How can people remain Catholic if they quarrel with the Church?

Consider the Church as a huge umbrella under which everyone can fit. Sometimes some of us seem to be on the verge of standing out in the rain, but active Catholics stay because this is where we belong; this is home. It is a tension into which we can relax, a struggle that can be lived. Somehow the Catholic Church holds it all in balance: the treasures of the Vatican art galleries and the poverty of the missionaries; the exuberance of the charismatics and the quietness of centering prayer; drums, guitars, trombones—and Gregorian chant. Any other Church would have a million splinter groups: We contain it all. As James Joyce wrote, the Catholic Church means “here comes everybody.” Sister Jose` Hobday says her dad joined the Catholic Church because it had more riffraff than any other.

There are very real issues that trouble some Catholics about the Church, and their disagreements are honest and heart-felt. It’s often that way with families. But the Church is big enough, and family enough, to find room for those who don’t always agree with it.