Why do people remain Catholic if they quarrel with the Church?

Q:I relish an image of Church like a huge tent or umbrella under which everyone can fit. Sometimes we seem to be splitting our seams, 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.

A: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.

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