Accepting the Teachings of the Church

The challenge for many Protestants is to find a church that fits them; the challenge for many Catholics is to fit into a church that requires its members to accept her doctrinal and liturgical traditions -- whether they are comfortable with them or not. 

The test for doctrinal teaching and practice in the Church remains the same through the centuries.  Is this theological position or liturgical practice consistent with the teaching of the apostles and their successors from the beginning of the Church or not? 

Sooner or later, all of us have to decide where we stand regarding Catholicism.  Either there is objective truth that is discoverable, or truth is only relative in the eyes of the beholder.  Either God has revealed himself to us in a personal, human way through his Son Jesus, or he has not.  Either Jesus established the foundation of the Church to teach in his name until the end of time, or he did not.  Either his revelation has been preserved intact through the centuries through the Church, or it has not.  Either Jesus guaranteed that he would continue his teaching, healing, ministry primarily through the apostles and their successors, or he did not. 

To be a Catholic in fact means that we accept what the Church teaches, even if at times we are uncomfortable with certain doctrines, or find it difficult to go along uncritically accepting everything the Church teaches about faith and morals.  It is through the grace of the sacraments that we are able to accept all that the Church teaches with a sense of peace and joy.