Appendix E: “I Could Be Catholic If It Weren’t For…” I have heard this almost as many times as I said it myself. For a Protestant, there are a lot of doctrines in Catholicism that just seem weird. No contraception? Praying to saints? Some old man in Rome tells me things about Jesus and I just have to believe him? I’m required to accept that Mary was both preserved from sin and remained a lifelong virgin? It feels like being asked to carry an enormous backpack stuffed with strange objects of crushing weight. It’s overwhelming, disorienting, and frustrating. Things get a lot worse if there is not a knowledgeable, winsome Catholic nearby to answer questions well (a problem my friends will be spared). The “Catholic but” crowd has my full sympathy. Yet I cannot help feeling that they are being inconsistent.