Church Shopping (1)

I was baptized a Catholic when I was three days old and have been a loyal member of the Church all my life. Recent events have made me ask “Why?” but I am still here.  I have a number of good friends who are committed Christians who have switched their allegiance from one denomination to another over the years

I recently found myself involved in several discussions about why people choose to join a particular church or denomination. In all of them at least one participant was a “former Catholic” who had left the Church for some reason.  (10% of most non-Catholic church members are "former" Catholics), Since surveys show that about 28% of parochial school graduates leave the Catholic Church as adults and that 50% of these join another denomination,  their reasons interest me.

Responses may be indicative of a denomination's liturgy, ecclesiology or rule of faith. Some stress the source of doctrinal orthodoxy, the nature of authority in the church, the style of liturgical celebration, the quality of preaching, the sacramental system or the nature of clerical leadership. The role of women in church ministry is an issue in today’s society. Some focus on the personality of the pastor or the friendliness of the church community. Other churches stress a community outreach to serve those in need while still others are primarily seeking to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Programs which serve children often have significant effect either through a church school or a religious education program. Generally all of these factors are involved to some degree.

For me Church is a committed community sharing the same vision of the Gospel, who come together to celebrate Christ’s gift of Himself and to live out His message in the world. It is an experience of His presence in the community and once shared is never totally lost.
All these are positive factors in attracting new members but some  negative issues may drive long-time Catholics to leave the Church. Pedestrian liturgy, poor preaching, inadequate or dishonest responses to moral or financial scandals on the local level, insensitive and autocratic decisions by church officials and a reactionary clericalism and return to the pre-Vatican II style church at all levels have led many to say “I have had it”. In some areas, such as Philadelphia or Cleveland today, very public scandals make it embarrassing to say you are a Catholic.

 (To be continued)

Don’t Miss the Trees in the Forest!

There's been a lot of negative publicity about the Catholic hierarchy recently: financial problems with the Vatican Bank, leaking of confidential information linked to accusations of a power struggle and corruption among leaders of the Church, a well-founded perception of sexism in the appointment of an Archbishop to take charge of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (the umbrella group for most orders of nuns) in America, which seemed to be a grab for control of their activities and finances.

Parishes and schools are being closed in some major cities in the north-east and a three month-long trial of a senior pastor in Philadelphia on charges of covering-up child abuse by priests over several decades is ending. Here the jury must assign the responsibility to the priest or to his boss, the now deceased Cardinal-Archbishop.

All of this is nasty news and it has damaged the image and the credibility of the Catholic Church immensely. Even though most of it is occurring far from Orlando, it still deeply concerns most Catholics. The Church is not just the

Vocations to the Priesthood - Part V (Conclusion)

What is a priest?

The role of the priest is described by Christ as the good shepherd, the one who leads and guides the flock. He was also the mediator between God and man, described by Paul (Heb.5:1) as "taken from among men and made their representative before God." Vatican II echoes this same ambivalence about the priests’ role when it writes in the Constitution on the Church : "They are consecrated in order to preach the gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the New Testament."

While the two roles are not exclusive, we tend to emphasize one or other and the functions associated with them: preaching, teaching, administration, presiding at or leading the liturgical celebrations, sanctifying and administering the sacraments. One or other role dominates in the life achievements of most priests, though some can balance both roles remarkably well.

In the traditional role of the pre-1960 priest: he administered the parish, counseled the parishioners, celebrated the mass and sacramental activities of the parish and directed all that went on in the

Election Issues

                                                       Election Issues

The presidential race has been clarified finally by the withdrawal of Ron Paul from the Republican race. So now things get serious. Up to this candidates at least paid lip service to the old principle that you don't soil your own nest, though it seems to have been mainly lip service.

 A few younger politicians actually seem to have tried to discuss issues rather than personalities and hopefully this will benefit them in the long run.  Jimmy Carter was elected president because people saw him  as honest and moral. They eventually get tired of scandal and sleaze in high offuce and

Why Catholic

                                              Why am I still a Catholic?

I blogged the other  day about my concerns with the negative publicity the Church hierarchy is attracting recently, about rigid  responses to nuns, priests and laity and cover-ups by bishops which are clearly dishonest. 

After one has spent pages detailing the failures of Church leaders to live up to the ideals of Christianity, it is necessary to say why I am still Catholic. Every day I run across people who ask “why are you still a Catholic?” The simple answer is Peter’s: “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life!” But those words are increasingly difficult to distinguish in all the clamor and debate today.

As one realizes that the Church only gives us the principles but we must make our own decisions as to their application, right and wrong are no longer simple obedience to another human, be they bishop or pope. Before God

The Irish Church

The Church in Ireland

I have not written much  here lately as I have been writing about the crisis I see developimg in the Church in recent months. We have reactionary responses by bishops to their flocks, a clamp-down by Rome on women religious and the silencing of priests in Ireland for daring to question the edicts of curial big-wigs in the Vatican. All of these are in contraventiom of Vatican II but probably sweet music to the members of  the Society of St. Pius X.

But today's news is a different story. It comes from "Holy Ireland", the land of traditional orthodoxy, where when Rome said "Jump", they asked "How high?" A few daring priests asked "Why?" and decided to meet to discuss a response.  They felt there would be few willing to speak up, at most  they hoped for 100/200. They finished with over 1000, not just priests but lay Catholics, men and (whisper it) even women who felt they too were Church and had a voice. These people had read the Documents of Vatican II, had read the Bible and used their God-given brains under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to understand them.They seem to think that Christ told His Apostles at the Last Supper t6hat they were to serve the Church, not to rule it.

What has the world come to?

Stand by for further bulletins.

The Servant Church

My favorite writers on the Church are Adrian Dulles and Edmund Schillebeeckx, neither of whom were notable liberals. Both have significantly influenced my concept of the Church as well as that expressed by the Bishops at Vatican II, Dulles in delineating various models of Church, Schillebeeckx in forming my vision of the Church as the Body of Christ who acts and speaks through it in the world today. Richard P. McBrien’s “The Church” is probably the best and most readable book on the subject in fifty years. When I started to formulate my vision for the Church of the future, not the heavenly New Jerusalem, but the church down and dirty in its members, I tried to put that vision in words in the context of the world today. I think it is the same vision as that expressed by Vatican II in the document De Ecclesia (About the Church).

My vision harks back to the early church we find in the Acts of the Apostles. It is the church described by Paul who wrote, “Have that mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross”. (Phil 2:5-8). It is the church of the ghetto and