Take That, Your Holiness

As Pope Benedict XVI heads back to Rome and the media bubble bath he received quietly swirls away, Roman Catholic reporter Tim Padgett, over at Time, reflects on some of the reasons he and others remain Catholic despite differences over church teaching and practice. It's not about "church" at all, Padgett says. It's about faith. Padgett addresses, for example, the pope's words chastising the "scandal" of American stubbornness on the issue of abortion:

"We've learned to conform to the Catholic faith instead of the Catholic hierarchy. And if the Pope's visit and its aftermath indicate anything, it's that we aren't likely to change that stance until the church, with deeper structural and doctrinal reform, changes its own. As the Pope returns to Rome, a common question here will be, Did he make American Catholics feel any better about their church? But just as common an answer may be, Does it really matter anymore?"

Padgett's question isn't rhetorical. He believes it really DOESN'T matter how Catholics feel about their church because, he argues, "the church" isn't the point. In recent years, the sexual abuse crisis has made the laity more independent and daringly indifferent toward "the church's" teaching than ever before. i.e., Why should I let you tell me how to run MY house when you can't even run your own?

But this reporter reminds us that Roman Catholicism has a rich intellectual tradition that encourages the use of reason, allowing for a long history of dissent and making space for Catholics today to think for themselves, especially when it comes to the kinds of controversial issues the church hierarchy tries to make non-negotiable (i.e., women's ordination and birth control). This helps explain how 51% of American Catholics continue to believe that abortion, ought to be legal in this country in most or all cases and why U.S. Catholics tend to be more supportive of gay marriage than the public as a whole (cf. recent research from the Pew Forum about Catholic views on social and political issues). It might also explain why Catholic voters in this primary season, although up for grabs in virtually every state, have pretty consistently broken for Hillary Clinton. This is one reason she is expected to win heavily Catholic Pennsylvania.

I imagine many of these Catholic voters are well aware of the irony, as they punch in their vote for the woman they want to be the next President of the United States, that by virtue of having been born female she would never be allowed to serve as their parish priest.

Take that, your holiness.

And look out church leaders of all stripes and status. Don't be fooled by the crowd at Yankee Stadium or the fawning of our current U.S. president. Mainline leaders ought to be peeking over the shoulders of their Catholic brothers with real interest these days. Even the mild mannered Lutherans I hang out with most days grow weary of churchiness and thirst for faith that really matters. When that churchiness leans into preachiness, closes ranks around hierarchy, tips over into hypocrisy, or hides behind empty and self-congratulatory ritual...well, it all just looks silly and sad and tragically irrelevant to a lot of us.

Comments

[william]

As a born and raised Catholic I find it curious that those not born into the tradition think that they can second guess the reason we do what we do. Like any other culture, those not of it need to tread lightly when interpreting the meaning of the rituals and symbols.
The Pope is a powerful symbol, no other religious person comes anywhere near it. Hence, he can be invited to the "UN" and be received by people of all faiths and cultures. He can remind us of a morality that everyone else is scared to say, less they lose votes.
Women's ordination, as an issue, does not rank up there with abuse of women across the world, abortion, or the taking of any human life for whatever reason. Denying women ordination is simply not the same as denying them a livelihood or committing some of the horrendous crimes done against them throughout the world. Where women lack food and water, their main concern is far from being ordained!
As for the sexual abuse of minors by a small percentage of priests and the behavior of the Bishops, I think we need to take a breath! IF the Child Welfare books were opened across the country, the issue of child sexual abuse by parents, especially fathers, would blow us away. Why is there such mockery of the Church when the most sacred of all relationships is between parent and child. What about teachers? Are we able to look at those statistics as well? Or do we go after the Catholic Church mainly because it keeps preaching a moral message. Does it need to address the pain of those abused, yes. And it has. And it has paid out lots of money. More than child welfare will ever be asked to do, or the Boy Scouts, or teachers unions.
Some day women may be ordained and priests may be able to marry. But in the interim, I doubt that the Church will ever change its message on the poor, the daily life of laity as agents of change, and the right to life of all human beings.
So my friend, if you want me to keep reading your F page, I would suggest you try to think catholic?

KELLY'S RESPONSE: WT - thanks for weighing in.

For the record, I was born and raised Roman Catholic. Irish Catholic, actually. :) My mom goes to mass faithfully every week (even if she disagrees with the message, doesn't happen to like the priest, etc., etc., etc.). I spent the first two years of high school attending a boarding school for young women preparing to be nuns! The author of the article I quote here was not "born and raised" Catholic, it's true. Rather, he decided to convert as an adult...and has stuck with it even in the face of scandal, disagreement, disappointment, etc.

Which of us is or isn't qualified to be in this conversation?

Besides, the main point I'm making isn't to bash the pope or Catholics or any other church/church leader. It is simply to say this: While, once upon a time, "the church" might have been equated with "the pastor" or "the pope" or "the building" or "the institutional organization" or "the liturgy" or "the rules," today people seem to be saying all that stuff is way LESS important to them than their FAITH. And so they KEEP the faith even when the institution disappoints.

That's not a Catholic issue. That's something ALL church leaders need to get their heads around.

P.S. I hope my readers hang out here at The F Word because they find it interesting, provocative, and helpful...not just because they happen to agree with everything I say. That, my friend, would be boring! Don't you think?! :)

[Tom in Ontario]

I like what you write. I usually agree with you but not always. I keep coming back.