Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
That it is high time to quit is the claim of an advertisement that appeared on p. A5 in last Tuesday’s Washington Post. An earlier missive along the same lines appeared in The New York Times on 9 March, and I will have to say that I heartily welcome the attacks mounted by the Freedom from Religion Foundation of Madison, Wisconsin—for they are designed to force the lukewarm to ponder what they really think, get off the fence, and take a stand. In this regard, they are doing for the Catholic Church in the United States what the hierarchy has shied away from doing for almost a half century.
“It’s your moment of truth,” the advertisement begins. “It’s time to quit the Roman Catholic Church. Will it be reproductive freedom, or back to the Dark Ages? Do you choose women and their rights, or Bishops and their wrongs: Whose side are you on? In light of the U. S. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ war against women’s right to contraception. . ."
- Why are you aiding and abetting a church that has repeatedly engaged in a crusade to ban contraception, abortion and sterilization, to deny the right of all women everywhere, Catholic or not, to decide whether and when to become mothers?
- Think of the acute misery, poverty, needless suffering, unwanted pregnancies, overpopulation, social evils and deaths that can be laid directly at the door of your church’s pernicious doctrine that birth control is a sin and must be outlawed.
- If you think you can change the church from within – get it to lighten up on birth control, gay rights, marriage equality, embryonic stem-cell research – you’re deluding yourself. By remaining a “good Catholic,” you are doing “bad” to women’s rights. You are an enabler. And it’s got to stop.
- It’s a disgrace that U. S. health care reform is being held hostage to your church’s irrational opposition to medically prescribed contraception. No political candidate should have to genuflect before the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. President Obama has compromised, but the Church never budges. Instead it is launching a ruthless political Inquisition in your name.
- Your church hysterically claims that secular medical policy is “an assault against religious liberty.” The louder the Church cries "offense against religious liberty” the hard it works to take away women’s liberty. Now your church has introduced into Congress a double-speak bill, the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act,” to allow dogma to trump the civil rights and private consciences of employees.
- The Church that hasn’t persuaded you to shun contraception now wants to use the forces of secular law to deny birth control to non-Catholics.
- You’re no better than your church, so why stay? Why put up with an institution that discriminates against half of humanity? Why send your children to parochial schools to be indoctrinated into the next generation of obedient donors and voters? Can’t you see how misplaced your loyalty is after two decades of sex scandals involving preying priests, church complicity, collusion and coverup going all the way to the top? Apparently, you’re like the battered woman who, after being beaten down every Sunday, feels she has no place else to go. There is a more welcoming home for you.
I realize that this reads like a parody of left-liberal feminist thought. I realize that it is full of misinformation, hysteria, and hyperbole. I promise you, however, that it is the real thing, and I am delighted to be able to report that the archdiocese of Washington in My Catholic Standard published on Friday a fierce response, which was circulated to everyone in the pews yesterday.
Thanks to Barack Obama, who is for conservatives a gift that keeps on giving, the liberals are doffing the genial mask they donned in the days of Bill Clinton and revealing themselves as what they are. And, instead of seeking to subvert Roman Catholicism from within in the manner of Mario Cuomo and Ted Kennedy, as they have been doing with great success for half a century, they are attacking it head on, forcing the American church to return to its fundamental principles, and inducing non-members sympathetic to its understanding of human sexuality to think about joining.
Those who call themselves Catholics must, indeed, make a choice. They must choose between the worldview that underpins this advertisement and the Catholic faith. It is a choice that the hierarchy should have pressed on them long ago. What a strange and awful world we live in! One in which the professed enemies of Roman Catholicism are unwittingly its firmest and most reliable friends. But, then again, you could say precisely the same thing about the Republican Party. Adversity can be a tonic.
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May '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
etoiledunord
Paul A. Rahe
Authentic churches tend to grow. · 29 minutes ago
Exactly. It's the liberal vultures that aren't happy with the Church attracting more traditionalists. They thought orthodoxy would be dead by now. · 1 minute ago
I remember a priest in The Netherlands calmly, even happily explaining to a group of parish volunteers that they would have to learn to perform all these functions, as we were moving toward a Church without priests.
He was plainly not happy with the turn events that toward the end of JP II's papacy, when more doctrinally sound and religiously devout men were being named bishops; Confessions started making a comeback; and the seminaries kept attracting new vocations.
I don't imagine we're done with the painful contraction though. I think it's going to get a lot worse and a lot harder before the renewal takes off.
May '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
I have a 40-something Italian priest friend who keeps reminding us: "We have to work toward it [the New Springtime], but we're not going to live to see it."
May '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
etoiledunord
Paul A. Rahe
Authentic churches tend to grow. · 29 minutes ago
Exactly. It's the liberal vultures that aren't happy with the Church attracting more traditionalists. They thought orthodoxy would be dead by now. · 1 minute ago
The common assumption that political conservative = orthodox believer and political liberal = unbeliever/heretic makes me uneasy. Anyone in the church can attest that this is often true and they are certainly concentric circles. But we need better words than "liberal" and "conservative" to describe the camps that have formed in the Church since modernity began it's assault on Christianity. And, we should allow political liberals to deal with whatever cognitive dissonance they have without asking them to intellectually wed the free market to the Nicene Creed.
