Holy People, Holy IrReverence

Chapters 1 and 2 of our story had to do with possibilities, of what church can be if we but allow ourselves to think and dream big, especially with regard to matters of faith, and dare to take some risks with God and with one another.  For the people of St. Joe’s, this was clearly witnessed in the following:

• The welcoming of all – be they parishioner, family member, friend, or complete stranger.
• Sharing and honoring the many gifts and talents within the faith community.
• Stretching and challenging one another along the way.
• Claiming and/or reclaiming our faith.
• Appreciating and celebrating the fact that we journey together as a people, not as individuals who just happen to share a common space at prayer and worship.
• Knowing that we are always in the process of being shaped changed renewed and recreated as we continue to grow into the image of the divine.
• Experiencing Liturgy as the center, the heart of it all.

Now we come to Chapter 3 in our story, which has to do with reality and the lived experience of many within the church today.  Before continuing, however, it might prove helpful to present something of a backdrop, against which the remainder of our story is written.  Hopefully, this will provide the reader with a snapshot of the present reality within Catholicism.

First, I wish to share a few words regarding matters of a spiritual nature, that deepest level one’s faith and being.  As the people of St. Joseph were blest to have known something of the possibilities, of what can be, far too many Catholics are witnessing quite the opposite, the sad and even painful reality of what IS.  This too is being echoed, through a growing chorus of voices, in statements that have become all too common and which continue to fall upon the deaf ears of our church leaders.  The following are but a few of the more familiar expressions of that which many are experiencing within the church today:

• We are not being fed spiritually.
• Preaching and presiding, by priests and bishops alike, is poor and lacking.
• We come to the table hungry, only to leave starving or, at the very least, angry.
• They (the bishops) refuse to listen to us.
• We (the laity) have no voice.
• We (the laity) feel as though we are nothing more than a source of income.
• I am (or “we are”) open to looking at other Christian traditions for spiritual nourishment.

Secondly, a few words are called for at the external level of religion, the particular avenue by which one nurtures and practices his/her faith (e.g., Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, etc., etc.).  For many within the Catholic community, the present reality is given witness in these all-too-familiar expressions:

• Church has become “big business.”
• Church governance needs to be decentralized, with bishops and bishops’ conferences enjoying greater autonomy.
• Papal ministry has become a dictatorship.
• The Second Vatican Council’s vision of Episcopal collegiality has all but disappeared during the papacy of John Paul II.
• Rules have become the religion.
• The magisterium (the pope and the college of bishops) is out of touch with the people of God.
• The laity must be given a greater voice in such matters as church governance and the selection of bishops.
• Growing is the number of persons who are minimally connected to the church, or who are now identifying themselves as “former Catholics.”
• Offering band-aid responses only, the magisterium is failing to adequately address the growing crisis of a rapidly shrinking supply of priests.
• The celibate requirement should be lifted, and priests be allowed to marry.
• We sho