8. What About the Rest of the World? 127
OTHER CHRISTIANS, OTHER RELIGIONS
Christ Creates Unity 131
Christians and Jews: A Divinely Mandated
Entanglement 137
Who Is Saved? How? 143
Why Bother with Missions? 146
9. Is Catholicism Safe for Democracy? 150
LIVING FREEDOM FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC
Making Democrats 154
The Foundations of the House of Freedom 157
The Life Issues: Abortion and Euthanasia 161
vi Contents
10. What Will Become of Us? 168
SAINTS AND THE HUMAN FUTURE
St. Everyone 171
Prime Numbers, and the Rest of Us 174
Miracles and Modernity 177
A Choice of Worlds 179
Notes 181
Acknowledgments 195
About the Author
Also by George Weigel
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
An Invitation to
Come Inside
T
he great English novelist Evelyn Waugh once described
his Catholic life as “an endless delighted tour of discovery
in the huge territory of which I was made free.” Like many
other converts, Waugh was eager to share that adventure with
others, and his correspondence is full of letters explaining
Catholicism to his friends. At the same time, Waugh’s experi-
ence had taught him that it was very difficult to “know what
the Church is like from outside.” To all the curious, whether
attracted or disturbed by Catholicism’s teaching and the
Catholic way of life, Evelyn Waugh offered a simple invita-
tion: “Come inside.” Have a look at the Catholic Church from
inside the convictions that make Catholicism what it is. Walk
around in it. See how it feels. Then decide what you think
about it.1
At the beginning of the third millennium of Christian his-
2 THE TRUTH OF CATHOLICISM
tory, that simple suggestion to “come inside” can be as inviting
as it was when Evelyn Waugh first issued it a half century ago.
Or when, nineteen and a half centuries ago, St. Paul proposed
much the same thing to those Athenians who worshiped the
“unknown god” (Acts 17.16–34).2
The Catholic Church is, arguably, the most controversial
institution on the planet; it is certainly the world’s most con-
troversial religious institution. Whether the question is the
uniqueness of Christ, the meaning of freedom, the dignity of
human life from conception until natural death, or the use and
abuse of sex, the Catholic Church often finds itself a Church
of contradiction, in opposition to what seems to be the com-
mon wisdom of our times. Because of that, the Church is
sometimes an object of hatred and scorn, especially for those
who think that the Church’s teachings dehumanize or margin-
alize them.
Even those who concede that religious faith can be “good
for” some people often imagine faith as another lifestyle
choice, of no greater consequence than choosing one’s car, pet,
or favorite restaurant. In these circumstances, the Catholic
Church’s steady insistence that faith involves truths, that those
truths involve obligations, and that those obligations demand
certain choices can be intimidating, even repellent. Viewed
from outside, the Catholic Church can seem narrow-minded,
crabby, and pinched—the heckling preacher of an endless
string of prohibitions.
Which is very strange, because Catholicism is about affir-
mation: the affirmation of humanity, and of every individual
human life, by a God passionately in love with his creation. So
in love, in fact, that he sent his Son into the world for the