Sep '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Can anyone point me to a site or book that discusses the progressive recipe for helping the poor? I've worked with kids from single parent homes and I just don't understand the mechanisms behind the progressive arguments. Looking at the problem of poverty - correlated so strongly with illegitimacy as it is - I can't see how poverty can be fought with anything other than Catholic-style morality if not Catholicism (or comparable Protestantism) itself.
Edited on May 14, 2012 at 9:16pmRe: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Kierkegaard7
etoiledunord
Paul A. Rahe
Authentic churches tend to grow. · 29 minutes ago
Exactly. It's the liberal vultures that aren't happy with the Church attracting more traditionalists. They thought orthodoxy would be dead by now. · 1 minute ago
The common assumption that political conservative = orthodox believer and political liberal = unbeliever/heretic makes me uneasy. Anyone in the church can attest that this is often true and they are certainly concentric circles. But we need better words than "liberal" and "conservative" to describe the camps that have formed in the Church since modernity began it's assault on Christianity. And, we should allow political liberals to deal with whatever cognitive dissonance they have without asking them to intellectually wed the free market to the Nicene Creed. · 21 minutes ago
I agree entirely. There is, however, this that serves as an insuperable obstacle for political liberals. As the conduct of Obama, Sebelius, and Pelosi (not to mention Clinton in the 1990s) makes clear, the sexual revolution is the beating heart of today's political liberalism.
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
K T Cat: Can anyone point me to a site or book that discusses the progressive recipe for helping the poor? I've worked with kids from single parent homes and I just don't understand the mechanisms behind the progressive arguments. Looking at the problem of poverty - correlated so strongly with illegitimacy as it is - I can't see how poverty can be fought with anything other than Catholic-style morality if not Catholicism (or comparable Protestantism) itself. · 10 minutes ago
Edited 9 minutes ago
You are right on the money with your question. In this time of super-abundance in the United States, the chief -- almost the sole -- cause of poverty is bastardy. If one cares at all about the poor, one must concern oneself with reversing the sexual revolution.
Mar '12
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
I believe that we are seeing some of the blossoms of the new evangelization already. The quality of our converts is amazing. We are getting battle hardened Protestant theologians and clergy who really desire to be sons of the Church, and are willing to give up everything to be here. We are getting the benefit of their training and wisdom.
The people we are losing may know why they are becoming something else (or nothing at all) but they don't know what they left. That lack of knowledge is one of the fruits of the "spirit" of Vatican II - wretched catechesis matched with clergy opposed to the Church's teachings.
I am a convert, who used scripture and Fr Hardon's Catholic Catechism to ferret out the truth. Thank you, Fr Hardon. I came into the Church when people were leaving, swimming against the tide as it were. Their loss, my gain. Now I contribute as I am able and watch virtue once again explode among us.
I have the privilege of being a Marine, so I am sure that quantity is not the only measure of what is to be desired. Quality is real important.
May '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
A brief Protestant Protestation (at the risk of alienating or boring non-believers with intramural disputes):
It is tempting to see the Roman church as the last bulwark of Christianity holding firm against the assaults of modernity. I have a handful of politically conservative Christian friends who have swum the Tiber for just that reason. JP2 and Ratzinger have been great, its true, while Protestantism has largely internalized Enlightenment arguments. In other words, Rome sometimes looks like a greener pasture for faithful believers- especially those who happen to be politically conservative as well.
However, were it not for the fortunate election of the aforementioned popes, there is a conceiveable counterfactual in which the Roman church in almost indistinguishable from the Episcopal church in 2012.
Not to nail 95 theses or relitigate the Reformation, but it is worth remembering that Rome believes some things that are downright preposterous. The pope is still selling indulgences. The Council of Trent's anathema's still pertain. In other words, because I believe that I am justified solely by Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, because I believe I was chosen by Christ before the foundations of the earth were laid, I am a heretic.
Jun '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Kierkegaard7: A brief Protestant Protestation (at the risk of alienating or boring non-believers with intramural disputes):
[...]
Not to nail 95 theses or relitigate the Reformation, but it is worth remembering that Rome believes some things that are downright preposterous. The pope is still selling indulgences. The Council of Trent's anathema's still pertain. In other words, because I believe that I am justified solely by Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, because I believe I was chosen by Christ before the foundations of the earth were laid, I am a heretic.
No money need change hands to receive an indulgence. It's the profiteering that was the ethical problem back in the Middle Ages. And very little of that profiteering was official. A lot of it was freelance. Everything that carries a spiritual "reward" would be a good thing to do anyway. The indulgence is there to indicate that what you're doing (to open yourself up to grace) really does matter--maybe this much...or maybe a little less...or maybe a little more, but it matters and God notices.
