I like Dick’s cheeseburgers best. I like Dick’s fries best. I like Dick’s shakes best.
And, for the most part, I can tell you why. The shakes are made with real ice cream and whipped up after my order is taken. The fries are made with real potatoes. I can look through the window and see those sliced spuds floating in water, waiting to be shaken off and dropped in hot oil. The cheeseburgers are…
All right, I don’t know exactly why the cheeseburgers are better than those served at other establishments but they are.
My family — emigrants from the Midwest — grew to love Dick’s. My father, who didn’t get out much in his final years, always enjoyed a visit. He would get a burger and a cup of coffee and then happily sit in the car (no indoor dining at the majority of the half dozen locations) and watch the people standing in line to order.
My wife and I, in our courting days, would take a sack of food over to a nearby park and watch a rec league softball game. (That and a quart of beer but that’s another story for another time.)
My son, who now lives in Chicago, makes a point of stopping by Dick’s when he’s home for a visit.
If you, if a stranger, if a friend, were to ask me, “Where can I get a really good burger, fries and shake while I’m here in Seattle?” I would not hesitate to say “Dick’s.” I would be happy to provide you with directions to the nearest location.
I have eaten at McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and the rest. I have eaten at many local spots, some of which have very loyal patrons.
But, if I have a choice, I choose Dick’s.
I cannot ever recall a true burger aficionado declare, “All hamburger places are the same.” I cannot recall a true burger aficionado hesitating to declare what, where and why one is his or her favorite. I cannot recall the person to whom that fan was speaking take offense because of that opinion.
Why would they? Common sense says there’s no reason to.
Not so with religion. Not so with churches. Then, for a number of reasons, conventional wisdom — not common sense — says it’s rude for me to say mine is better.
It’s rude because religion, by and large, remains among society’s few taboo subjects. It simply isn’t done, unless you’re one of those … mindless zealots … who’s always recruiting.
It isn’t done because you fear being considered one.
I can say “Dick’s is better” and no one assumes I want to spirit you away to that place and force-feed you. I can say “Dick’s is better” and no one assumes I am declaring all other burger joints are evil or worthless. I can say “Dick’s is better” and give you some reasons why I think Dick’s is better.
More than why I think it. Why I believe it.
And that, it seems to me, is the crux of the matter. We Catholics keep our mouths shut not because we’re so polite and not even so much because we’re afraid of what others might think.
We’re ignorant.
We can’t put into words — simple, easy to understand terms — why we think Catholicism is better. Too often, we can’t even explain why we are Catholics. Not really. (And that’s just talking about “better.” Actually, the Catholic Church is “best.”)
It would be ludicrous for me to say, “I think Dick’s is better because…” My father liked to eat there. My wife and I ate there when we first started going together. My son stops in once in a while.
So what?
If I don’t have any other reasons, if I don’t know about the ice cream and fresh potatoes, then I’m not going to join in any burger discussion or I’m going to just nod and smile and appear to agree that, yes, indeed, all hamburger places are the same.
Even if in my heart (or in the case of food, my stomach) I know one is better, if I can’t use my head to explain it to others then…
I need to learn. How is this different and why is this different? What does this offer me that I can’t get anywhere else?
Because, as we all know, I can get some of those things elsewhere. I can get cheeseburgers. I can get fries. I can get shakes.
Shoot, at some places I can get breakfast sandwiches and spicy chicken and jalapeno poppers. Some chains have added a variety of menu items trying to attract and keep customers. It seems safe to assume they felt a need to do this because their basic menu items, as prepared and presented, weren’t good enough.
What they offered was, in some way or another, incomplete. In the long run, not satisfying.
The comparison between cheeseburgers and churches — or religions in general — breaks down because faith isn’t simply a matter of taste. It’s a matter of truth.
Permanent. Unchanging. Eternal.
It’s what we all seek, whether or not we realize we are seeking it. All of us spend our lives, in one way or another, looking for God.
The Catholic Church doesn’t say all other churches or religions lack any truth. It doesn’t teach that individuals who profess no religion cannot possess some part of the truth.
It simply says all the truth, the truth that God revealed to us human beings (through Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life), is contained within the Catholic Church.
And it is that — certainly not us its members — that makes it the best.
