50 Reasons to be Catholic

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church

I found the following list on Richard's blog:

See if you can add to the list :-)

50 Reasons to be Catholic


1. We are not emergent, we are eternal
2. We have Cardinal Zen
3. And Cardinal Sin
4. We are not liberal, we love our neighbour
5. We do not use the words ‘clown’ and ‘eucharist’ in the same sentence
6. We are not conservative, we look to God alone
7. Bells….bells….and more bells
8. We have a cloistered nun as the patron saint of missionaries (St Therese de Lisieux)
9. Announcements of our faith halt the conversation at dinner parties
10. The only religion responsible for the smallest nation state
11. We have confession – much cheaper than a psychologist
12. We have the Swiss Guards and their uniforms
13. Catholic morality gives politicians headaches
14. Ash Wednesday can’t be exploited by McDonalds or the greetings card industry
15. Our liturgy gives Freemasons indigestion
16. St Jerome is the patron saint of anger – hope for us all
17. Because when you have tacky statues etc you know you must be in the one true Church
18. We know what cherubim and seraphim are
19. Palestrina
20. St Lawrence (while being burnt to death – “turn me over; I’m done on this side”)
21. Incense smells better than cigar smoke
22. The litany of saints has the best names for your children
23. People do not tour Europe looking at great Protestant Cathedrals do they?
24. We love beauty, ritual and ceremony and are proud of it
25. The Latin Mass is the same the world over
26. Candles
27. If you become a saint parts of your body may become relics
28. We use phrases such as ‘supernatural existential’, ‘diochronicity’ and ‘the hermeneutic of continuity’
29. Mystery is more than a section in the local library
30. We have blessings and Masses to cope with plagues of frogs, illnesses, heresy etc etc
31. We say the black and do the red
32. We don’t call our priests ‘Jim’ or ‘Eric’
33. We have a St Bobo, St Bean and St Quadragesimus
34. Pope Benedict XVI
35. St Paul who said: ‘a little wine for thy stomach’s sake’
36. Orange is not a liturgical colour in the Catholic Church
37. No other denomination buries statues or prays in order to sell a house
38. Fish is good for you
39. We use a dead language and don’t give a damn!
40. No hand puppets, tambourines, clowns, guitars or dancing allowed in the liturgy
41. No crèches in Church, infants stay with us for Mass
42. If you are shy you can be a contemplative
43. We believe that a state of Grace is a condition of the soul, not part of the USA
44. Our religious orders pray during both the night and the day
45. With Our Lady and St Michael, no demons can touch us
46. Thuribles
47. Vestments that look as though they are intended for the worship of God, not as if they were the work of demented seamstresses high on drugs
48. A liturgy that does not patronise
49. The blessing of the throats (February 3nd)
50. Angels