I suppose the basic objection I have to the Church as an institution made up of human beings is that it reflects human small-mindedness. People just aren’t up to the truths they profess. They’d rather have something that’s more their size.
thoughts in and out of season
I suppose the basic objection I have to the Church as an institution made up of human beings is that it reflects human small-mindedness. People just aren’t up to the truths they profess. They’d rather have something that’s more their size.
Some are okay, and some
Some are okay, and some aren’t. That’s the mixed bag we have for a Church. But that’s okay because God appears to be willing to create such a mixed bag of people in the first place!
Something that helped me look at it in a different light was something the Holy Father said in the book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”. Oddly enough, when asked about how he felt about the weight of his title (as Pope, vicar of Christ, successor of Peter), he specifically points out the human frailty of Peter himself! He said something like “Be not afraid that Peter was entirely human!” because Christ accepted his humanity (bumbling as he often was said to be) yet took him as an apostle and made him chief apostle. Remember to lift your eyes to the Father, and to Christ as our model. But likewise, as St. Paul boldly asked, look up to him (to saints like him) as a model because he (the saints) are imitators of Christ, hence we are led to Christ through their example.
Something I was taught when I was learning to drive at night was to NEVER LOOK AT THE HEADLIGHTS of the cars going the other way. Instead, I should look slightly to the other side, where the glare of those headlights won’t blind me to the guiding lines along the side of the road (nor to the road ahead of me).
Your point is about the huge
Your point is about the huge pile of truths, and my point is about the huge pile of people: I think the Catholic “mixed bag” is the sign that this IS the real Church! Other churches foster homogeneity, “our kind of people.” How many Protestants have you heard say that they go to a particular church because there’s lots of people with kids, or people who are nice, or any totally understandable human attraction? It’s natural to want to hang with people like yourself, but the mess/mix of the Catholic Church is truly supernatural.
The Body of Christ contains every kind of part, every kind of person, every kind of holiness, and every kind of sinfulness in its members….
On rereading my original
On rereading my original entry it seems to me I was talking to myself too much. The point was really that all my complaints about the Catholic Church boil down to saying that it includes human beings and gives them responsibilities. Which isn’t much of a complaint.