“Why are you Catholic?” is a really good question – one that deserves a really good answer. In his latest book, Dr. Peter Kreeft has at least forty answers to that question.
But forty reasons to be Catholic is just the beginning – for Dr. Kreeft and for all the rest of us, too. “There are more than forty reasons,” Dr. Kreeft explains. “In fact, there are at least ten to the eighty-second power, which (I am told) is the number of atoms in the universe. And that’s just in ordinary matter , which makes up only 4.9% of the universe, the rest being dark matter and dark energy.”
Here are our five favorite reasons why Dr. Kreeft is Catholic:
1. Because Catholicism is true
This answer is perhaps the most obvious of Dr. Kreeft’s forty reasons that he shares in his new book. “I believe Catholicism is true, and that’s why I’m Catholic,” Dr. Kreeft writes.
So what does Dr. Kreeft’s answer mean for us? “If this answer is not obvious for you, if that is not your very first reason for believing whatever you believe, then I think you are not being totally honest with yourself,” he writes.
2. Because Catholics still do metaphysics
Metaphysics is something that most people don’t understand. After all, it’s not just a division of philosophy that deals with the supernatural. So what is metaphysics – and what do Catholics think about it?
“It means simply thinking about what is, and the real, essential nature of what is,” Dr. Kreeft explains. “It is as essential and commonsenseical as a child’s question ‘What is it?'”
What does that mean for Catholicism? “The fundamental claims of Catholicism are all metaphysical,” Dr. Kreeft writes. “The Church claims to know, by divine revelation, something about objective reality, not just personal experience. Catholicism is like science: universal and objective. Protestantism is more like practical psychology: individual and subjective.”
3. Because of cathedrals
“Cathedrals are technological miracles, centuries ahead of their time,” Dr. Kreeft writes. “With their flying buttresses, they look like rocket ships. They make your spirits fly. The miracle is that they do not fly off the ground themselves. I would not be surprised to find, one fine morning, that they had all left their launchpads and taken off home to Heaven.”
Cathedrals are unique to Catholicism. They’re made to be houses for God, who is truly present in them in the Eucharist. “Protestants do not build them,” Dr. Kreeft points out. “Or if they do, it is only in imitations of Catholics.”
Don’t believe Dr. Kreeft? He challenges you to walk into a beautiful cathedral and ask yourself: Where did this come from? “The origin and inspiration for these cathedrals very obviously came from Heaven,” he answers. “It’s not hard to see that; it’s hard not to see it. Stop trying so hard!”
4. Because only the Church can whup the Devil
Life is all fun and games until someone needs an exorcism. “Whenever anybody gets really serious about exorcism, they go to a Catholic priest,” Dr. Kreeft explains. “Did you ever see a movie with a Protestant exorcist? The Catholic Church is an expert with the most dangerous war of all – spiritual warfare.”
After all, Jesus performed exorcisms. The Church has over two thousand years of experience in devil-kicking. We have a nuclear arsenal when it comes to the Blessed Virgin, whose mission is to protect her children.
“The devil really, really resents being smashingly whupped by a woman, especially a womanly woman, holy and humble and (therefore) happy instead of an Amazon full of anger and resentment and belligerence like himself,” Dr. Kreeft argues. “Just look at all Mary has done in recent history, from Guadalupe to Fatima to Zeitoun. Never heard of it? Google it.”
5. Because he’s greedy
“When I find a good thing, I want more of it,” Dr. Kreeft confesses. “I used to be a Protestant. I still believe, love, and enjoy everything I believed as a Protestant and more. In fact, I am more Protestant – more evangelical, more charismatic, more biblical, and more Christocentric – as a Catholic than I ever was as a Protestant.”
Dr. Kreeft argues that when you become Catholic, you become more human than ever before.
Want to check out his other thirty-five reasons Dr. Peter Kreeft is a Catholic? Check out his latest book at your local Catholic bookstore or online here.
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