My friend Gaurav Shroff is in the news, talking about how Gregorian Chant brought him to Christ. We had a great time wandering around Green Lake with our mutual pal Alex Edezhath and then going to an uber-high Dominican Rite Latin Mass at Blessed Sacrament (my home parish) here in Seattle a couple of summers ago. The guy is absolutely terrific!
As I read about Gaurav’s story, I realize again that one of the many reasons that the whole “the Catholic Church cannot survive the Scandal” thing is so utterly out of touch with reality is the fact that journalists, being primarily attuned to politics, tend to think of the Church in political terms. So the notion seems to be that people become converts because they say to themselves, “Wow! Bishops! I’m becoming Catholic because of their enormous holiness and personal charisma! My faith is caused by—and stands or falls with—the personal sanctity and holiness of my bishop!”
In reality, I’ve never met a living soul who became a Catholic because of their attraction to the magnetic personal holiness of their bishop. My own bishop seems to be a good guy. But I don’t know him from Adam and he could not pick my face out of a crowd if his life depended on it. On a day-to-day basis, he has as much impact on me personally as the mayor of Menomenee. And when I was in the process of converting, I gave my local bishop scarcely a thought.
To be sure, there was great veneration for JPII, one of the most personally charismatic men to ever sit on the Chair of Peter. And I do know of people who were moved to become Catholic by, among other things, the spectacle of his funeral. But even in his case, what you are generally looking at is people who, for an enormous variety of intensely personal reasons having nothing to do with the Pope or the bishops, found themselves deeply attracted to *Jesus Christ*, present in the Catholic communion. The moving spectacle of the funeral was not so much the cause of the Faith (that’s the Holy Spirit’s job) but rather the pebble that finally touched off the avalanche. In short, people become Catholic for a colossal variety of reasons and they stay Catholic for a colossal variety of reasons. Gaurav became Catholic because he experienced God as The Beautiful in the Church’s musical tradition. Other people become Catholic because of mystical experiences, or a great-aunt whose life was inexplicable apart from daily Mass, or because they simply became convinced that it is the Church Christ founded, whatever the bishop of the diocese may be doing, whether doofus or hero. So while the Scandal certainly does impact those who, thanks to the ministrations of journalists, have not the foggiest idea what it is they are rejecting, it is simply not the case that the Scandal is going to “destroy the Church”. Millions will go on being Catholic, because their faith was never in the personal holiness of bishops or priests to begin with. It’s in Christ, as it should be.
Comments
Post a Comment
I live on the West coast of Ireland beside the Atlantic. We swim in the sea year around, a group of us. It cleanses the mind anyway. I rejoice in al God’s creation, because I try to see it through the eyes of Christ. Everything makes sense when seen through the eyes of Christ. God has gifted me with the priesthood. I did not ask for it. I could never have earned such a privilege. As Pope Benedict insists the centre of everything is the Eucharist and Confession. This is the only reason for being a priest. Every morning I can call God down from heaven. Any time anyone comes looking for forgiveness, in Christ’s name, never my own, I can absolve them. The reality of Jesus present in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments is the reason why the Church will survive to the end of time. And into the next world too!!
“My faith is caused by—and stands or falls with—the personal sanctity and holiness of my bishop!”
You would think people would understand that this is not only a dumb position to have, but is historically invalid. If the Church at ANY point had relied on the holiness of Her bishops, She would never have lasted even 100 years after:
So many acted like hedonists during the Renaissance.
So many fell into the Aryan heresy.
After ALL the original bishops deserted Jesus after one of their number sold him out, and the head bishop even denied he even knew him.
That’s why I pray for the Church, but I don’t worry. The Church is not based on the sanctity of her members, but on the One who keeps His promises.
It’s curious that the media treats of the Catholic Church in political terms. Meanwhile, it treats Islam in religious terms. To understand Catholicism and Islam the perspectives should the reversed. Islam becomes understandable when viewed in political terms. The Church is understandable only in religious terms.
“And the gates of Hell, shall not prevails against it”
Viva Pope Benedict XVI!
Viva ALL devoted Clergy!
VIVA THE Church of St. Peter!
