In Zachary Schuster’s column, “Lost my religion,” Schuster says he has lost his faith because the Catholic Church has “absolutely no clue of what college students needed and wanted.” The question that I have to throw back is: Do we know what the difference between want and need is?

What the Catholic Church teaches is that all people – children, adults, or the elderly – are in need of the truth of Christ as thought in the Scriptures and expounded upon by the Magisterium of the Church. Sometimes that truth is not what we want to hear or believe, because it challenges us to examine our lives – sometimes even to the point of conversion in some aspect of our life.

What we should want out of our faith experience is to have an open heart to be open to the truth, whether the truth affirms our way of life or causes us to rethink how we currently live our lives.

Something that needs to be pointed out here is that the Church is fully aware that college students have needs as well, but the question that has to be asked is: How much of an effort does one make to satisfy their own needs within the Church? Did you go talk to a priest about problems that you have with the Church and its teachings? Did you check out what kinds of programs the Church offers to assist students in their quest for the truth?

The Church’s purpose is to meet the needs of the people, insofar as it does not violate natural law, the Scriptures or the teachings of the Magisterium. More often than not, people go astray from their faith lives – whatever religion it may be – because they did not take the time to find out about the doctrine that lies behind their faith’s teachings.

Faith does not just fall into our laps but rather takes time to develop through both prayer and study. What good does our faith do us, if we do not attempt to understand what we say we believe? Just some food for thought.

Peter Zorjan

University alumnus