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read an article just last week in the
most recent commonw magazine by Kathleen
cavany who teaches at Notre Dame
University and um to me it was a latest
in a disturbing Trend that I've seen in
the Catholic commentariat namely to
treat the church in a kind of cavalier
manner as though it's one voluntary
organization among many now here's what
I mean cavan argues that um many
Catholics are leaving the church and
that's true and the numbers are rather
disturbing but she says that um many are
doing it in in good conscience they're
doing it for good reason they're angry
at the church for various reasons and
they have left and the bishop she said
should be concerned about this not
because it's putting these people in
spiritual danger but rather because the
bishop should now reconsider a number of
church teachings about about gay
marriage or about artificial
contraception or whatever that would
then you know bring these people back
now I'm not going to go into issues of
gay marriage and and contraception which
have been treated from every perspective
practically adnauseum but I want to talk
about what I think is a a disturbing
sort of hinge to cavan's argument namely
that the church is relatively indis
relatively
dispensable um she would say that people
people can leave a church really for
good reason and they're doing it much
more easily than their parents or
grandparents because they've accepted
the teaching that God's grace is
available everywhere and not simply
within the Catholic
church so if God's grace is available in
other Christian churches it's available
in other spiritual Traditions it's
available in nature then you know why
not find it where you can you're not
obligated to stay within uh the confines
of the Catholic Church it reminds me
there a little bit of uh of Joseph
Campbell the comparative mythologist who
said all the great religions and
philosophies tell basically the same
story so you get to the same place
following whatever path though Campbell
said maybe you should stay with your own
software you know that's probably a
better way to do it but really any of
them uh would work or it reminds me of
Martin Luther who conceived the church
as kind of a voluntary organization what
really matters is you're justified by
grace through faith your relationship
with Jesus and then if you find the
right church that you know helps you and
so on that's fine but it's more or less
a matter of indifference which church
you uh you belong to um now here just
bugging me cavan's premise is legitimate
and it's shared by U all almost all the
great theologians namely that God's
grace is not restricted to the Catholic
church so from you know origin and irus
to Thomas aquinus up to John Henry
Newman U theologians have affirmed that
of course God isn't constrained by the
rituals of the Catholic Church as though
God can only operate in that way uh
Vatican 2 caught this when it says there
are rays of Truth rays of light in all
the great religions and philosophies of
the world okay but here's the thing
neither Thomas theist nor John Henry
Newman nor the fathers of Vatican 2
would ever draw the conclusion that
therefore it's a matter of indifference
whether you belong to the church they
would never draw from that premise the
conclusion that it's perfectly valid you
know to leave and and it it doesn't
affect your spiritual life in any way no
what they would say is this the Catholic
Church represents the fullness of what
Christ wanted to reveal to his people it
has all the gifts that Christ wants his
people to have therefore even though yes
you can have access to God's grace
outside the Catholic Church it is
indispensably important that you remain
a member of the Catholic Church neither
times of nor John Henry Newman nor the
fathers of Vatican 2 would ever say
missionary work uh evangelization work
is a matter of indifference no it's of
tremendous importance that people remain
connected the church in its liturgy the
church in its Apostolic teaching the
church in the Eucharist the church in
its sacraments the church in its Saints
Remains the definitive place where God's
grace is on Full offer therefore it's
never a matter of um oh peripheral
concern someone's left the church well
they can find God's grace elsewhere none
of our great figures and certainly not
Vatican 2 would hold to such a view you
know I'll talk about a couple things I
know they're really bothering people
they say well you know the clergy sex
abuse Scandal um the way the the church
at its high levels the way the Vatican
officials have responded to that um even
this recent statement you know that seem
to to um render equivalent the sexual
abuse of children and or in women of the
priesthood have there been awfully bad
responses to the sex abuse Scandal yes
were there some priests who did Terrible
Things in the sex abuse Scandal yes was
the recent Vatican statement impossibly
bad public relations yes are any of
these good reasons for leaving the
Catholic Church no that's the point I
want to make can we recognize problems
in
insufficiencies fallings away from the
ideal yes yes yes we can see all that in
the Catholic church but it's never a
good reason to leave the
church we can't treat it as one
voluntary organization among many yeah
that works for you it doesn't work for
me yeah it worked for me for a time now
it doesn't no no the church is where we
find the fullness of the life Christ
wanted to give to us I'll close with
this little story it's an anecdote from
the Vatican 2
period Hans Kung famous Theologian
probably would agree with Kathy cavany
by the way in a lot of these things Hans
Kong was walking to a session of Vatican
2 with omry Dubach one of the great
theologians of the 20th century a man by
the way who had suffered at the hands of
the church dubac had been silenced for
10 years by the church he had plenty of
reason to be angry they're walking to
Vatican 2 and Hans Kung was sharing with
dubak a lot of his frustrations with the
church and why he felt it had changed
dramatically and so on dubac listened
but then they got to the steps of St
Peter's he turned to Hans Kong and
said but but she's still our
mother you know and that little story
has always stayed in my mind Dubach knew
troubles in the church he knew
difficulties he knew that there were
there were imperfections within
it but she's still our mother see we
can't treat her
as take it or leave it you know yeah it
worked for me for a time now it doesn't
no no the church is the place where we
find the fullness of life and that
always has to be emphasized
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