Aren't Catholics Not Supposed to Ask Questions?
What accounts for this queer misperception of the Faith? It is the unspoken assumption that, say what we will about the Church's enormously long and varied history of support for the life of the mind (a support which produced minds ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Edith Stein), Catholics must have a deep-rooted fear of questions. It is the idea that “faith” means terror at the prospect of looking too deeply into things lest our fragile god evaporate forever in the fierce light of inquiry.
Yet, even a cursory glance at the New Testament reveals the Catholic Faith was born in the midst of very real and very hard questions. Cheeky questions like Peter's “Lord, we have left all to follow you? What's in it for us?” Honest questions like Mary's “How can I have a son, seeing that I am a virgin?” Skeptical questions like Zechariah's doubts about the conception of his son, John the Baptist. Incredulous questions like “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Tricky, accusing questions like, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
