Monday, July 23, 2007

Essay Draft..need help!

When the leaders of the Catholic Church say that faith in today’s world is at an all-time low, and continues to sink, they are sadly mistaken. Belief and worship is at an all-time high! However, this belief and worship has nothing to do with the Church. As the multitudes of people turn away from the Catholic Church because of a lack in faith, they think that they are freeing themselves from a binding belief. Little do these people know that they are throwing themselves full-force into fly traps of secular and shallow beliefs and worship.
As a great man once said; “He who believes in nothing, believes in everything.” Without the help and guidance of the Church, many of these people are willing to believe anything they hear from the media, friends, popular culture, and anything they come in contact with. Flooded by these pop-culture beliefs, the “rebel” takes them all in because now he is supposedly free of all constraint. However, he does not know that these “anything goes” beliefs and practices are constraining him more than he thought the Church could ever do.
But there is no safety-net anymore. All it takes is one person to take control of his life to completely extinguish free will. At this point, he wonders what has happened to his freedom. There is no use in explaining what has happened, because as St. Thomas Aquinas said “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
The only explanation possible is meant for those not totally blinded by their new “freedom,” is that he, the “rebel,” saw faith as a constraint rather than a pathway to freedom. Through the eyes of the Church, the “rebel” needs to come back because “There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved” (St. Thomas Aquinas). Now all we have to do is figure out how we all can get back.

6 comments:

Maria said...

When you say "Little do these people know that they are throwing themselves full-force into fly traps of secular and shallow beliefs and worship," are you suggesting that those who do not belong to the Catholic church are doing themselves a great wrong? Yes, I am an atheist, but I respect the beliefs of others. I would suggest that you try not to seem as though you are attacking people who are not Catholic. (I really hope that this was just a misinterpretation on my part and that the seemingly accusatory tone is unintentional.)

Anonymous said...

Although I am an atheist, it is not as if I believe in nothing and everything. I do believe in the powers of chance and (at the risk of sounding corny) love. I do not happen to believe in everything, either; that would cancel out the point of being an atheist. So, with all due respect, I totally disagree with the saying, "He who believes in nothing believes in everything."

Anonymous said...

I agree with Maria, are you trying to inform people or trying to convince people? If it's the latter, you might want to be a little nicer. Also I am an atheist and I believe in karma (sort of) and how every one is connected.

Gina said...

While reading your essay, Kate, I hear a girl basically assaulting everyone else's beliefs as wrong, immoral, and stupid (unless, of course, they happen to be Catholic, in which case they can do no wrong). Reread your piece and try to understand how all of us are hearing that. Also, did you mean for the tone of this piece to be preachy? No offense intended.

Kate said...

I was apparently not clear enough with my point because I was in no way trying to be "preachy" or "accusatory"...This is a piece that I'm working on for one of my classes at school, and its still a draft. My real point was that we all make mistakes and get dragged along behind some trend, person, anything. I only used the Catholic Church as a concrete basis and example of where this is happening. I thought that the last sentence "Now all we have to do is figure out how we all can get back." was clear in that we all make mistakes. My point was not to attack anyone or attach my message directly to the Catholic Church. I'm sorry if what you interpreted my piece to be offended anyone, because it was not intentional. However, thank you for all of your contructive criticism. I appreciate your honesty.

Unknown said...

I really liked the fact that you used a topic that was in a way controversial. I don't hear you as much attacking the beliefs of others I just hear yours going though that piece