Catholic Matters by Richard John Neuhaus

If you have not read "Catholic Matters" by Fr. Richard John Neuhas, I highly recommend it. The book is his personal reflection on why he became Catholic (from Lutheranism) and on the Truth contained in the faith. One short snippet on page 42 describing his childhood and the comparison with the Catholic Church:

St. John's (the church of his Lutheran Pastor father) had a high altar, as did the other Lutheran churches I knew. As did the Catholic cathedral. On the few occasions I ventured to peek into the cathedral, however, I saw there were also statues of saints, and flickering votive lights, and, most impressively, the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle above the high altar. When the people were not present for Sunday morning service, St. John's was behind its locked doors an empty auditorium awaiting its next use. But the cathedral was sacred space. Its doors were always open and, scattered about in what seemed to me the vast and darkened space, there were a few people praying and saying the rosary. They and what they were doing did not make the space sacred. They were drawn to a space made sacred by an other, by Another. There one was encountered by a Presence not of our pious creation. It was objective, it was given, it was real. It did not need or require anybody's agreement in order to be. Ex opere operato.