Simone Weil

Born: February 3, 1909

Died: August 24, 1943

For anyone who has ever felt unsure about their feelings for the institutional church, Weil’s complicated relationship with Catholicism and her refusal of baptism will resonate. Her reasoning is thoughtful and detailed, both political and personal. The reason for Weil’s refusal of baptism that most stands out to me is perhaps the simplest: She didn’t love the church. “I love God, Christ, and the Catholic faith,” Weil writes. “I love the saints through their writings. . . . I love the six or seven Catholics of genuine spirituality whom chance has led me to meet in the course of my life. I love the Catholic liturgy, hymns, architecture, rites, and ceremonies. But I have not the slightest love for the Church in the strict sense of the word, apart from its relation to all these things that I do love.” This encourages me, someone who remains on the inside of the tradition out of love for aspects of it (the very ones that Weil mentions) but experiences frequent discomfort with and disapproval of “the church” itself. Weil reminds me that these diametrical feelings can exist within one person at one moment.

–Teresa Coda