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If You Don't Live Like You Think,
You'll End Up Thinking Like You Live

Another Catholic Faith that kept quiet for too long...
(Vasily Perov. Last Journey. Source)

1) Introduction

It has been two years since I started searching for Catholics who were not ashamed of their Faith. So far (May 2006), I've only found one Priest who was willing to publicly state that he agreed 100% with all of the official teachings of the Catholic Church (including controversial topics like abortion, Transubstantiation, contraception, Papal Infallibility, women's ordination, etc.).

2) A silent Faith is a dying Faith

I wish I knew more about Psychology and Theology, to be able to explain why a silent Faith is a dying Faith. I guess it has something to do with the profound unity between body and soul. It's the same union that explains why, among others, kneeling and being quiet helps us pray, and why thinking often about tasty foods makes it harder to lose weight, etc.

I assume it is also connected with virtues and vices, which are acquired by repeated acts. If every time you see our Mother the Church publicly attacked, you turn away and pretend you didn't see anything, eventually you'll acquire some habit. If you constantly act as though the Church was wrong, or not really important, eventually you'll acquire a habit, and it won't be the virtue of Faith.

Saying the Creed ("I believe in God, the Father Almighty, etc.") along with everybody else during Sunday Mass isn't enough. The worst heretics I know do that too. You have to proclaim your Faith while surrounded by people who don't think like you, and you have to insist on the aspects of the Faith which are rejected the most.

3) Some quotes to encourage you to speak out

"Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
[Mt 10:32]

"Let Christians walk in wisdom in the face of those outside, «in the Holy Spirit, in unaffected love, in the word of truth» [2 Cor. 6:6-7], and let them be about their task of spreading the light of life with all confidence and apostolic courage, even to the shedding of their blood."
Dignitatis Humanae, #14, §1, my emphasis.

"They are more perfectly bound to the Church by the sacrament of Confirmation, and the Holy Spirit endows them with special strength so that they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ."
Lumen Gentium, #11, §1, my emphasis.

"Red Tape, and the Blood of Martyrs"

"If a Pastor doesn't want to damn himself, if some disorder comes into his Parish, he must stomp on human respect and the fear of being held in contempt or hated by his parishioners; and even though he might be sure of being put to death after coming down from the pulpit, that must not stop him. A Pastor who wants to fulfill his duty must always have his sword at hand."
[Saint Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney, quoted in TROCHU, Francis. Le Curé d'Ars, Résiac, 1993, p. 209]

"If today you were arrested and accused of being a Christian, would they find enough evidence to convict you?"
[unknown author]

4) Conclusion

You cannot forever act as if you were a pagan or an atheist, while trying to remain a Catholic in your heart. Putting on a theater show, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is very difficult. Sooner or later, you will "go with the flow" and start thinking like you live.