LJI Exhibit A - Week 2 - There is no hurry.
I most likely don’t have to explain to my readers the primary issues presenting themselves to the Catholic Church, especially where they interact with the outside world. Certainly there are plenty of problems internally, but many of them affect people who are not Catholic nor have been in the past. I’m writing this as a non-Catholic with two kids in a Catholic school and a spouse who was raised Catholic (we are now members of a UCC congregation). My personal experiences lead me to say the shaming of the RCC and all of its parishioners because of a few cranky old men is a travesty.
Now please don’t get me wrong - I don’t support a number of these social positions. The Church would be radically different if it accepted women as clergy and queers as normal. But there are reasons they don’t, and it largely comes down to what Catholic means.
I think people fail to understand that the RCC is truly a global church. While many people understand that the word “catholic” means universal, it also by tradition means that decisions made by its leadership about what the church believes are not regional. Needless to say individual Catholics will often make value judgments not similar to the “official” stance. However when the Church proclaims something, it must speak to the condition of Catholics around the world, transcending political and cultural differences.
The sad fact of the matter is where these two issues I mention are concerned much of the world is not prepared to handle it as their default. The RCC cannot declare certain moral truths to be truth in one place and not in another. While they generally do not operate on these lines, what appeases one group may very well offend another, and this is one of many reasons why they move so slowly. They have to. Imagine writing Constitutional amendments, with all of the due diligence that requires, except for over one billion people on all seven continents. They should not move at the pace of culture.
There is an oft-disputed but generally accepted in the United States concept that the “mortal sins” specified in the catechisms can be interpreted on a personal level, and that one can remain in full communion even if breaking the official rules if they prayerfully believe they are not in such a state. The RCC balances Scripture and Tradition in the creation of its liturgy, meaning this tradition can evolve over time, and this is one such evolution. At the same time we may very well come up with better ways of expressing what weakens our relationship with God, and those may become moral sins before the Church proper recognizes it.
A particular point not up for debate is the sheer quantity of benevolent work done by many people who completely disregard the faith and religion of the person receiving the charity. I’ve heard this described as “I don’t do this because of what you are, I do this because God is.” As with any group, there will be those who don’t hold up the ideals, and in an organized religion with the sheer number of adherents of various degrees of devotion, it might be more noticeable when people don’t measure up.
So I am as upset as a lot of people that women are not seen as able to be peers to men in the opinions of a bunch of old guys, and that said old guys like to prescribe sexual morality while not having had an honest jerking off in decades. But no matter what they may have to say on anything, it is really God and the body of Christ, defined as those who believe, that speak for the RCC. If the message of those who are doing the work is we care for people because we care for people, and we aid the oppressed worker being denied their fair wages, they are doing as the Big J said to do.
There’s a sign in our church that says “Hands who help are more holy than lips that pray.” All those who have taken Holy Orders should keep these words close to them, as so many women religious have done over the centuries.
Now please don’t get me wrong - I don’t support a number of these social positions. The Church would be radically different if it accepted women as clergy and queers as normal. But there are reasons they don’t, and it largely comes down to what Catholic means.
I think people fail to understand that the RCC is truly a global church. While many people understand that the word “catholic” means universal, it also by tradition means that decisions made by its leadership about what the church believes are not regional. Needless to say individual Catholics will often make value judgments not similar to the “official” stance. However when the Church proclaims something, it must speak to the condition of Catholics around the world, transcending political and cultural differences.
The sad fact of the matter is where these two issues I mention are concerned much of the world is not prepared to handle it as their default. The RCC cannot declare certain moral truths to be truth in one place and not in another. While they generally do not operate on these lines, what appeases one group may very well offend another, and this is one of many reasons why they move so slowly. They have to. Imagine writing Constitutional amendments, with all of the due diligence that requires, except for over one billion people on all seven continents. They should not move at the pace of culture.
There is an oft-disputed but generally accepted in the United States concept that the “mortal sins” specified in the catechisms can be interpreted on a personal level, and that one can remain in full communion even if breaking the official rules if they prayerfully believe they are not in such a state. The RCC balances Scripture and Tradition in the creation of its liturgy, meaning this tradition can evolve over time, and this is one such evolution. At the same time we may very well come up with better ways of expressing what weakens our relationship with God, and those may become moral sins before the Church proper recognizes it.
A particular point not up for debate is the sheer quantity of benevolent work done by many people who completely disregard the faith and religion of the person receiving the charity. I’ve heard this described as “I don’t do this because of what you are, I do this because God is.” As with any group, there will be those who don’t hold up the ideals, and in an organized religion with the sheer number of adherents of various degrees of devotion, it might be more noticeable when people don’t measure up.
So I am as upset as a lot of people that women are not seen as able to be peers to men in the opinions of a bunch of old guys, and that said old guys like to prescribe sexual morality while not having had an honest jerking off in decades. But no matter what they may have to say on anything, it is really God and the body of Christ, defined as those who believe, that speak for the RCC. If the message of those who are doing the work is we care for people because we care for people, and we aid the oppressed worker being denied their fair wages, they are doing as the Big J said to do.
There’s a sign in our church that says “Hands who help are more holy than lips that pray.” All those who have taken Holy Orders should keep these words close to them, as so many women religious have done over the centuries.