Who is the Church ?
The venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, ” Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious.”
I always thought the quote was inspiring, but it suffers from a small amount of “fallacy of composition”. I will explain in a moment. I cannot make someone do anything. I can pray, encourage, shame or scold someone but I can’t make them drink the water. Before we had the 10 Commandments, we knew that it was wrong to kill. We knew this because we are made in the image of God. We know right from wrong. However, we as a people get lost in the details.
Reading some Catholic websites that say we should not hold hands or lift our hands when we say the “Our Father” during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is in direct opposition to some scripture. Now 1Timothy 2:8 It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray lifting holy hands without anger or argument. ” That includes women and children also. Not sure the correct action here. We have to be obedient to our priests and if it is their decision then we have to follow. In rereading this one thing that stood out was ,” without anger”
We are not at war with the rest of the Church. We are the Church. It is not just our priests or bishops that run the Church. It is us. We, as a Church, must respect lawful authority. Nonetheless, we know what is right or wrong. If the priest says no; it is no.
Our responsibility as a people is to actively help. If we are not part of the Solution, then we are part of the problem. If we have a problem with some of the goings and in our home parish, then it is up to us to fix it without getting mad or disagreeable.
Saint Jude who was a relative of Jesus and is the Saint of impossible causes and wrote the Epistle of St. Jude. Saint Simon traveled with Saint Jude and ministered together in the first century. Saint Simon is mentioned after the Pentecost. Again, they worked together to build the Church.
Bishop Sheen is saying that we are in this together. It is not only the Pope or the Bishops or us. It is all of us. The thing that saves us is our attitude. We have the Great Commission Matthew 28:17-20 which is the same for all of us to baptize the world. Our goal is united and that is what makes us a people of God.
God Love Yous Always
Bob Burford
PS: Pray for peace in the Ukraine. Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for hurricane victims
