I don't think this is the big problem confronting the Catholic Church today:
Instead, it's that most Catholics don't believe basics of the Catholic Faith, and a significant majority don't even pretend to care what the Church teaches about morals and actual living. In almost any survey of religious traditions and beliefs, Catholics hover near last when it comes to fealty to their own tradition's doctrines and values.
This is likely a big reason that many orders and the clergy in general are struggling. Give up a life of worldly pleasures for a Church that acts like it believes you can get a train to Hogwarts more than it does the teachings of the Faith? I don't think so. Not to mention that 'former Catholic' feels like one of the fastest growing Christian traditions in the world. If Pope Francis looks at this and concludes the big problem is Catholics striving for righteousness and seeking to follow Church teaching, then that probably explains a lot.
Some have said that Pope Francis is the pope the modern Church deserves. I can't speak to that. But based on his priorities and the general faith walk of a majority of Catholics, I'd say he's the pope the modern Church has desperately wanted.
(Tom New Poster)
ReplyDeleteNo "custom house", eh? There's actually a lot of passport control imagery in the Gospels and even in the words of Our Lord.
How about "Enter through the narrow gate"?
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins?
The man turned away for not having a wedding garment?
The "eye of a needle"?
The separation of sheep and goats?
And what are the Keys of the Kingdom for if not to control some Door?
Sorry, Father, Heaven will NOT have an open border policy!
So often today the Church is functionally universalist, even if it doesn't claim such a doctrine officially.
DeleteThe problem isn't the righteous, the people with lives in order and those properly married that is the problem. No one is keeping anybody out of the Church. The problem is that there are those in the Church who do not want to repent of their sins, they want to continue living a life that is contrary to Church teaching and are trying to replace Church doctrine with their own in order to justify their sinful life without out repentance within the Church and teaching others to do the same. Everyone in the Church is a sinner but there are those who have no desire to change and corrupt the Church.
ReplyDeleteWe are a Church of both wheat and weeds. The weeds will remain until the time is ripe and then will be burned while the wheat will be gathered. Woe to those who allow themselves to be choked by the weeds.
ReplyDeleteThat's a common misunderstanding of the Weeds parable. The field of the parable represents the whole world, not the church. The parable is not about the internal situation of the church, but rather is about the situation of the church in the world, surrounded by enemies but looking forward to a day of vindication.
DeleteWhen that was the text a week or so ago, I noticed almost everyone emphasized 'be patient'. Even our bishop - who I greatly admire - left it there. But we need to remember that in the final harvest, the goal is not to become the weeds, and encourage as many to join the wheat. I feared, listening that week, that all everyone wanted to say was 'be patient, don't, you know, push people about with all this Gospel message stuff, just let it be.'
ReplyDeleteWasn't it just 2 or 3 years ago when we were told not to evangelize or to try to convert people to the Catholic Church? Were not the apostles told "Go and make disciples of all the baptize them in my Name." ? What ever happened to the original mission of the Church?
DeleteHeck, it was about 2 or 3 days ago that Pope Francis went off on a tirade about proselytism being all but a grave sin against ecumenism. I get that the unspoken impression when he says that means the worst form of trying to convert people like Piper Lori in Carrie. But he doesn't unpack in detail just what he means, and you can't fault people for concluding he means it's more important to be ecumenical, leaving people where they are, then trying to convert them. Which then means to most people that clearly faith in the Gospel, while pleasant and even beneficial in some ways, is hardly the most important thing in the world.
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