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Being Catholic Today
Faith, Doubt and Everyday Life
Laurence McTaggart OSB
Element
an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Fount
Copyright © 2000 Laurence McTaggart
Laurence McTaggart asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Scripture quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, © 1966 Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007121793
Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007404452 Version: 2016-02-25
for Dick and Marie-Thérèse Mardon with thanks and love
Table of Contents
Chapter 3 WILL GOD PUNISH YOU?
Chapter 8 HOW TO BE BAD AT PRAYER
Chapter 12 HOW TO DISAGREE WITH THE POPE
AFTERWORD Being Catholic Today
Do not be afraid.
Isaiah 41:14
You may think this is a book, but it’s more a conversation. I’m not attempting to settle any of the problems of being a Catholic today, nor will I give any definitive account of what it means to be Catholic. Maybe those would be good things to do, but they are beyond any one person to achieve on his or her own. So, instead, I offer you one half of a conversation for you to react to as you wish. Parts you may like, and parts you may think are rubbish. Parts may even offend, in which case I ask your pardon as that was not my intention.
You may also think of things I have not talked about which matter to you very much. Treat, if you will, what follows as one Catholic trying to say what his faith is in today’s world. It is part of the human condition to be confused and challenged, by faith and by the life we lead. We also yearn for sense and for vision. To find it, we have to share with each other, without too much fear. In what follows, I am trying to share what sense I have made of life so far. Indeed, the Church is made up of a lot of very different people united by one hope, of finding God and staying with him. Let us enjoy each other’s company