Conclusion
There it isthe truth about Catholic belief and practice. This is
the truth which brought the author of this tract into the Catholic
Church...the truth which brings millions of people into the
Catholic fold year after year...the truth which explains why
Newman, Chesterton, Knox, Brownson, Maritain, Mann, Swinnerton,
Muggeridge and a host of other world-famous intellectuals chose to
embrace the Catholic Faith. This is the truth which inspired the
following confession by the renowned scientist, John Deeringa
confession which expresses in eloquent fashion the fundamental
motivation of every Catholic convert, be he famous or unknown: "I
was born and raised in an atmosphere of proud, agnostic
intellectualism. My father, a medical doctor by profession, was a
disciple of Schopenhauer and Freud, and my mother was an ardent
disciple of my father. My own favourite dish as a youth was
Voltaire. This by the time I reached manhood, I was quite
thoroughly baptized in the pseudo-religious cult of humanism. I
preferred to call it humanism because, unlike the blunt Voltaire, I
never could profess publicly to being an out and out atheist, even
though there really isn't much distinction between the two.
"Being of a curious, speculative turn of mind, with strong leanings
toward the more challenging fields of dialectics, I eventually took
up the study of metaphysicsthe science of the fundamental causes
and processes of things. This subject intrigued me, indeed obsessed
me, as no other subject had before. Here, I told myself, was the
science of sciences. Here was the supreme test of my personal
philosophy. If God exists, I told myself, metaphysics would reveal
Him. Either I would be justified in my quasi-atheism, or I would be
compelled in conscience to abandon it completely.
"Then the inevitable happened. I came face to face with the
proposition, proved by all the principles of logic, that God does
indeed exist. The evidence was so abundant as to be
incontrovertible. Just as sure as two and two make four, God not
only exists, He Is existence. To argue the point would have been
tantamount to arguing against all reality!
"Toppled at last from the vainglorious perch of agnosticism, I
immediately set about making another intellectual ascentthis time
up the great imposing structure of Christian theology. I procured a
Bible and spent every free moment absorbed in its sacred content. I
had established the existence of God in my mind; now I must know
something of the nature, the personality, of God. The Bible, I
figured, would give me a clue.
"Much of what I read in the Bible was vagueI was not, after all,
familiar with the customs and language idioms of the ancient Jews
who wrote the biblebut I could grasp the central theme. Quite
obviously, the central theme of the Bible portrayed God not only as
an Omnipotent, All-Intelligent Spiritual Being, but as the essence
of Love, Essence of Justice and Essence of Mercy. In other words,
God is pre-eminently a personal Being. And Jesus Christ was God
personified, come into the world not only to make atonement for the
sin of Adam, but to reassert His Sovereignty, elaborate on His Laws
and illuminate with brighter light the pathway to heavenly
immortality. And the torchbearer of this light was His Church,
founded on the Apostles. Endowed with the authority of God, and
imbued with the Holy Spirit of God, His Church was given the holy
task of perpetuating his ministry of salvation after His return to
Heaven.
"There was the divine plan of redemption, life's real purpose,
brought into clear and beautiful focus by the Author of the
planGod Himself. There, in brief, is man's only real hope for
happiness and security.
"Only one thing remained to be solved. God's ChurchWhere amidst
the vast galaxy of the world's churches was God's true Church to be
found? Then I recalled something Christ said: "Seek and ye shall
find...know and it will be opened unto you." Inspired by these
words of divine wisdom, I embarked on the search I undertook an
extensive study of comparative religion, concentrating on the
Christian religions. Since the other religions rejected the
divinity of Christ, they naturally were in default.
"With painstaking impartiality I held every Christian church up to
the light of Scripture, logic and history, checking and
double-checking lest I overlook some small but significant piece of
evidence. Three years of this meticulous checking, then I found the
object of my search. I finished with one name superimposed in great
bold letters on my conscience'Catholic.'
"On every ground I found the claims of the Catholic religion valid
and altogether irresistible. The Catholic Church is the oldest
Christian church, I determined; therefore, she is the original
Christian Church, the one Church founded, constituted and
sanctioned by Jesus Christ Himself.
"I had no other recourse in conscience but to embrace the Catholic
Faith. And now I must testify that it satisfies my mind, solaces my
heart and gratifies my soul. My blessed Catholic Faith fills my
soul with a peace and a sense of security I had never before
thought possible.
"Now that I am in the Catholic Church I have a much clearer picture
of its true image. I see in all her vitals the Image of Christ. In
the reception of her sacraments I feel His comforting hand; in her
pronouncements I hear His authoritative, cogent voice; in her
manifold world-wide charities I see His love and compassion; in the
way she is harassed and vilified I see His agony and humility on
Calvary; in her worship I feel His Spirit girding my soul.
"This compels my obedience. All else is shifting sand."