Thanks for that great perspective. I must say for most of us practicing Catholics, we are very able to separate the sinners in the Church from the Church itself. Keep up the great work.
The media also “Protestantizes” the Catholic Church. Most non-Catholic (and some Catholic) folks I know choose their church (parish) based on the charisma and preaching ability of the minister/priest. When the minister/priest does something they don’t like, they change churches.
Personality is peripheral in our faith. Priests, Bishops, Popes — good and bad — come and go but the fundamental tenets of the faith, the sacraments, etc., remain, timeless.
It’s a beautiful thing but so many just don’t get it.
Thanks, Mark! Great piece, as usual.
Not only to have the gift of faith, but to be chosen by HIM to be a catholic! One of about 16-17% of the people in the world! To belong to a parish with extremely reverent priests! As Father Macken in the 1st response
said, I didn’t earn this, all was HIS gift to me. Many times during the week I ask the Holy Virgin, ” why is HE
so kind to me? “-Or to HIM I ask,” who are YOU?”
Dear Fr. Macken,
Your comments re the Church’s Death are so poignant. Especially, “Every morning I can call God down from heaven” etc.
That is why I love to attend early morning Mass, it sets up my day and strengthens me.
May God continue to always come down to all of us.
Thank you,
People will always let you down. Even my spouse, beautiful and virtuous as she tries to be, will disappoint me sometimes; and I know that sometimes I have disappointed her. But Jesus never lets me down. If this is true in my family, how much more so in the Church as an entity, with a wide variety of persons, all subject to temptation and failures of various kinds. May God continue to forgive our sins, and lead us to follow HIM despite the failings of some of His appointed clergy. __TeaPot562
I left the Church for 30 years, in part because I was stupid enough not to realize that the Spirit of Vatican II (still embraced by many in the Church) was not the Catholic Church. By the grace of God I came back about 12 years ago, something I have never regreted. I am a Catholic because I know that I can find in the Church the fullness of revelation and means of salvation.
It might also be a good thing to clean out those who are only church goers as a culture and those with evil potential from the Church..
Fr. Macken - This has to be a difficult time to be a priest in Ireland. I will pray for you in a special way at Mass this weekend.
How many people thought of global warming at the advent of industrial revolution? In the same vein, only few are thinking of the result of reducing human to mere matter as it is in the world of secularism today. Let those who have faith pray, because the spiritual aspect of human will surely help us ‘home’ one day.
Interestingly, although it is clergy that have scandalised the Church recently, She Herself is spotless in the whole affair: Her tenets of the Faith are all opposed to all such iniquities.
Not so for other communions. Many have adopted as articles of faith some of those very crimes our clergy have been found guilty of i.e. homosexuality. I suspect they have already signed their own death warrants as a result - those churches that is.
To the Adversary: “His pride is greater than his strength”.
It’s wishful thinking. Many years ago, I was an atheist and deeply secular in my thinking. Fortunately, for me, I’d gone to a Catholic university and received, if I do say so myself, a rigorous education in logic. Then I got a job working for the Catholic Church. In my secularist mindset, the thinking goes something like this: “Jesus ruined everything, as great a guy as he was. He’s left us with a threat that unless we become a Christian, we will suffer an eternal damnation that can neither be proven or disproven. If you remove that threat, we could truly live free lives here on Earth—we could eat, drink and be merry, and leave when we want, and not have to worry that our actions have eternal consequences. The Church, with its stubborn persistence in existing and witnessing to Christ’s teachings, perpetuates the very thing we need to get rid of—fear of Hell. Then we could be free.”
It was strange that I was working for the Church at the time, who I considered to be the enemy, but I felt I had no choice. One day, I realized that my hatred of the Church seemed to be a little excessive ... I was taking things a little too personally. The hatred seemed to be spiritual in nature. I thought to myself, “OK, well, if these folks want to believe this, why can’t they do that? But this hatred of the Church is just plain strange, insanely out of proportion—and I’m not even sure where this hatred is coming from.” I began to wonder if the hatred had a supernatural source, and not a good source. Which led to questions ...
