I am not the best Catholic. I may have been born and raised Boston/Irish Catholic, and I may have gone to a seminary where I learned a lot more about the Church than a rank and file Catholic, I feel that, rather than me leaving the church, when I accepted my true self the church let me know that other than at the collection time, I was of no use to it.

But, regardless whether you are a practicing, a lapsed, a Fallen Away, an Ex, or an ex-communicant, you really can’t shake completely the way you were brought up, so, even in your most nonreligious moment, there is still that little voice that creeps in, magnified if you went to an elementary school taught by nuns.

As with any organization, there is a simple statement of beliefs that cuts through all the trappings and additions that were latched on to over the centuries, but are not integral to the belief system, and are rather optional. The frosting on the cake, no matter how aesthetically pleasing, is not the cake.

In the early days of the Catholic Church there was a lot of doctrinal discussion as to what being a follower of Christ was really all about and among these was some heavy theology mixed in with other things that were nice to hold to, but not necessary to be a believer. At a certain point, things had to be formalized, and what was needed was a doctrinal statement of correct belief or orthodoxy, simply stated, to separate the essential beliefs from things that popped up as various forms of devotional expression.

To this end bishops gathered in Nicaea in Turkey in 325 and established the Nicene Creed, often called the Apostles’ Creed which sums up the core beliefs of Catholicism. It is usually recited by a congregation at Mass just after the sermon, The Credo. For those who know the Mass only through symphonic works by famous composers, the Credo would be the longest song, “Credo in unum Deum”.

“I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

Its less wordy form recited on one’s own as opposed to a formal recitation at Mass, might be less flowery, but it still lists the essential beliefs.

“I believe in God, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and

born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

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That’s it.

Those are the essential beliefs to be Catholic. Rosary beads, circumcision, celibacy, Hand-Maid outfits, things like that, are merely optional ways to express religious devotion, but they are not essential nor are they universally required of a believer.

When judging someone’s Catholicism what is essential is that person’s adherence to the Creed and not to how they might express devotion as one person’s chosen devotional may not be that of others, but springs from the common essential beliefs.

An example would be the various religious orders where priests, brothers, and nuns liven under a prescribed set of rules to become more perfect people in the eyes of God. But, a person can pick and choose which order is the one that fits best. If you like to talk a lot, the Franciscans would be a better fit than the Trappists. Both still hold to the essential creed, but the expression of them is a matter of individual choice.

Another example would be Opus Dei that focuses on the lives of the ordinary Catholics who are neither priests nor monks.

Someone else may want to wear odd thigh mutilating garters or perform self-flagellation before going to bed, but neither is for everyone, nor is either essential.

Even within the Church there are differences of opinion when it comes to devotional practices as some seem a little extreme and, honestly, rather off-putting.

So when the senate Judiciary Committee was questioning Amy Barrett for a Supreme Court seat, the usually ant-Catholic senators from those states who have traditionally seen the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon showed their lack of knowledge as to what a Catholic is and based their assessment of her Catholicism on their misperceptions of what it actually is, and offered defenses of it as if the things for which she is known are universal beliefs within the Catholic Church while ignoring Joe Biden’s Catholicism that involves more core beliefs with few optional add-ons. They were not praising her Catholicism, they were accepting of her personal, and not universally held, beliefs as if certain choices made by her made her a good Catholic. 

I suppose whipping myself in the privacy of my room makes me more Catholic than if I were feeding the hungry?

Extremism is extremism in any religion.

And, not being content playing the victims who see any limits to imposing their religious beliefs on all of us through religious based laws and the uncontrolled exercise of “religious freedom”, these senators not only attempted to paint a picture of the Democrats on the Committee as being anti-Catholic in spite of our only Catholic president being a Democrat and the present Democrat running for president would be only the second Catholic to move into the White House, they completely ignored that if Judge Barrett gets on the Bench, seven of the nine Justices will be Catholic.

Barrett does not represent your average Catholic, and her beliefs are not necessarily those of the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” in spite what the non-Catholic senators want to belief and hope to get us to as well.

Not all Southern Baptists pray by waving around snakes.