I was dismayed at a caller to the show who said he was a former Catholic and was taught the he only had to attend church on Christmas and Easter. That's is the exact opposite of what the Church teaches.
Catholics put so much emphasis on “going to church” by way of keeping holy the Sabbath. Of course Protestant Christians, too, are committed to Sunday worship, but we Catholics add a note of obligation. For us, participating in Sunday Mass is a great privilege but also a serious responsibility. We may not “miss” Sunday Mass—except for some very good reason.
Catholics are called to “full, conscious and active participation [as] demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation is [our] right and duty by reason of baptism” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #14). Far more than attending as spectators, we must function as active members in a bonded community.
The Bible highlights the communal nature of faith. Indeed, it seems that God designed our very human nature as relational. When God differentiated the lonely Adam into male and female, God made them “companions” to each other. Then, beginning with God’s call of Abraham and Sarah to parent a people, Hebrew faith is lived in and as community. No sin or success is purely personal. God makes every covenant with the Hebrews as a people, not as individuals. That “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:12) was their sustaining conviction.
It is sad so many people leave the Catholic faith without even having a basic understanding of it. You owe it to yourself to at least undersand what you choose to abandon before you abandon it.
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