On Examining Anti-Catholic 'Reasons'

The Catholic Church quietly presents reasonable arguments about the truth that it is organized to uphold and explain to the human race. These arguments are put forth as the truth about God, Christ, the Spirit, the Church, the cosmos, how to live. They are based in reason and intelligence. Revelation itself is directed to reason. Catholicism seeks light in the realm of intelligence not obscurity. It strives to explain, prove, and articulate what it holds.

The history of the Church is, from one point of view, a record of arguments made against it in any given time or place. The earliest Church Councils were called precisely to deal with misunderstandings about this or that truth of revelation.  They concluded by stating as clearly as possible what the truth was. The Church is from its beginning concerned with intelligence. It maintains that, with good will, erroneous arguments can be understood and clarified in the light of the truth. Almost always error betrays some truth that is worth upholding. One of the purposes of Christian intelligence is precisely to do this work of understanding and, in the light of the whole, putting in proper place propositions that are said to disprove one or another of its tenets. Aquinas was famous for stating arguments against the Church better than those who held them. The precise knowledge of error is itself a work of truth. We do not fully understand the truth unless we can explain arguments against it.