A New Socialism? What about that young woman from New York (I've forgotten her name) who calls herself a socialist and it intent on changing the face of the Democrat Party? Interestingly she seems to be achieving some degree of success, at least according to much of the media. And yet, isn't a socialist, by definition, an ignoramus? After all, socialism has been tried many, many times throughout the world and it has always failed. In fact, the only thing socialism achieves is universal poverty. In that sense I suppose one could claim that socialism is the perfect path to true egalitarianism, the kind that doesn't lift but lowers everyone to the same impoverished level. Oh, wait! There's always one exempted group: the elite, the ones the Soviets called the nomenklatura. These are the folks who, because they're so much smarter than the rest of us, give themselves special privileges. The elites, you see, can't be bothered with all those mundane things that complicate the lives of the hoi polloi. Running every aspect of a society is hard work; and run it they do, right into the ground.
Socialists are just polite versions of Communists and National Socialists (i.e., Nazis) in disguise. There's really little difference because socialism in any of its forms cannot stand on its own. Eventually the people who allowed the socialists to gain power realize the mistake they've made. But socialists cannot give up power so they quickly evolve into authoritarians and then totalitarians. This is why so-called "democratic socialism" is a myth. Just try to get rid of it once it's in place. If this new variety of Democrat actually takes power, heaven help us.
Abuse in the Church. All this abuse business within the Church is taking its toll, but our bishops seem to be unaware of its impact on the faithful. I hear about it almost every day from parishioners and others who share their concerns with me. Many are outraged by the requirements placed on them, especially since the problem seems to be largely the result of actions by priests and bishops. The faithful are fingerprinted and investigated; they are forced to take part in vapid and insulting workshops or on-line programs; they are repeatedly reminded not to do things they've never even thought of doing. It's as if the Church leadership is placing the guilt on the faithful, instead of where it belongs, on those who actually did these reprehensible things and those who tolerated them.
As one parishioner remarked this morning, "How come I have to go through all this garbage [his word], when the bishops exempted themselves from background investigations and fingerprinting and all the rest of it?" A good question from a faithful man who is frustrated by what he sees in the Church he loves.
And God forbid if someone is falsely accused of abuse -- something I suspect has happened many times. Even without proof, he or she will be removed from ministry and you can imagine how that will effect reputation and life.
I was once asked to give a talk to a group of seminarians , and in the course of my comments I told them, "The holiest people you will ever encounter are not seated in the sanctuary; they are in the pews of your parish church. They will look to you for direction and example, but if you don't provide it, they will turn to God. They will find Him in the Sacraments, in Sacred Scripture, and in Sacred Tradition. And it is they who will keep the Church holy."
I truly believe the Church of the future will be much smaller but much holier -- a mere remnant of today's overly bureaucratic organization. In 1969, the then Father Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, said the following during a broadcast over German radio:
“Let us go a step farther. From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members. Undoubtedly it will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession. In many smaller congregations or in self-contained social groups, pastoral care will normally be provided in this fashion. Along-side this, the full-time ministry of the priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But in all of the changes at which one might guess, the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world. In faith and prayer she will again recognize the sacraments as the worship of God and not as a subject for liturgical scholarship.
Immigration Root Causes. And while I'm on the subject of our bishops, might I ask why we rarely hear anything from them about the root cause of the immigration problem in the US and elsewhere? Specifically, why do people flee one nation for another? The root cause is not the fault of the destination country, whose societal structures are so attractive to others. No, the root cause is the widespread persecution and corruption that promote general poverty, keep people uneducated, and limit opportunity in the countries of origin. And yet, when it comes to immigration, you would think our nation were the bad guy. I think it's time for the US bishops and the bishops in these other nations to focus on these root causes and not the symptoms. Just a thought.
“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness as well as pompous self-will will have to be shed. One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain — to the renewal of the nineteenth century. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.
“And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. It may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but it will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death."
No comments:
Post a Comment