Whether a Man Can Be a Cafeteria Catholic

By Fr. Gaurav Shroff

“I’m Catholic, but I don’t really believe in X.” This is a common enough statement, either explicitly professed or implicitly held, even among Catholics who are, as they say, regular church-goers. “X” may represent any variety of things: a whole slew of issues relating to human sexuality on which the Church has definite teachings, the nature of Christ (“a good moral example” but not “the Son of God” and “my Lord and Savior”), religious indifferentism (“all roads lead to heaven,” thus denying the uniqueness of Christ), the necessity of the sacraments for salvation, the uniqueness of the Catholic Church (“it’s all the same, go where you fit in”), the obligations of justice to the poor, etc. Some may actually be coming to church for a variety of reasons, but not believe much of what the Church teaches at all, about God, man, the universe, the moral law, etc.

The thing is, “going to church” is really the manifestation of supernatural faith, that is, by participating in the worship of God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that worship in “spirit and truth,” established by Christ, regulated by the Church, until He comes again. One can go to Mass for other reasons (culture, family pressure, to meet an eligible Catholic girl, aesthetics [if one is fortunate to be in a place where the Mass is celebrated beautifully!]), but the primary reason is because of faith.

Now faith is, first of all the full and complete response of the whole person to the God who reveals (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #144). However, because man is made to know God who is Truth itself, as well as to love Him, who is Goodness itself, faith also involves an assent to a revealed body of truths about God, truths that would not be accessible to human reason unaided. Faith is a gift of God, and comes to us from outside ourselves (CCC, #153, Rom. 10:17. No one “makes himself” a Christian), but at the same time a human act of response, obedience, and assent (CCC #154).

So what is going on when a Catholic says, “I’m Catholic, but I don’t really believe in X?” In his study of the virtue of faith, St. Thomas Aquinas asks the question thus: “Whether a man who disbelieves one article of faith, can have lifeless faith in the other articles?” (ST IIa IIae q. 5 a. 3) Thomas’ answer is a very definite and clear “no.”

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