The True Church

I'm at a point in my life where it's natural to take time for reflection -- yes, I'm hitting 50 this week -- and I'm taking some time to write out my thoughts about the Church herself.

It seems to me, in my limited experience of Holy Mother Church, that she is less clearly defined and the subject of more amorphous anger than ever before in her history. And I think the two are closely related.

Since the time that 'Christendom' became coterminous with 'the state,' there has been a gradual erosion of the particular identity of the Bride of Christ. She has either been identifiable with the ruling power or has been the oppressed enemy of the state. But since the time of the apostles, it seems, she has not been "in the world but not of the world."

The early Church was led by men unafraid of their minority status. While confidently preaching the Gospel to all nations, they were quite aware that some would refuse to accept Christ's unambiguous teaching. And those preaching the Gospel themselves were unafraid of the consequences of the Truth; indeed, many desired martyrdom as a means of closer identification with the Lamb Himself.

How different we've become! Our leaders are timid men now. Seminaries have routinely rejected men who are too 'manly' in favor of gentle, effeminate personalities, and the priesthood and the episcopacy mirror this selection process. Gone are the days when the parish priest would play hoops or baseball with the CYO kids, or strap on the skates and dish out a good check or two on the frozen pond in winter.

Gone, too, are the days when priests even mention the hard realities of life -- sin, damnation, chastity -- and (mirabile dictu!) bishops are no different. When confronted with a hard choice, bishops invariably take the path of least resistance. If one is not finally accountable to God, that's the path one takes!

I think the greatest fear that modern bishops have is of a small (remnant) Church. American bishops particularly, accustomed as they are to large dioceses and expansive flocks, are loathe to take public positions that might cause fringe adherents to dislodge themselves from the flock. If the bishops of the USCCB took stronger stands on, say, abortion, birth control, chastity, homosexuality, and true worship, I suspect that there would be tremendous outcry from both secularists (who, oddly, think that their opinions should be the arbiter of Church polity) and from fringe members of our Communion. In the end, it's inertia that prevents them from moving decisively.

As I turn into an old man almost overnight, I'm praying more and more each day for a small Church. Not that I don't want (fervently desire!) the salvation of all. I do. But a good persecution, a good fat-trimming, a good blood-letting, a good smelting and refining would work wonders for us I think. We could finally get back to the business of saving souls and helping to witness to the Truth, rather than pandering to its opposite.

God bless, everybody.