We are failing in the Catholic Church. We proclaim a message of welcome and salvation, but we need to look closely at how we are living out that message. I recently attended a Catholic conference and repeatedly heard reasons why people are not attending Church. These included a feeling among some people that due to the atmosphere of Church, they did not feel welcome for one reason or another. Many of these concerns were around life-style choices that were not consistent with Catholic teachings (i.e. homosexuality, birth control usage, divorce, wanting women to be priests, etc.). Pope Francis stirred up a hornet’s nets with some comments about homosexual members of the Church and the priesthood. I have decided to tackle this tough subject.
In order to change the current environment, we must re-emphasize the Church’s teaching that everyone, everyone, has dignity. This is not conditional. It is not affected by whether you are pre-born or about to die. It is not conditional on political beliefs, or even sexual orientation. All humans deserve dignity. We sometimes fall into a mentality that is silently expressed as, “God loves us all, but He likes me more than He likes you.”
From that common point, we then need to move on to something more difficult. We need to be ready to have open, compassionate conversations with those who feel set apart from the Church. Are they actively, “seeking the will of God,” (Pope Francis) or are they trying to change the Church to their will? Salvation, following the Will of God as led by the Holy Spirit in Christ’s established Church, these must be the ultimate goals of all Christians.
Then, we must teach truth! It cannot be a watered-down version of the truth. We cannot be responsible for misinterpretations or improperly catechizing the members of the Church. It has been my experience teaching religion, RCIA, Pre-Cana and such, that often, when someone is finally properly taught…the light goes on inside and they discover the beauty and simplicity of Catholic Teaching. It is logical, it follows natural law, it is elegant in its honesty. Once this happens, people tend to open themselves up to following God in the teachings of the Church.
The last element of success in this process is in decreasing judgement and increasing support for those who find themselves outside of the Church. Many people have been inadvertently or directly hurt by the Church. Take for example a person who has gone through the pain of divorce. They often feel set apart, especially when faced with the decision to remarry or apply for annulment. It can add insult to injury if they feel they are not welcome at Mass or the Sacraments due to a misunderstanding of what the teachings are. We have an obligation to support and properly educate that person. To help with their pain and not add to it.
Another example is a person who is homosexual. It is certainly proper to educate them on the Church’s teachings on this issue and encourage them to live a chaste life, but then what? We often just leave this person to sit with this difficult choice alone, so they may feel isolated. We should become a real family to a person struggling in this way. We should not judge them on appearance or mannerisms. We do not know how they are living. No one, with the exception of my confessor, knows the demons I fight. Just because my difficulties are more easily hidden, does that mean they are any less of a struggle? Probably not. Furthermore, I have never been directly injured by someone else’s struggle with homosexuality, but I have been badly injured by someone’s struggle with the tendency toward a bad temper!
In conclusion, we cannot separate compassion, understanding and the dignity of human beings from proper catechesization and the teachings of the Church. Both must exist for us to reach out to those feeling separated from the Catholic Church.
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