RECENTLY, ONE OF OUR FELLOW BENICIA RESIDENTS wrote two opinion pieces for The Herald in which he talked about his faith journey. He detailed how he was brought up Catholic and then converted to a Protestant denomination later in life. The author wrote about his negative childhood, family and Church experiences. As someone who assists people in times of trial, my prayers are with him for healing.
The author also addressed some of the theological disagreements that, unfortunately, divide Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians. I have reached out to the author and we are going to sit down and chat as soon as our schedules permit.
I can relate to the author because I too had crosses to carry from a young age; some were the result of my own doing, while others were not. I too experienced some Catholic parishes that appeared dead, priests who were not very “holy” and really bad post-Vatican II catechism classes. As a result, I left the Catholic Church and tried to find myself. My journey took to me through veganism, Eastern mysticism, “spiritual but not religious-ism” and, I must confess, a little hedonism. Then I realized I was missing something and started to seek “god.”
At this time I had “Bible” Christians and Mormons engage me, lovingly, in conversations about faith. Being a cradle Catholic, I knew it was my duty to defend the Church! But when I was asked a question or was challenged to defend my faith, I found myself at a loss to explain my faith, because I was so poorly catechized.
I was in my mid-20s and it was the first time in my life I had to take personal responsibility for my faith. So, I bought a Bible and jumped on the Internet in search of answers. My studies not only gave me knowledge but also introduced me to Jesus Christ. I came to accept that I am a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy. I came to believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, so my sins could be forgiven. I came to believe my life is not my own, but a gift from God. And, I came to believe that, as beautiful and wonderful as this world and life is, my true citizenship is in heaven with God.
This encounter with Jesus Christ led me to change my life radically. I always thought I would have a corporate career, get married and raise a family. However, one day in answer to prayer, “the call” came in, and I felt called to become a Catholic priest. In 1999 I entered seminary and in 2007 I was ordained a priest of Jesus Christ. Every day of my life I am blessed to see the hand of God working through me and in the people who are in my life.
I know today religion, and especially Catholicism, gets a bad rap. I admit sometimes we Catholics are our own worst enemies, but sometimes not. In fact, I see the words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen at work all the time: “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.” Today I am blessed to truly know and live out my Catholic faith one day at a time.
I am currently the pastor of St. Dominic’s Church here in Benicia. At St. Dominic’s we are a bunch of sinners trying to become saints; we have questions and seek answers; we have crosses to carry and love to share. If you are a lapsed Catholic or just someone who has questions, I would love to meet you and hear your story. Hope to hear from you soon!
Fr. Jerome Cudden is pastor of St Dominic’s Church in Benicia. He loves to talk about God and the Bible, and may be reached at frjerome@stdombenicia.org or 707-335-4668.
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This is the problem with the Catholic Church today; nice but doesnt say anything concrete anymore and wants everyone to like it. Just telling them what they want to hear.
If that is what you believe, then I would like to invite you to listen to some of my homilies at
http://www.stdombenicia.org/homilies/
May 3rd, 2015 Response to Protestant Claim that Catholics Aren’t Christians
April 12th, 2015 Divine Mercy Sunday
February 8th, 2015 Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
January 18, 2015 Discerning God’s Will Can Be Difficult, A Pro-Life Message
Thanks for these, father! I really appreciate the gift.
Fr. Jerome, I was at todays bilingual mass and even though I live some 30 miles away, I enjoy going to St. Dominics to be inspired by the homilies. I believe everyone deserves the right to find themselves in God even if it takes some time. I believe that those that criticize are ones that either have not found themselves, don’t understand or are scared of the truth. God bless, and keep up the good work.
Thanks Jose. I agree. It is easier to beat up a straw man argument than to actually know the facts.
Hi Fr……In watching A.D. on network tv I would be hard pressed to realize that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church. I understand what Manny is saying. No mention of the necessity of Baptism…..no Eucharist and tonights episode kind of brushed off the fact that Peter was the rock. And this show from what I understand was produced by Catholics. Jesus Christ and his Church are One and the Same. Why are we so hesitant to proclaim that Truth? The aim of protestantism is to separate Jesus from His Church, the Catholic Church. It seems we want to accomidate them in the guise of getting along.
I have not seen any of the A.D. shows, so I cannot comment on their content. The producers of this show also produced the movie Son of God. I did see Son of God and there were theological and historical problems with it. Some of the issues were clever poetic license but others where unBiblical.
