A Letter to Those Who Condemn the Catholic Church

There are moments when the Catholic Church is attacked — sometimes unfairly, and sometimes with reason. Honest history demands that we acknowledge both. There have been terrible sins committed by people within the Church: leaders who have failed, institutions that have wounded, and moments in time that still grieve us. The Inquisition, forced conversions, greed, abuse, and hypocrisy — these are stains that no sincere Catholic should ever excuse or minimize. They are real.

But let us begin with truth, not rage. The Catholic Church was never a gathering of the sinless; she has always been a hospital for sinners. From Judas to today, corruption has existed within her — yet so has the Cross that redeems it.

When Jesus chose His apostles, He knew one would betray Him, another would deny Him, and the rest would flee. Still, He founded His Church upon them — not because they were perfect, but because His grace is greater than human sin. The Church’s holiness does not come from her members, but from the One who lives within her: the Crucified Christ.

If we look at history honestly, we see that the Church’s failures are born from the same human frailty that marks every nation and people. Think of America. Our own land bears deep wounds — the slaughter of Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans, segregation, and the internment of Japanese families during World War II. And yes, the bomb — two cities vaporized, hundreds of thousands dead in an instant. These are not distant crimes; they are part of our shared human story.

Yet we do not tear up the Constitution or curse the flag. We repent, we learn, we reconcile, and we rebuild — because we believe the ideals are greater than the failings of those who betrayed them.

So too with the Church. Her foundation is not in politics or power, but in the pierced hands of Christ. Within her walls are both saints and sinners, beauty and scandal, holiness and horror — because humanity itself is still being sanctified. That’s why we have confession. That’s why we need grace.

Yes, there have been atrocities — the Crusades, colonial excesses, abuses of authority — and the Church has publicly confessed and sought forgiveness, especially under Pope John Paul II. But to stop there is to see only the shadow and miss the light. For every act of cruelty, there have been thousands of acts of courage, love, and sacrifice born from the same faith — missionaries who gave their lives in Japan, priests who hid Jews during the Holocaust, nuns who nursed lepers, and modern saints who forgave their murderers.

The Church has always been both Calvary and the tomb — dying and rising, sinning and repenting, crucified and forgiven. She is not holy because her members are pure, but because Christ never leaves her.

When someone asks, “Then why stay?” the answer is simple: because the Church is not an organization; she is a living body. You don’t abandon the wounded Body of Christ because it bleeds — you bind it, clean it, and love it back to health.

The Scriptures tell the story plainly: love endures betrayal; mercy triumphs over judgment. The Savior who founded the Church also said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is where we find the meaning of the Church — not in her scandals, but in her Savior.

If you truly want to understand Catholicism, don’t start with her sinners — start with her Crucifix. Look there, at the innocent One who hung between heaven and earth, despised by both the religious and the rebellious. That’s where you’ll find the truth about God and man: our guilt, His mercy, and the love that holds the whole broken world together.

So yes, the anger of the world has its reasons — but those reasons need redemption. The Church does not ask humanity to forget her sins; she asks us all to look beyond them, to the One who bore them. Because in the end, history isn’t about who sinned worst. It’s about who allowed grace to heal what sin destroyed.

And that story — the story of mercy — began, and will always end, at the foot of the Cross.  www.UtahMission.com