Adam Kotsko, author of Žižek and Theology (New York: Continuum, 2008) and Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation (New York: Continuum, 2010), explains why he is a Catholic this way:
This is what keeps me coming back to mass every week: I simply cannot go a week without receiving the Lord in communion. God’s grace works in an infinite number of ways, but I firmly believe that communion allows us to participate in God’s grace in a way that is unaccessible to us by any other means. It is not just a memorial; it is not just a reenactment: no matter how you think it happens in a metaphysical sense, it is a participation in Christ. It is a taking into oneself of everything that Christ has for us. No song, no sermon, nothing can ever hope to take the place of that.
In conclusion, I am Catholic because the Catholic Church is the place where the Eucharist is celebrated. Take away all the trappings of authority and doctrine, and that is what you have: a congregation gathered to celebrate the Eucharist. Church is many things, but Church is at its best and anticipates the life of heaven the best when it celebrates that sacrament that is so many different things at once. That sacrament is ultimately why I became Catholic and it is why I am still Catholic.[1]
Of course, the Orthodox believe and practice the same thing, but Kotsko’s main point still stands. I would just add that, if the Eucharist is so central to us, then it has to have real consequence in our lives. Timothy Radcliffe wrote a whole book to address the question: why go to church?[2] The answer he found is simple: we go to church to be sent from it. In communion with God, we are sent to contribute to “justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom”.[3]
_____________________
[1] Adam Kotsko, “Why I Am Still Catholic”, pars. 6-7, http://kotsko.tripod.com/why.htm.
[2] Timothy Radcliffe OP, Why Go to Church?: The Drama of the Eucharist (New York: Continuum, 2008).
