Here comes everybody!!


-James Joyce, Zurich, Switzerland, 1915

A very dear friend recently sent me a link to a scurrilous video on Youtube, much like Church Militant, and such, of which I am distinctly and decidedly not a fan.  Where is the Inquisition (you say it like it’s a bad thing? 🙂 when you need them!!?   He asked me what I thought.  Here is my response:

“Dear (friend),

Meh. Jn 8:31-58. “I have no need to fear the truth, what need have I to fear lies.” -Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 20 June 1816. A universal (Catholic) Church is just that, universal. It has everybody. “Here comes everybody.” -James Joyce, Finnegan’s Wake, 1923, speaking of the Church. And, yes, we’ve got everybody. When I participate in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) which is how adults become Catholic, if a candidate says to me, “I’m not happy (not that that is the point, but ok), I can’t find X.” I say, “Hold on a minute. I will be your concierge. I know we’ve got it here somewhere.” And, we do.

Vatican II was an updating of the Church. A two thousand year old institution, the longest continuous in Western (the world’s?) history needs to do this from time to time. The Church’s cycle time is 400 years. The joke in the Vatican goes, “Come see me next Tue, and I’ll get back to you in 300 years.” But, seriously, the Church moves very intentionally slowly, and not quickly, to make sure the Church is clearly comprehending the truth the Holy Spirit is indeed revealing. Mt 16:18. Notice in that Scripture verse it did not say, rather it clearly said, they would try. And, they’ve been trying ever since. I am confident upon careful inspection of the authors of the video clip’s credentials, they would prove most scurrilous and discredited. Faith and Reason. Fides et Ratio.

Sometimes the Church and its Sacraments are used as weapons. You can tell when this is happening because they are being used to make people feel “other”, inferior, subordinate, unqualified, not worthy, etc., etc. We’ve got everybody: cranks, crackpots, loonies, wackos, nut jobs, freakazoids, you name it, on any side of any multi-dimensional spectrum you choose to hallucinate. We’ve got ’em. I wouldn’t have it any other way. That way, I know we are living up to our name, Universal.

People don’t like change, and get their jollies from conspiracy theory. “If it weren’t for people, we could all be holy!”-Mother Angelica. How true, Mother. How true. “Other people are Hell.” – Jean Paul Sartre.

We even have pervert priests and immoral bishops, priests who steal from their parishes, who do drugs, who murder, who commit suicide, suffer from mental illness, etc. Priests, and nuns, and lay people are sinners, too, regardless of their profession. Do not be too scandalized when people sin. It should be expected, even if highly saddening, disappointing, unwelcome, etc., just like our own. News Flash: The Church is full of sinners!!!! Eating with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. Guess who we’re at Church with? It would seem that’s the idea.”

The problem with Catholics is Catholics.
https://soul-candy.info/2014/12/mean-greedy-nasty-catholics/

Love,
Matthew