Dec '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Donald Todd: I believe that we are seeing some of the blossoms of the new evangelization already. The quality of our converts is amazing. We are getting battle hardened Protestant theologians and clergy who really desire to be sons of the Church, and are willing to give up everything to be here. We are getting the benefit of their training and wisdom.
... Their loss, my gain. Now I contribute as I am able and watch virtue once again explode among us.
I have the privilege of being a Marine, so I am sure that quantity is not the only measure of what is to be desired. Quality is real important. · 46 minutes ago
Welcome brother Donald -- to the Church and to Ricochet. It's very good to make your acquaintance.
Mar '12
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
WC,
Thank you. I have had the privilege of being Catholic for nearly 40 years now. I have stood up to my clergy when they were manifestly wrong, and refused to teach things which were contrary to Hardon's Catholic Catechism when told to do so. (It does not make for a long career in adult ed or CCD when crossing one's clergy. However I wasn't going to confession every week noting that I had lied to Catholics or people who were considering Catholicism. I chose the better portion, and they could not forbid me speaking outside their orbit.)
I saw Jesus on the cross and decided that if one needs to stand somewhere, that standing under that Construct would be the right place to stand.
God in His goodness has given me some very good teachers, some very Catholic teachers, some brilliant no-longer Protestant teachers, and I am open to learning.
I am still tasking my clergy and long for the day when they'll task me from the pulpit.
See you at Mass.
Cordially,
dt
May '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
The Church has had many close calls throughout its long history, hasn't it?
And yet, we also have good reason for believing that "the gates of hell will not prevail" against her. Not only because Jesus said it, but because there's just no human accounting for her making it through what she's been through--tattered, but intact. Still offering the liturgy of the hours and the sacrifice of the Mass; still raising up new saints; every day, throughout the world.
If you believe God's mercy is given gratuitously, then why should you have a problem with indulgences?
They remind me of the lack of proportion between God's saving power and my merits (they're the ultimate answer to the saved-by-works heresy), and of how much it delights Him to find ways of showering us with love and mercy.
Edited on May 14, 2012 at 10:58pmMay '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
PS I love Kierkegaard!
Feb '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
This Freedom from Religion group, if they were honest, would call themselves Freedom from Christianity, since that is all they concerned with. If they post ads like this for other world religions, then they can keep their name.
But they won't do that. Forget about them.
Aug '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Annie Laurie Gaylor needs attention. Please don't give it to her.
Sep '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Paul A. Rahe
K T Cat: Can anyone point me to a site or book that discusses the progressive recipe for helping the poor?
Edited 9 minutes ago
You are right on the money with your question. In this time of super-abundance in the United States, the chief -- almost the sole -- cause of poverty is bastardy. If one cares at all about the poor, one must concern oneself with reversing the sexual revolution. · 3 hours ago
Thanks for the kind words!
In the census data, I don't think the correlation is that big of a mystery, though I haven't done much research in the social sciences literature. Is there a secular, liberal plan to deal with the problem? It seems to me that the progressives have simply punted on the concept of a solution and instead simply want to spend more money, money being symbolic of caring.
Edited on May 15, 2012 at 12:46amMay '10
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Exactly what one should expect from my old stomping grounds of Moscow on Mendota...
May '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Paul A. Rahe
Authentic churches tend to grow. · 6 hours ago
I hope so. My traditional parish in West Philadelphia (Latin mass/orthodoxy) is growing like gangbusters and most of the ladies have 5 or so children.
Feb '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
Kierkegaard7:
Not to nail 95 theses or relitigate the Reformation, but it is worth remembering that Rome believes some things that are downright preposterous. The pope is still selling indulgences. The Council of Trent's anathema's still pertain. In other words, because I believe that I am justified solely by Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, because I believe I was chosen by Christ before the foundations of the earth were laid, I am a heretic. · 5 hours ago
Kierkegaard7 -- Did you read the article to which you linked? It explicitly states that the indulgences are not "sold." Instead, the sacrament of confession and exculpatory acts are required. See here. The Church has offered indulgences for centuries. More here.
Feel free to think whatever you like, but please at least report accurately.
Feb '11
Re: Is It Time to Quit the Roman Catholic Church -- or to Join?
I must interject what is, to me, an important point. The Catholic Church is not properly called the Roman Catholic Church. There exists no such entity, although it is a common mistake to make.
The bishop of Rome is the successor of St. Peter, and the universal Church follows many Roman feasts, such as the dedication of the basilica of St. John Lateran, but although the Church has been called Catholic since at least the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch in about 110, when he used the term in a letter, the Church does not call herself Roman Catholic, just Catholic. More about the history of the term Catholic Church here, from the early 20th century Catholic Encyclopedia.
If you read the last link, you will see a brief synopsis of the history of the term "Roman" -- it appears to have arisen mostly as a term of derision by Anglicans who scorned Roman or Romish or Popish behaviors or beliefs.
Edited on May 15, 2012 at 4:53am