“How do we love our Church?” That is a question being asked by many people and one posed at a Confirmation session for sponsors of our teens. It is a good question and one that is needed to be asked.
How do we love our Church in a time of crisis? Scandal? Bad news? What ever phrase we wish to add after “a time of” is a probing and searching need to discover a depth of truth and faith behind the question. It is good to ask these questions because when we don’t then we have slipped into indifference about our faith and our Church which is the first step out the door and towards a life without a constructive and hopeful experience of the reality of God in our lives.
I believe the answer lies within the question and trust me when I say this question has been on my mind and I have asked it of friends in my continued search for the why’s and how’s of the scandal within our beloved Church.
“Our” This simple word is so very important because it isn’t “the” “a” but “our Church.” This is the first trap set and one we can easily fall into. The temptation of separating ourselves from the Body of Christ by reducing our role in the stewardship of “our Catholic Church” is a true temptation. The “our” part comes with a cost…the time, talent and treasure of being involved. It is hard to be an owner of our faith, and our Church when we are absent from the day to day prayer, the weekly gathering and the eternal hope of life offered and given. The cost is the sacrificial offering of self to Jesus Christ who lives at the center of our call to relationship.
“Relationship” “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Lk 21:48) I put this quote forward because it is a reminder of this cost of relationship. As a priest in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement I continue discover how we are called into and entrusted with a relationship of love. Our vocation is to love and be loved and this is a big deal. Our spousal relationships call us to work for another and to help the other become the holy and loved person God has created him/her to be. We also know the faults and failures of our own lives and those of the other. And this is the work…to draw the best out of the other and to seek to become more Christlike in our relationships…because “more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
“A search” The search is not minimize or dismiss the sin but to seek a greater good. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, sin is present in the members of the Church but though the sacramental grace we are able to resist and overcome the hurt of sin. “The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC #827) In the choice to love we search out the presence of Jesus Christ in even the most troubling moments of our life. We may see the sin blotting out much good but we are called to search for the light of truth, faith and hope knowing the love of God is found even in the darkness.
“Carry our cross” Each day when we read the newspaper and articles in magazines and on the internet, when we find ourselves in conversations that are challenging to our faith and accusatory in their words, when we hear about another problem we can despair and even say, “enough is enough.” But Jesus reminds us “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk 8:34) Once more this isn’t to minimize or dismiss the horrific sins of abuse and coverup by bishops and priests but if we understand the reality of “our Church” where we are in “relationship” with the person of Jesus Christ in and through our brothers and sisters in faith where we are invited to search for the good, the beautiful and the holy even in midst of darkness, then we choose the cross in love and embrace the crucified Jesus in love.
I have talked about this dozens of times over the past months and will continue to remind myself and others. There is no easy answer or set of rules that will ever fully protect and safeguard everyone but when we choose to live a life of holiness in union with Jesus Christ then we will call out the sin in our midst and “…Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” (1 Pt 1:15)
Please pray for the sanctification, purification and healing of our Catholic Church.

God bless
Fr. Mark