David Lins, director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of Joy Catholic Church in Carefree, shared that the foundation of his faith is not dependent on how others in the church conduct themselves.

In the years Lins has worked in Catholic parishes across the country, he has encountered every degree of fellow Catholic in leadership positions and in congregation families, from the inspiring to the less-than-so, he said in a letter published in the Aug. 16 parish bulletin.

Yet, from the greatest to the least, those others and their walks do neither shake nor ground his faith.

“I will never be Catholic for them," Lins continued in the letter. “You and I are Catholic because the Catholic Church houses the sacraments. We are Catholic because we recognize the Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are Catholic because we get to actually hear the words, 'you are forgiven' when we confess our sin. 

"We are Catholic because it is the Church founded by Jesus Christ. We are Catholic because we recognize you can never leave your family and our family extends to the saints in heaven. We are Catholic because, while we recognize the sins of others in our family, we also recognize our own sin. We are Catholic because in the words of our first Pope, St. Peter, ‘Where else would we go?’”