JOURNALIST J. F. PISANI tells the story of what he calls “a torturous dinner party.” His account appears in the February 27, 2012 edition of The Catholic Transcript. Pisani found himself seated at table next to “a strident anti-Catholic fallen Catholic.” From the salad to the dessert course, his fellow dinner guest “went from one complaint about the Catholic Church to another, as if she were obsessed.” As the disgruntled person persisted in airing her seemingly endless list of grievances and gripes (“the topics were all familiar ones”), the journalist sat there quietly, taking it all in. But apparently his silence got to her, because at a certain point, writes Pisani, “she looked at me with intense questioning in her eyes as if to ask, ‘Aren’t you going to argue with me?’” He perceived that one goal of her tirade was to provoke him into defending the Church. And then, at last, came the direct question, “Why do you still go to that Church?”
Here is what Mr. Pisani replied: “The novelist Walker Percy converted to Catholicism, and when reporters asked him why he did it, he would always respond, ‘What else is there?’” And before the woman could launch in to a fresh rant, Pisani said simply, “I believe in the True Presence, I believe that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ and I don’t want to live without it.” He concluded their conversation by saying this: “Pray to be shown the truth, because if Christ is truly present in the Eucharist—and I believe he is—receiving him is about the most important thing you can do in life. Anything I say won’t convince you, but if you pray with an open heart, you’ll get the answer you need.”
Magnificat (2012-09-14). Magnificat Year of Faith Companion. Magnificat. Kindle Edition.