Does the Church have to shrink to become more Catholic?

Recently, a group of us were discussing the status of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and its future. The discussion originated while we were discussing the 'cafeteria' understanding of being a Catholic in the world today. Basically, a cafeteria Catholic picks and chooses which Truths of the faith they adhere to. If one is pro-abortion, then that person simply chooses not to heed the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life. If one uses birth control, then one simply ignores that teaching. This type of 'Catholicism' results in a Church who, in the eyes of these persons, has a Truth that is malleable to whatever is the fad of the world.

    

It was this foundation that sparked our conversation about the future of the Church. We were discussing the very real possibility that the Catholic Church will have to shrink in order to grow closer to the Gospel Truth. It is very possible that, like the wheat and the chaff, the Catholic people will have to be sifted into the faithful and the 'cafeteria' Catholics. The former are the People of God, while the latter are not faithful to anything but themselves and maybe the ways of the world.

Our discussion didn't center so much on having contempt for those who choose 'cafeteria' Catholicism as it did in the realization that we cannot be priests who can promote or accept that style of living of the Catholic faith. We are ALWAYS called to minister to everyone, devout Catholics, cafeteria Catholics, non-Catholics and non-Christians. This never changes and is in fact our central mandate from Christ himself (see Mt. 28:19-20). Rather, we also have to realize that when we, as priests, present the Truth of the Catholic Church, some and maybe even many 'Catholics' may not accept it and may eventually reject the Catholic Church altogether. In essence, the Church may lose many of its fringe Catholics and in a matter of years or decades and find itself with a core remnant of faithful who are the true Catholic people of God. While this is sad and we always pray for those people who fall away, we ultimately have to realize that it is our calling to preach the Truth of Jesus Christ and to do otherwise is to destroy the Catholic Church from within.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 21:53 | link | comments |
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