Like a fine whiskey

By Tom Quiner

Fr. Zach described the Catholic church beautifully:

“The Catholic Church is like a fine whiskey: complex yet simple, earthy yet heavenly, rich yet austere.”

Here is what I’ve learned about the Catholic Church as a convert to the faith.

Most of what people don’t like about the Church is based on misinformation and half-truths.

My own doubts about certain teachings of the Church were based on a lack of understanding into the hows and whys of the faith. As I learn more, the complex becomes simpler, and the simpler becomes more complex. An interesting paradox.

When I take a sip of a fine whiskey, as I do on occasion, it warms my stomach.

When I take communion, as I did this morning, the Bread of Life and the Cup of Love warm my soul and nourishes me inside and out, especially inside.

The Catholic Church is so very earthy. Aquinas taught us that God gave us five senses as a way for Him to be revealed to us. The Catholic Church embraces all the senses with passion. And yet the intellectual tradition of the Church is rich with our pursuit of understanding the relationship between heaven and earth.

People have hated the Church down through the ages for one scandal after another that has rocked the House of God. I hate the scandals, too. There will be more to come. And they will never stop coming, since man is flawed.

But God isn’t. The Truth of the Church is perfect. It is unchanging, and it is beautiful.

Just like a fine whiskey, it is complex yet simple.