Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Fr. Bob Barron on leaving the Church

I was speaking to a parishioner this morning about her contact with many people who have left the Church over recent scandals, or over problems that are common to many who used to identify themselves as Catholics. Many of these people would likely still call themselves Catholic if it weren’t for having been disappointed by someone in the Church, be it a priest or someone else. My own feeling is that everyone one of us has at some time been disappointed by the Church, but it is the very beauty of the ideals the Church professes that causes the disappointment. We want the Church in its ideal form to be real. My belief is that if we want an ideal Church we have to want it enough to work for it, that leaving is not an option, and that we should realize that sinful human beings will always let us down. This video by Fr. Bob Barron does a good job of capturing both the disappointment of recent years and the reason why we should not choose to abandon ship.

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This entry was posted by on Sunday, January 9th, 2011 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • J.D. Wilson

    I think the Catholic Church has done a lot of good things but when you consider the bookends of the corruption that existed which led to Martin Luther’s reforming quest, and the dishonest way the Catholic Church handled or mishandled the sexual abuse cases through the years, it is hard to assess just how much damage it has done to Christianity over the centuries especially in the eyes of non-Christiana.

    Just think how better things might have been if the Catholic churched would have reformed itself rather than just tossing ML out on his ear.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    In my own mind, the issue is not to weigh the good done by the Church versus the sins of the Church. I am not sure if there is even a way to measure them. The point for Catholics is that our tradition holds that our direct lifeline, so to speak, to God comes through the Sacraments which can only be found through the Church. Does that mean, as Fr. Barron points out, that there are no other ways to connect to God. Absolutely not. The Incarnation makes if possible to connect to God in a multitude of ways. But leaving the Church in a very real sense disconnects us from Christ. The Church is made up of people. All whom are in need of continual reform. This is precisely why every celebration of the liturgy begins with a penitential rite. None of us would walk away from our best friend because he or she is not perfect. People may disagree, but I don’t see the point of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

  • MJ Caffrey

    In my younger days, I spent some time with religious sisters of Benedict, Mary and St. Joseph. One sister just bided her time, waiting for ordination of women, others spent a lot of time praying for bishop enlightenment to let girls serve Mass. Not much has happened since those days, though there are many fewer women religious.

    Then, too, there is the subject of divorce rates in this country. I believe divorces are more popular than marriages these days. What impact does that statistic have on the fullness of the Sacraments for divorced moms and dads who join the Communion lines like divorce papers don’t matter?

    I agree, Catholics should work in the Church to effect needed change. The Pope needs some new advisors to keep Christ on the streets where people live the struggle and not exclusively in collared headshops of “Amen Men.” Scratch parishoners these days, some bleed traditional believers, others scratch whatever itches and bandaid whatever sores they want hidden.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    One of the priests who was instrumental in my formation at the seminary once gave us the good advice to only expect the Church to be how it says it is now. He mentioned all the men who were ordained expecting that the pope would relax the discipline of celibacy, for example. Though I am sure that every Catholic has things in our disciplines that one might disagree with, the Church is very up front about where she is.

    The point that I believe Fr. Barron is trying to make is that our lifeline is Christ and we receive him primarily through the sacraments.

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