Anyway, all this is to say, when people proclaim the death of the Church, it’s wishful thinking ... but thinking that, I believe, is not entirely their own. We should pray for them and love them, because they have been deceived. Cooperated in the deception, yes, but there’s no joy in that. I pray all would receive Christ in His Church with joy.
Thanks for this article, which reaffirms my perspective exactly. I now limit my exposure to the many “recovering Catholics” here in the Northeast, because they seem to follow a script about the failings of the Church, which i guess they have a right to. But it never rings true to me and when I have an overdose, their hatred gives me a headache. I always think—“What about Christ? Isn’t He the point? Didn’t you hear any of that?”
The temporal world will always disappoint us. People will sin. They will do evil things…and I include myself in that. But Christ and the communion of saints are always with us. they bring us joy. Dare I say it? We’re lucky to be Catholic.
The Church is about somthing much stronger than the world. It is about the Love, Mercy, and Absolute Pure Goodness of Jesus Christ, as has been pointed out in this post already. The Mystery of Our Lord who knows and loves each of us. His Passion calls out to us constantly across the ages, and will never be extinguished.
“Bless are they who have not seen, and yet still believe”.
Below, may be a reflection that captures this Love in a slight manner as an example, but would this not be in the character of Blessed Our Lord if it had occurred in reality?
“How often do we wonder what God’s love is? What it should feel like? What does it mean when we hear that God loves each of us more than we can ever imagine?
Reflect upon Our Lord immediately after His Scourging. Left unattended for a few scant seconds or minutes sitting disoriented at the base of the pillar after being beaten so severely for a long period. Imagine if you will that each of us is allowed to witness this spiritually in horror and feel the sadness. It’s all we can think about to bow down on our knees in homage before Him, there are no words. Our heads face down on the ground in front of Him, with our arms also extended on the ground at His Feet.
He is exhausted, battered, beaten, bleeding, naked, probably can’t even see straight because of The Blood Loss now at His Feet. Unimaginable Pain, Thirst and Loneliness. While kneeling in front of Him in homage, I try to sneak a peek up to see how He is doing.
Suddenly, He slowly lifts up His Shaking Head, recognizes me, and knows all the terrible ugliness of all the horrible mortal and venial sins on my soul. My head immediately bolts back to the ground in terrible shame and fear.
In His terrible agony, His eyes become rejuvenated and He desperately tries to reach out to Bless me. His goal only to touch my head gently, to welcome and thank me for simply being there, for my small gesture.
In spite of the terrible pain He has suffered and will continue to suffer, nothing is more important to Him in this moment than to reach out with love. To one of His lost sheep that hasn’t even been born yet.
He does not make it far when He is roughly pulled up and led away. He turns back as He is being roughly escorted away and looks at me. His look is one of being completely horrified and filled with Sorrow and Concern that He has to leave. The physical torture that will occur over and over to Him in the next few hours seems of little concern compared to His Sorrow and Anxiety for having to leave one soul unattended at that moment..
An example of one soul, and yet it applies to each of us who have ever lived.
He is always vigilant and ready to reach out to us, to our dying moment, and His.
Robert correctly points out that most of the protestants choose their church based on the better prescher, better atmosphere better music etc. This kind of thinking seems to be pervading the minds of the catholics too. What relevance has these things with one’s faith in Jesus and his teachings ?Why should we see the character of our priests and bishops or their ability to give good sermon to stick to our faith and save our souls ? The Catholic Church was founded on solid rock and it will not fall by any wind. Why ? Because it holds on to its stool of faith in Jesus and His teachings for ever. Individulal mistakes and sins do not matter She has the compassion for sinners calling them to repent and be saved
People just do not understand the proper way to think about religion. What is the only criteria when it comes to matters of religion? It is truth, and only truth. Without it, nothing else matters. The masses are either apathetic, misguided, misinformed, antagonistic, mired in sin, or do not use logic and reason, which when properly used leads one to the Catholic faith. Not reason as hijacked by the agnostics and atheists, which is really a false use of reason, since they analyze religion scientifically rather than philosophically, with all sorts of cognitive biases. Catholicism should be approached with open-mindedness (another hijacked term), humility, docility, and particularly important, good character.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.