Brett Rickard's Answer to an article on Father Thomas Reese's views of the Catholic Church
Fr. Reese,
Our faith is stunningly beautiful. Our faith is the whole Truth, it literally is our Lord Jesus in all His glory and majesty. The reason young people leave is because they do not know what they have. They have not been taught the truth. They are starving for the Truth first and foremost. Social justice is great but I first need food – the whole, undiluted Truth – before I go into battle. Who would leave if they knew that every Mass is their personal, intimate encounter with and wedding to the true and real body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ? It’s absolutely mind blowing. I speak from experience: young people are longing for the raw, red meat of Truth and lots of it!
The Church’s constant teaching on the beautiful and deep meaning of marriage and the evil of contraception brought me back to The Faith. There is no opposition between orthodoxy and practice (orthopraxis). Practice flows with power and beauty from the true Faith. We just have to let the lion out of the cage; teach the whole Truth in a joyful take-no-prisoners way.
Daddies can't be mommies, and women can't be priests. This is the consistent teaching and infallible truth of our Holy Mother Church.
The priests I meet are all humble, holy, charismatic men of God precisely because they have given their whole being to God. Celibacy supercharges their lives. I absolutely feel it every time I go anywhere near a priest. Thank God for that calling, that amazing power.
You are right, the message of Jesus is absolutely relevant today. I hunger for the Truth taught by the Magisterium and protected from error by the Holy Spirit. Yes, experiment and research with our beautiful Faith but do it within the safety of the sure teaching of Christ’s True Church.
There is such freedom, joy, love, and peace in submitting one’s whole self to God’s will expressed through the guaranteed truths taught by our Holy Father and all of our faithful Priests. John Paul II, Benedict XVI – what humble, powerhouses of Truth. Thank God for Humanae Vitae and The Theology of the Body that woke me up and brought me back to the light and power of Christ and His most beautiful bride – our Holy, Catholic Church.
Sincerely,
Brett Rickard
Morgan Hill
Brett's letter was sent to the Editor of the Valley Catholic monthly newspaper of the Diocese of San Jose, California, U.S.A, regarding an article on Fr. Thomas Reese's views on the Church. The Valley Catholic article in question can be found here
The Valley Catholic newspaper did not posted Brett's letter for some reason unknown to him. www.happycatholic.org is pleased to publish it here.
www.happycatholic.org