10 Reasons I Love Being American & Catholic

[UrbScotty]

3) Increasingly, Catholics in America reflect the wider world and its concerns. In 2007, 2 out of 3 Catholics in the US were white. Only seven years later, 41% of Catholics in the US are not of European ancestry – Latinos, Africans, African-Americans, Indians, Asians, etc. Newer Catholic immigrants bring to the US issues and concerns that face the wider world — and we should be grateful for that broader vision. We American Catholics sometimes get upset when our issues do not seem to be as pressing for the rest of the Catholic world. But when we recall that the US Catholic Church accounts for only 6% of the entire Church, well, it puts our pressing issues in perspective. The Catholic Church is not a good place if you are afraid of encountering others, especially others in need. It is, however, a good bellwether of the makeup of the United States in the near future.

Just as important as the future, is where we have come from. That is because…

4) Our history is important to us – because it shaped and recorded the history of culture. Through the centuries, the Catholic Church has preserved and developed ancient authors’ texts and ideas. Augustine of Hippo wrote the first tell-all autobiography, and he wrestled with age-old questions of good and evil. Remote Catholic monasteries served as a beacon of intellectual life as the ‘dark ages’ and plagues ravaged much of Europe.

Thomas Aquinas, a thunder-thinker of the thirteenth century, was dialoguing with Jewish and Muslim scholars about Aristotle long before interreligious dialogue was hip. Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar, wrote passionately about the evils of slavery and colonialism in the 1500s, long before post-colonial theory hit the scene. Jesuit missionaries studied the stars, recorded languages throughout South America and Asia, and adapted to the cultures of local peoples. Jesuits also defended the indigenous Guarani against European colonial powers in South American communities.

https://thejesuitpost.org/2015/07/10-reasons-i-love-being-american-catholic/