Ok, those of us who are delighted by the election of Benedict XVI have had a couple of days to rejoice now, and I know I’m far from alone in taking a certain pleasure in the confounding of the progressive party. That’s not a very admirable or virtuous attitude, and I tried to curb it pretty quickly. But I think it’s understandable.
Now I’m hearing something else here and there: a really malicious desire to see certain people or certain classes of people heaved over the side of the barque of Peter. Too many of us who have suffered through the liturgical and catechetical horrors of the not-very-distant past–even more, those who are still suffering through them–are exhibiting an eagerness to see heads roll that is not compatible with charity.
Whenever I feel the urge to congratulate myself on not being like the publican or the pharisee, I get nervous. Even more so when I find myself feeling like Jonah, annoyed that God is not raining fire upon Nineveh.
The great clearing of the air that began with John Paul II continues, and it seems safe to predict that some, perhaps many, will leave the Church eventually as they despair of remodeling it to contemporary taste. But if we react to the departure of those who have lost their faith by rejoicing in their humiliation, we’re courting the same danger. Flannery O’Connor’s great short story The Life You Save May Be Your Own is a wonderful parable on the topic of self-righteousness. If you don’t know it, you should, and think of that shower that follows Mr. Shiflet.
Amy Wellborn has a fine comment on this (the situation, not the story), with a lot of interesting comments following.
–Maclin Horton
Peace, Maclin.
I’m not so sure your prediction of departure is a safe one. It’s unclear to me what could be added to the deposit of faith to chase away those who haven’t already left.
A personal example: when I was a choir member, I was an unholy terror at times to some of my directors. When I moved into the role of director, I changed my tune. When I left liturgical ministry for pastoral ministry in a small rural parish, I had to change again to best serve the people for whom I was responsible. Pope Benedict is intelligent enough to realize what the role of a pastor is and how it differs from being a theologian or bureaucrat.
The clearing of the air, by the way, began with John XXIII. And despite trepidation and occasional backsliding and occasional incompetence in either implementation or stubbornness, it will continue not in any particular image of human persons, but in unity (hopefully) under the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
I’m thinking of those who have effectively departed already, in that they no longer take the fundamental beliefs of the Church as true but have held out the hope that history is on their side. This papacy could cause them to give up. Pure speculation, of course.
For the life of me I can’t understand why someone like Rosemary Radford Reuther, who seems to view all religions as human constructs on shelves in the spiritual supermarket, would continue to identify herself as Catholic.
I might at least half agree with you about John XXIII, but what I meant by the clearing of the air is specifically the misconstrual of Vatican II.
I desperately hope the Modernists leave the Church. Of course, I hope they convert to Catholicism first – they’ve been given every chance to do so for 40 years – but if they don’t convert, I hope they leave and I would love to personally show them the door. Considering the spiritual wreckage they have inflicted on the Church, including the countless souls that have been lost, it would be a sin NOT to want to throw them out.
Yet there’s another side to this, which I think you may be getting at. Shortly after the election, a wave of trepidation came over me – joy mixed with fear. If God does indeed give us a Pope who expects his flock to be Catholic, and if this Pope deals the final deadly blow to the Modernists, then I am myself in trouble. My own Catholicism looks pretty good compared to the liberals and Modernists and heretics around me: it looks pretty dismal compared to the faith and life of real Catholics. If Pope Benedict XVI cleans up the Church, and I hope he does, then I had better clean up my own act … no more hiding, and no more excuses.
I do hope the modernists leave the Church and as soon as possible.This new Pope I hope will be like an Icon of true Faith,coverting,attracting explainign things in a simple way (which the late Holy Father seemed to find it hard to do : how many ordinary Catholic read his encyclicals ? ). Many Catholics here in England seem to be more like “pope-Anglicans-Mass going protestants”.I work in a Catholic school,and a very good one at that,but I am never sure what a Catholic colleague will say about anything. In the good old days,however much ignorance there was,you usually knew what a Catholic would say on a wide variety of points and issues.One young student said to me “Sir,my Mum says this new Pope is very strict and is even against abortion”.The media here seem to make everyone’s view of the new Pope. Alan Robinson
I don’t think the modernists will leave the Church over the pontificate of Pope Benedict, who I suspect will not be the hardass that you all seem to expect. More importantly, the modernists are making no converts, and are getting no vocations to the religious orders they dominate. They are fading fast.
Of course, the problem of everyday, unprincipled dissent continues, and is likely to continue until it is immensely unpopular to be Catholic. I speak of the pew-warmers who attend liturgy more out of habit and convention than conviction…
I am more curious what the reaction will be from the putatively orthodox but politically Americanist will be if the new pope is outspokenly critical of their cherished opinions.
“…even against abortion…” That’s almost funny, or would be if it weren’t such a serious matter. Personally I never keep the injunction to be wary of talking about religion and politics more carefully in mind than when talking to Catholics.
I pretty much agree with Daniel’s comment directly above, although I think the modernists are still doing quite a lot of harm and will continue to do so, even though they are on the wane. As Amy Wellborn has said, they still tend to be the gatekeepers, actually preventing people from coming into contact with the real teachings of the Church.
Thing is, very very few who actually hold modernist beliefs realize that they do, or feel any tension between holding those beliefs and the fact of being Catholic. The whole idea that fixed objective content has any role to play in religion is in such disfavor, among intellectuals and pew-warmers alike, that no one feels obliged to leave the Church because, say, he thinks the Nicene Creed is just a “policy” with which he has very right to argue if it doesn’t suit him.
I’ve come across Catholics who don’t seem to distinguish between the Pope and Deepak Chopra as far as authority is concerned, and I’m talking about people who go to Mass regularly, send their children to Catholic schools, etc. These, I agree, will stay serenely where they are until it costs them something. But they also may at any moment be jolted awake, so I’m not desirous of seeing them leave.
“I do hope the modernists leave the Church and as soon as possible.”
I hope Pope Benedict hasn’t already disappointed you with his talk of not wanting the net to be torn. Fortunately the Church will pilgrim on on Christ’s path, not well-intentioned roads peopled by the pseudo-orthodox Catholics with their vain hopes.