Just because someone is a Catholic does not automatically mean they understand the Bible or history. Think of how many “Catholic” politicians hold and advocate immoral positions. So, just because people make a TV series does not make them experts in the subject matter.
If you are interested in early Christianity, why not read the writings of those who were there? http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/churchfathers.html
Just for the record, I have no interest in accommodating anyone just to get along. Jesus did not do that. 🙂
Fr Jerome
I love that line about we are just a bunch of sinners trying to become saints. Jesus calls us to be saints, and to express our love for one another. Too often we love to see the differences (of opinion, of class, of politics) and we use those differences to push ourselves apart from each other, judging each other (too wrong, too stupid, too liberal, too conservative) rather than to love each other as we are called. I am a former protestant, then atheist, then agnostic. I’ve been a Catholic for 15 years. I have no doubt that I am at the right place, and trying to do the right thing, even if I disagree sometimes with the fellow human beings around me, both Protestant and Catholic. No one is more or less worthy. We are all sinners. I am not called upon to ‘convince’ them of how smart I am, or how ‘right’ I am. I am called to Love God and to love my neighbor as myself. The People who want ‘concrete’ answers, who want to challenge others and themselves, absolutely, go for it! seek and you shall find. But really seek with an open heart. don’t just sit there and argue because it’s fun to tear arguments down. There is a wealth of literature and thought to dive in. Yet, at the end, there is the mystery of faith. The only thing that really counts is that which you have chosen to do. May we all have faith, may we all attempt to be worthy, and let’s hope we keep trying to be a blessing to those around us and leave this place, and the people in it, better then when we got here. Bless you Father, for having the patience to engage in conversations and change minds and hearts. I’ll be praying for you.
Thank you Ftr for reaching out!
I get a little weary of people who say the “Church” is not clear on what it teaches. There are so many resources to find out what the Church teaches and WHY.
The Catechism is a good place to start. Although a bit heavy reading for beginners it can be used to “look up” answers.
And like cq, I thank you for having the patience to engage. I pray for patience but I fear He only gives me more practice. 🙂
God Bless you and your outreach.
Thank you Fr for sharing. I was born a Catholic and I am very sure that I will die a Catholic. My only concern is that I feel a lot has changed among us Catholics since the time I was young. For your information, I am 53 years old now. I feel we have lost focus on prayers, mainly in my country Malawi. We seem to forget how powerful prayers are. We are becoming weak in praying. I remember when I was young nearly all the priests loved praying so much. But its so different nowadays. It is my prayer that we catholics in Malawi must go back to our roots when we used to love praying. Thanks you.
When the people of his time strayed from the faith St. Dominic started a movement of preachers to re-evangelize those who were lax and in error. Maybe God is calling you be that voice in the wilderness who cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”, through your prayers and sharing the Good News. God bless you William.
Thanks for defending the faith, Father Jerome! As a lay person who is extremely active as a teacher and counselor, I deal with misunderstandings about Catholicism all the time. In fact, I finally wrote a small book that reflects the questions and answers I dealt with in the RCIA classes I taught for several years. The Question Corner just received an imprimatur from Archbishop Gomez of the LA archdiocese, and I would love to have people order it from Amazon (paper copy) or Kindle (electronic). I am in the middle of a second edition. This covers over 150 critical questions about the Catholic faith, gently,with understanding, a touch of humor and – yet – also authority. Thanks again!
Jerry Stephens
Well said Father. Keep up the struggle and my God continue to bless you.
Fr. Jerome, I love your letter to the editor! A couple of years ago a former Catholic, now Evangelical editor wrote an editorial in our local paper asking Catholics why they stayed in the Church. I wrote a response and they published it. It saddens me that in our parish of the over two thousand registered familiies when we offer Bible Study or catechesis, only about twenty-five people show up each time.
Dear Fr Jerome, I was born a Catholic and believe that I will die a Catholic. However I see a lot of things in our church are not the same. Maybe this is happening in Africa only. Priests are loosing the respect they used to have because of love of money and their behaviour. Generally things are not the same. In the past I remember it was easy to tell who is a priest in a group of people. Nowadays you even get surprised when someone introduces a priest to you.
This is just one example but there are many things which are no longer the same. It confuses me a lot but I pray that we should all behave like Christians.
Thank you
William