Greetings one and all!

[CatholicDefender]

Hello one and all. 

I am a devout Catholic poster, new to this forum. 

I have always counted myself as Catholic even though I disagreed with much of Churche's teaching and a part of me though it was a corrupt, backward isntitution.

I was functionally agnostic and really didn't think much about the whole God thing.

I recently had sort of a rough time in my life and decided to really study Catholicism hoping it could provide me with some form of support. Shockingly enough it did.

I realize that the Catholic Church in the form of it's Pope and nobility in Europe did some terrible things throughout history (including very recently.) The way I reconcile that with my faith is my view that the Church is a divine institution headed by at times bad and flawed people.

I personally do believe in God, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. I think the Catholic Church has a fascinating spirituality and philosophy and I would be happy to answer and all questions one might have about its (more like her) believes and practices.

I hope for productive (non acrimonious!) discussions!