I think on this often. I love Catholicism and want to share some few of its aspects I find beautiful, aesthetically and/or out of gratitude.
It is venerable. The weight of its age lends a majesty to its gait. There is gravitas in its voice, borne from its lengthy tenure. For two-thousand years it has shepherded the West, been its conscience. It is not lightly dismissed.
It values knowledge. Catholicism has preserved liberal education, first having defined it. Genuine, purposeful education contemplates the good, true, and beautiful; Catholicism has steadfastly shone this light for nearly twenty centuries. The unequaled worth attached to the humanities at Catholic universities is a modest testament to this effort.
It is prevalent. I believe it has always been the largest bastion of Christianity. Most the inheritors of Western Civilization have Catholic ancestors. In this way it creates community, preserves connection; it provides a common heritage.
It is universal. This is in its very name; “catholic” is composed of two Greek words, κατά and ὅλος. The first word, a preposition, means “with regard to/concerning” and the second “whole/entire.” Catholicism, by its very name, is universal.
It is beautiful. Cathedrals are unassailably lovely, monuments to the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty, and cultivate solemn awe in the observer. The Latin Mass, with its ancient tongue, clear signals, and measured posture, purifies and poetizes.
Mormonism exists and functions in a special doctrinal tandem of sorts with Catholicism, has a connection with it, that is yet unexplored. O for that day.
“The old Catholic Church is worth more than all.” -Joseph Smith, June 16th, 1844
