We Are Church

A friend emailed me a link to a newspaper article critical of the Church’s handling of the sexual abuse crisis. Another one. “See,” he said, “the truth is coming out. If they would have come forth immediately, this wouldn’t have been so bad.” Perhaps.

It took only a single Google search, on the article’s author, to find the many other “news” articles the woman had written about the Catholic Church. All were critical, heavily quoting from dissenters within and without the Church. If there were a quote explaining a teaching, or rebutting others’ opinions, it was deep in the article. And, there were also articles about her articles, pointing out factual errors or omissions in her reported “news.”

Why are so many so quick to criticize the Church? There are many reasons, but one that stands out in my mind is the misunderstanding of what the Church is. “We are Church” is a statement made by dissenters, a true fact, but not in the manner of their understanding. Kerry Kennedy in her book “Being Catholic Now – Prominent Americans Talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning,” gives many examples of people preaching that statement. They point out that the Holy Spirit inspires each of us, even today as He did the Apostles, implying we are as important to the Church as the Apostles are. I think their misconception of the Church is best explained by C. S. Lewis, in his essay on “Membership”.

The society into which the Christian is called at baptism is not a collective but a Body. Personality is eternal and inviolable, but … the individualism in which we all begin is only a parody or shadow of it. It will not be attained by development from within outwards. It will come to us when we occupy those places in the structure of the eternal cosmos for which we were designed or invented. As a color first reveals its true quality when placed by an excellent artist in its pre-elected spot between certain others, as a spice reveals its true flavor when inserted just where and when a good cook wishes among the other ingredients, so we shall then first be true persons when we have suffered ourselves to be fitted into our places.

We have in our day started by getting the whole picture upside down. Starting with the doctrine that every individuality is “of infinite value,” we then picture God as a kind of employment committee whose business it is to find suitable careers for souls, square holes for square pegs. In fact, however, the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ. The place was there first. The man was created for it. He will not be himself till he is there. We shall be true and everlasting and really divine persons only in Heaven.

I have been anxious to bring out two points, I have wanted to try to expel that quite un-Christian worship of the human individual simply as such which is so rampant in modern thought, the pestilent notion that each of us starts with a treasure called “personality” locked up within him, and that to expand and express this, to guard it from interference, to be “original” is the main end of life. This is Pelagian, or worse. Secondly, I have wanted to show that Christianity is not, in the long run, concerned either with individuals or communities. Neither the individual nor the community as popular thought understands them can inherit eternal life, neither the natural self, nor the collective mass, but a new creature.

Lewis does not see the value of Church members as some group of equal sheep, “We are flock,” but sees value only in the end-total, including the Shepherd, else all are lost.

Throughout history there have been periods and people who believed God was in control, and totally trusted in Him --- and things went awry. There have been other periods, perhaps now, when people believed God inspired them to be in control, to be His instruments, but they found it hard to distinguish God’s inspirations from their own --- and things went awry. If some of the Church hierarchy, priests and bishops, are in error in their thinking or actions, those are errors of their humanity seeking to occupy those places for which (they) were designed. On earth they will make mistakes; they shall be true and everlasting and really divine persons only in Heaven. For our part as members of the body we can encourage them, we can advise them, we can pray for them, but we cannot replace them as a democracy ousts some leaders with others. We are not a collective body searching for a leader. We have one.

God and His people, together, as the Body of Christ, make up His Church. No one and no group has total control. No one, even God Himself, is totally in charge. All are not created equal in this body; some are more important. Each may receive gift of the Holy Spirit, but for each they may be different, for a different purpose. Yet for all the Gifts and all the good intent, while on earth the Body is made up of frail human beings. Weaknesses (and temptations) make them not function properly in this body. Even key parts may “get sick.” And so, men sin.

Yes, things would go better for the Church if all its members obeyed the teachings they claim to follow, and if they never sinned, if they were perfect functioning parts of the Body. But because of the fact there will always be some sinning, some view the institutional church as always being wrong. It can always point to sins and yell “Sinner! Hypocrisy!” When the Church kept things inside and attempted self-healing and forgiveness of sinners, “We’ll trust in God alone to fix this,” the “news” from the outside was that the Church participated in a cover-up. And when the Church went public and chastised its sinners, enforcing its beliefs on its members --- closing seminaries, investigating the teachings and practices of religious orders, hospitals, and public figures, or preaching against sin, the “news” from the outside was how prejudiced and hateful the Church was, allowing no freedom to criticize. Weak actions or strong actions, it matters not, for many the “news” is that the Church is wrong.

But few among its critics understand what the Church is, who it is, or what it really teaches. Too many inside proclaim a solution to sin, announcing “We are Church,” and assuming “WE” can run it better. But a democracy cannot run the Church, for the votes will be changing with the winds. Neither can the Body be run at the will of just certain parts, or the entire body dies and turns to dust.

Alright then, if we are not the ones to replace Church leaders, then what about our punishing or publicly admonishing of them? I don’t know. Certainly the Church has always taught obeying laws for the public good. It seems to me, however, that too often we are concerned with fixing all the wrongs we perceive in others, and Augustine offered some comments on this tendency: Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, they more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others. Or as David said: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God does not despise a contrite and humble heart.

Are some of us looking at the Church priesthood as getting their comeuppance in the press? Are we thinking “See, the truth is coming out.” Do we think ourselves somehow justified by the public airing of the sins of others? This isn’t new “news”; this sort of public penance is in fact old news, very old. The focus of the members of the Body should be on themselves, with humble and contrite hearts. To the degree they perfect themselves they perfect the body, the entire body. That is how the Body is constructed:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Eph 4: 11-16)

It’s funny, isn’t it, that we can argue that people in Washington need to work together for the good of the country, but we can’t see that the members of the Church need to work together for the good of the Body. Well, maybe it isn’t funny. As Lewis notes, many of us seem unable to distinguish actions we take, as a collective, in trying to run Washington, from actions we take, as a body, in trying to run the Church.

Am I also just being one of those people, pointing at others by the writing of this article? Perhaps it can be taken that way, but I see it as my thinking and learning. By meditating on all the things around me, in action and in writing, I am growing into that place where I was meant to be. And along the way, I am trying not to be anxious. May we grow together, even if functioning differently, in the perfecting of the Body.