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Catholicism

"I like being Catholic because, like a batting average, it sets a standard by which I can measure myself."
--Babe Ruth

"Whenever you go to Mass, you run the risk of falling into Grace."
--Richard J. Sklba
Auxiliary Bishop
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"...[T]he presumption in the Christian just war theory is on
the side of justice, not peace. Peace, if that were the sole
objective of just war theory, always can be obtained by simply
not resisting aggression. But the just war theory envisions the
establishment of justice as its prime objective. Saddam Hussein
has a record of aggression directed against neighboring countries.
He has aided and abetted international terrorism. He is known to
be developing weapons of mass murder and he is a brutal oppressor
of the Iraqi people. If liberating Iraq and its oppressed people,
and preempting future aggression possibly using horrific weapons
of mass destruction, does not comport with just war theory,
then it is hard to see what military action would qualify.
Self-defense does not require the innocent to sit idly by waiting
to be attacked by a proven aggressor." --Ken Connor

"I always found comfort and joy in religion. No matter where I am, come Sunday I'll find the Catholic Church. It's always been the very heart of my existence...perhaps the basis of it."
--Mary Higgins Clark, novelist

"The most important thing we must do is to preach the gospel. If necessary, use words."
--St. Francis of Assisi

Visit the Blessed Sacrament often; there is your true life -- Saint John of the Cross

It is at the foot of this cross that we should remain always. It is the place where the imitators of our sovereign master and Savior ordinarily abide.
St. Francis de Sales

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew." --Saint Francis de Sales

"Hail, Christ the King!... I put on your uniform, I gird your sword; I am proud to call myself a knight of Christ. Give me a soldier's heart, a knight's valor, O Jesus, and I will always be by your side." - Blessed John XXIII

"It is preposterous that a single monk should be right in his opinion and that the whole of Christianity should be in error a thousand years or more."
-Charles V of Spain

"I've got a great deal of faith in God, a great deal of dependency on God. I don't think I'd do anything without that dependency."
--Vince Lombardi

"Nothing is so pleasing to God as obedience." -- Saint Jerome

"All hope consists in Confession. Do not doubt, do not hesitate, never despair of the Mercy of God."
-St. Isidore of Seville

"The Catholic Church is the only thing that saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age."
--G.K. Chesterton

"I like being Catholic because we love Jesus' mother, who is our mother, too."
--Nadine Yeldig
Beaverton, Oregon

"I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives."
--Peter Kreeft, Professor
of Philosophy, Boston College

"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his
father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property
of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of
his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in
the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching
all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister
he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at
the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested,
tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is
executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in
charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing --
the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial
place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No,
this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street
corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000
years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers,
kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals,
all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived --
all put together. How do we explain that? ...Unless he really
was what he said he was." --Ronald Reagan

"Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect and claims to the 'rightness' of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community." (US Bishops, 1998, Living the Gospel of Life, n.23)

Carla to Sam after he complains about the difficulty of doing a Catholic penance: "It's not a religion for wusses." (From _Cheers_)

"I have always liked being Catholic because it has always seemed to me more spiritual than other ways to worship. Seeing my mother attend Mass three or four times a week, I figured it was the best way for me to show my love for God. The love and devotion of the priest and nuns also has been an inspiration to me. I know they all pray for me and my family."
-- Yogi Berra

"I derive my strength from Mass."
--Vince Lombardi

"True happiness does not consist in the accumulation of goods: money, cars, houses. Nor is it to be found in pleasure seeking: eating, drinking, sex. And humans do not attain lasting joy by power grabbing, dominating others, or heaping up public acclaim. These three things, good in themselves when properly sought, were not able to confer on Solomon, perfect happiness. And they will not be able to confer it on anyone else! ...Happiness is attained by achieving the purpose of our earthly existence. God made me to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next. Saint Augustine found this out in his later age after making many mistakes in his youth. He then cried out to God: 'You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.' ...My religion guides and helps me towards this. My Catholic faith puts me in contact with Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life ... God's grace helps me to live on earth in such a way as to attain the purpose of my earthly existence.... [A]llow your religion to give your life its essential and major orientation. In our lives, religion is not something marginal, peripheral, additional, optional. My Catholic faith gives meaning and a sense of direction to my life. It gives it unity. Without it my life would be like an agglomeration of scattered mosaics. It is my religion ... that inspires my profession, that teaches me that there is more happiness in giving than in receiving .... that helps me to appreciate that to reach the height of my growth potential, I must learn to give of myself to others as I practice my profession as lawyer, doctor, air hostess, congress member or priest.... Allow your religion to give life, joy, generosity and a sense of solidarity to your professional and social engagements. In a world of religious plurality, you will of course learn to cooperate with people of other religious convictions. True religion teaches not exclusion, rivalry, tension, conflict or violence, but rather openness, esteem, respect and harmony. At the same time you should keep intact your religious identity, your distinction as a witness of Jesus Christ." --Cardinal Francis Arinze

"The difficulty of explaining why I am a Catholic is that there are 10,000 reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true."
--G.K. Chesterton

"The best prayer in the world is 'Let thy will be done," because God knows what you want. So say, 'Don't give me what I want; give me what I need.'"
--Aaron Neville

"Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights--for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture--is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right, and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination." (Pope John Paul II, 1988, Christefideles Laici, n.3)

Devotion to the Virgin Mary is not only important, but necessary.
-- Blessed Columba Marmion