By Joannie Watson, Integrated Catholic Life, June 13, 2025
Joan Watson was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, but college and graduate school took her to Virginia, Ohio, and Rome. After graduating from Christendom College with a B.A. in History and Franciscan University with a M.A. in Theology, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to be part of the explosion of Catholic culture in the middle of the Bible Belt. ….
“The Church is made up of sinners, yes, but gives those sinners the graces to become saints.”
Loving the Church?
I’m working on a book about Catherine of Siena right now, and it has given me a great appreciation for the Church. Catherine loved the Church, despite living during a tumultous time for the Bride of Christ. Just one of the many issues Catherine had to deal with would be enough to send most of us over the edge. Whenever people say that we’re living in “unprecedented times,” or lament corruption and sin in the Church as if it is something new, I want to show them even just a page of Church history.
A friend of mine said just the other day: “The Church will always be frustrating. Because it’s on earth.”
There can be a temptation to think that the difficulty to love the Church is something new. But the Church has always been made up of humans. And humans are difficult to love. ….
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