The Future of the Catholic Church Gerry OShea
Cardinal
Carlo Martini was a Jesuit priest who served as the church leader in Milan from
the early 1980’s until 2003. According to reliable sources he received more
votes than Cardinal Ratzinger in the first ballot to select a new pope after
John Paul 11 died in 2005. He lost out in subsequent ballots to the man who
became Pope Benedict.
In 2012, a
week before he died at age 85, he sat for an interview with a fellow-Jesuit and
approved the content of the script before he passed on. His words dismayed many
in the hierarchy because of his radical criticism of the status quo in the church
where he played a major leadership role.
“The church
is tired in Europe and America” he said. “Our culture has become old, our
churches and our religious houses are big and empty, our rites and our dress
are pompous. The church is 200 years behind the times. Why can’t we change? Are
we afraid?”
The Catholic
Church with its 1.3 billion members will be around for a long time but its
membership trajectory in the United States and other western countries leaves
little room for optimism about its future. About 40% of Americans from Catholic
families leave the church permanently. This exodus is going on for so long that
15% of the total population of the United States now identify themselves as
former Roman Catholics.
Church
attendance among Catholics in the United States at close to 30% is high by
comparison with other western countries. In Australia, only around 12% of members go to mass
regularly, with the church attendees dropping by nearly half in the last twenty
years. In Canada the numbers leaking from the church are of similar magnitude.
In the continent of Europe, with some traditionally strong Catholic countries,
only around 10% show up for the Sunday sermon. In Ireland, which was a devoutly
church-going nation, there has been a rush for the exit gate with Sunday
attendance around 40% and dropping.
The crisis
of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests and brothers explains many of the
defections. The consideration of men of the cloth taking advantage of minors
for their sexual gratification has shocked the sensibilities of Catholics
everywhere. The cover-up by the hierarchy, allegedly all the way to the papal
chair, is even more devastating.
The scales
gradually fell from the eyes of the people in the pews as one report after
another revealed the enormity of the abuse story. Huge numbers of young people
in all countries were so dismayed that they departed in anger from the church
of their youth - and only a few returned.
Commenting
on this vital area of church life, Cardinal Martini declared “The pedophilia
scandals compel us to take up a path of conversion, beginning with the pope and
the bishops. We have to reflect on whether the church is still an authoritative
voice in this field.”
The signs of
a weakening institution are everywhere. In New York alone, dozens of churches
and schools closed during the last few years, and the number of new ordinations
is miniscule where seminaries were busy just fifty years ago. There has also
been a dramatic decline in the numbers of postulants seeking admission to the
religious orders.
Every human institution – and the church must
always be seen in those terms – is judged by who wields power, who calls the
shots. For the first few centuries after the crucifixion there were no priests
or dignitaries. Instead, people met in small support communities, broke bread
together and responded to the Spirit by outreaching the poor and marginalized,
in accordance with the core message of the gospel. Most scholars agree that the
organizational functions and rituals were led by members of both sexes.
The fourth
century Roman Emperor, Constantine, favored Christianity and was himself
baptized on his death bed. Interestingly, he was told that baptism wiped the
soul clean of even the most nefarious transgressions, so, very pragmatically,
he waited to receive the sacrament until he was on the way out! The church,
after centuries of persecution, loved its new freedom and bought into the
hierarchical structures of the empire. What emerged was a top-heavy clericalism
where the laity was seen on one trail to salvation, but always dependent on a
superior hierarchy, from the priests up, to dispense the sacraments and define
the belief system.
The Second Vatican Council, starting in 1962,
made a gallant effort to open up the ecclesial authority structure by stressing
the importance of “the people of God” in egalitarian terms. This line of
thinking also introduced the concept of the universal “priesthood of the laity.”
Such ideas
never gained traction because they would have radically changed the power
structure in the Vatican and in dioceses where bishops adapted to the new
rhetoric by making mostly minor administrative changes. For instance, parish
councils were meant to partner with pastors in local decision-making. In
reality, in most cases, they became rubber stamps for the men in the
presbytery.
The recent important Amazon Synod heard
abundant evidence of the lack of priests to minister to poor communities in
large areas in Brazil and surrounding countries. The bishops present voted 128
to 41 to admit married men of sound character to the priesthood to minister to
deprived populations in that huge region. Similar approval was given by the
synod to ordaining women as deacons. Both recommendations are still on
Francis’s desk which is disappointing for many indigenous people living along
the Amazon and for progressives in the church.
One of the
main doctrinal differences that caused the Reformation five hundred years ago
centered on the mass. Catholics insist on a literal understanding of the priest’s
words during the consecration, insisting that the body and blood of Christ are
present on the altar. The Protestant belief focuses on a symbolic presence.
The Catholic
problem now and for many years is that only around 30% believe in their
church’s understanding of the eucharist. The remaining majority, seven out of
ten, subscribe to some version of Protestant thinking of the bread as a sacred unifying
community symbol.
The church
has failed to modernize its teaching on the eucharist, stressing its spiritual
significance and veering away from language that can be interpreted as a kind
of holy cannibalism. Misunderstandings and dubious preaching about the meaning
of the eucharistic host constitute a significant factor in the big drop-off in
attendance at Sunday mass.
The Vatican
recently mandated what many parishes already followed, namely, that women must
be allowed to act as lectors and acolytes or altar-girls. However, they may not
aspire to the deaconate or priesthood. This diminishing of female roles in the
church is a legacy from past cultural eras. Today women hold top jobs in
industry and government but find they are still treated as second-class
citizens by Rome. Many respond by walking away from a religion with such unacceptable
and humiliating strictures.
Most western
societies have come to accept the homosexual lifestyle as normal. Gay marriages
are common and allowed by the civil authorities who accept that same-sex
relationships have to be legally protected. Catholic teaching still views
physical intimacy between two men or two women as unnatural and sinful, often
describing such behavior as intrinsically evil, words straight from the
language of the Middle Ages. While the church is careful to condemn any abusive
behavior against gays, and Pope Francis recently spoke in favor of allowing civil
marriage for them, Rome maintains its moral condemnatory teaching from previous
centuries, and most gay Catholics do not view their church as walking with them
in their struggles.
Comments
Post a Comment