Why need Faith?
Faith is one of the most important parts of Catholic Teaching. In fact, much of Catholic theology is based on faith. We see many Biblical references to the clash between faith and reason, such as when God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac on the mountaintop. In this example, the contrast between faith and reason is clear- should we follow what we think to be God's words, which might tell us to kill; or should we follow the Ten Commandments and not kill? The Bible makes it pretty clear which one is the victor in this situation. Abraham decides to choose for faith, and just about as he is going to plunge the blade in Isaac's heart, God tells Abraham to stop. This dilemma gives a clear-cut reason why we should consider faith at all, because it is based in the Bible.
The second reason why we should use faith is because when you think about it, there is no way to 100% tell if God exists or not until after death. This means what we should use our faith, and believe in something that our reason cannot access for certain, in order to consider following God's commandments at all.
The third reason why we need faith is to believe in the teachings of the Church that might not make too much sense. The most clear teaching of the Church that confuses many people is the concept of the Holy Trinity, that there are three Persons but all part of the same substance.
Does this mean we shouldn't use reason?
Absolutely not! Reason is something essential to our Catholic Faith because, like faith, we can use it to reason about the existence of God, the validity of the Sacraments, Church Teachings (and so on). To completely discard reason would be to completely disregard the fact that God created us with intelligence, and free will, which is not right.
So, what should we do?
We should find the right balance between faith and reason. Catholicism is not just a bunch of random beliefs, it is a religion dedicated to central teachings which are aided by our use of both faith and reason.
-atohme
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