What, among the thousands of denominations which claim Christ as Lord and Savior, should attract someone to the Catholic Church?
Our founder gives a simple but thought-compelling example (which others in our community have elaborated upon):
Let’s take a car. It has four wheels; all (truly) Christian denominations accept the four Gospels in their entirety. So far, so good.
But without a steering wheel (the leadership of the Pope), it goes off on its own – and can end up in a thousand different and dangerous places.
Without fuel (the Eucharist – that ‘true food’ and ‘true drink’ (John 6:64-65) which is to our souls what gas is to a car), it can't get all the way to its destination.
Without windshield wipers (Confession!), you soon can’t see clearly enough to drive.
And so on and so forth. The analogy, of course, is limited, but serves to help one consider: so much of what the other denominations have is good…
It’s just not enough.
Those who want the fulness – of the Truth, of a personal relationship with the Incarnate and Eucharistic Christ, of the means of salvation (cf. UR, below) – will only find it in that Church which was founded by Christ Himself on the rock of his vicar on earth (cf. Matt 16:18).
“Nevertheless, our separated brethren…are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again into one body...that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim. For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is ‘the all-embracing means of salvation,’ that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation.” (Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 2)
Further Resources:
Convert and cardinal St. John Henry Newman famously said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant” (“An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,” Introduction). If you want to go deeper into the historical roots of the Christian faith and see just how far back the key teachings of the Catholic Church really go, this website has a fantastic collection of the writings of some of the earliest Christians : https://www.churchfathers.org/.
The timeline in the opening picture was developed in the pfsgm community, thanks especially to Friar Antonio, Friar Nathaniel, and as always Friar Volantino.