Papal pruning? A smaller but purer church may actually have more influence

WORLD ^ | 5/14/05 | Gene Edward Veith

[Caleb1411]

Spain used to be one of the most culturally conservative, devoutly Roman Catholic countries in Europe. Now Spain is about to pass a law legalizing homosexual marriage and adoption.

When equally Catholic Belgium legalized gay marriage and adoptions, the Vatican, under Pope John Paul II, opposed the action with words. But Pope Benedict XVI, in the first policy test of his papacy, is going much further.

A Vatican official told Spaniards that if the measure passes, they must defy it. Officials should refuse to marry same-sex couples or even process the paperwork if they try to adopt a child. Bureaucrats and others who find themselves complicit in gay marriage or adoption should refuse to obey the law, even if it means losing their jobs.

"A law as deeply inequitable as this one is not an obligation," said Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo of Colombia, the head of the Pontifical Council on the Family. "One cannot say that a law is right simply because it is a law." To tell citizens that they should not obey the laws of their country is a very unusual and aggressive action. Said a history professor at a Spanish university, "I had never heard of such a direct call to civil disobedience."

American evangelicals, for all of their political activism, have not gone so far as to tell file clerks in Massachusetts to misplace the marriage records of gay couples, or a worker in an adoption agency to lose the application of homosexuals. And it is not clear that they should. It is a tough call on where to draw the line between Romans 13 ("be subject to the governing authorities") and Acts 5 ("we must obey God rather than men"). It may be easier under Roman Catholicism, with its ancient—and unbiblical—teaching that the church has temporal authority over the state.

Still, if the new pope is going to be this assertive on cultural issues, evangelicals should pay attention. Evangelicals and Catholics have huge—and important—theological differences, but when it comes to pro-life issues, sexual morality, and resistance to militant secularism, they find themselves on the same side of the culture wars.

Some critics say that a hard line from the pope will only increase the secularization of Europe. Eighty percent of Spaniards are Catholic, but only a third of them go to church and follow its teachings. Won't threatening the file clerks just drive them away? If the file clerks disobey and process the marriage licenses and adoption forms despite what the pope tells them to do, will the church excommunicate them? Whether the hard line makes the nominal Catholics quit or if the church expels them, either way the result will be fewer Catholics.

But this brings up the other part of the pope's strategy, one that is even more radical. Before he became pope, Cardinal Ratzinger argued that the church needs to get smaller so that it can become purer.

Some observers are interpreting this in institutional forms. "If it's true Pope Benedict XVI prefers a leaner, smaller, purer church as he has spoken of before," said Notre Dame professor R. Scott Appleby, "we could see a withering of certain Catholic institutions because they're not considered fully Catholic. This might include Catholic colleges, hospitals, and other Catholic institutions."

But surely it is precisely the nominal Catholics—those who claim membership but hardly ever go to church and ignore its teachings—that the new pope would be glad to be rid of.

The problem of secularism is not just with the outside culture thinking it can do without God. The deeper problem is that the church itself has become secularized. A smaller but purer church may well have more impact than the diffuse cultural Christianity that has lost its saltiness and its savor.

This is a challenge that evangelicals need to consider. With our megachurch, church-growth mindset, we often assume that bigger is better, and a church with lots of members is a strong church. Is this always true? In our efforts to reach the secular culture, is the secular culture instead sometimes reaching us?

The ideal would be to have both size and purity. But might there come a time when American evangelicalism too will need to be winnowed? —•

[TalBlack]

"I expect a general persecution of Christians in the United States in my lifetime."

I expect it WELL within your lifetime.

When things begin going downhill they may not be rolling very fast but there is an acceleration to the acceleration that people tend not to be in mind of and, well, as Willie Kieth said: "When something happens it happens fast". (Caine Mutiny)

[don-o]

Or are you saying that we should expect to achieve perfect justice in this world, rather than in the next?

Of course not. But, one must find a way to live life to improve things; and limit to the greatest extent possible participating and contributing to the institutionalization of evil - law of the land and whatnot.

[Tax-chick]

I agree.

[Tax-chick]

We will see, one way or another.

[goldstategop]

The Church could stand to lose half or more of its members and be healthier for it. You're going to get rid of the deadwood - the CINOs who stand in the way of the Church's vital and survival. Who needs a bunch of secularists and liberals who pretend to be Catholic but subvert the Church from within? Good riddance! This is exactly what the Left fears in a smaller and purer Church and let's all hope Pope Benedict has the gumption to get the job done.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Dionysiusdecordealcis]

no one is attempting to remove Catholics from service, the Vatican by counselling civil disobedience to secular law may just make it harder for some Catholics to be elected in the first place, as it was historically......

Au contraire, that's exactly what the Demonrats are trying to do by blocking the appointment of devout Evangelicals or Catholics (does William Pryor's name ring a bell) as judges. It's called a religious test. (A devout Catholic or devout Evangelical also cannot get tenure in social sciences or humanities at a major research university if he makes a point of integrating his faith with this academic work; he will probably be okay in the hard sciences if he avoids the question of origins, as he ought to, since it is a philosophical rather than science question, though whether he might be faced with letting other scientists who illicitly cross the line into philosophy and assert naturalistic origins go unanswered could come up).

[Tax-chick]

Then there are the ones who come to church on Christmas and Easter, crowd out the regular congregation, and don't even contribute to the Building Fund! (/s)

[Frank Sheed]

---In the United States, the Church has NO spiritual authority over the republic or any of the states---

In that the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, She has spiritual authority over ALL governments irrespective of their geographic location.

As to temporal authority, Christ instructed us to "render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

Campion is stating, if I am citing him correctly, that it would have been far better for Kennedy to lose his election not because he would have been indebted to a foreign power, but because his obligation was first to God.

As St. Thomas More said, "I am the King's good subject, but God's first."

Frank

[Dionysiusdecordealcis]

Sorry, my reply to you should have been directd to # 115 (CatoRenasci).

[Tax-chick]

Isn't Frank Sheed, like, dead?

[Frank Sheed]

---Sorry, but even though I agree with strenuous opposition to queer marraiges, the Pope is on very shakey ground here: telling citizens of another state to fail to do their duties under that state's laws is an attempt to assert temporal power.---

The Pope has a flock which constitutes the entire human race. He, as the successor of Peter, is charged to uphold the Deposit of Faith. He is charged simply to speak the Truth. Christ never argued with anyone; He simply proclaimed the Truth. Benedict XVI is doing the same in his capacity as the Bishop of Rome. He is upholding his mandate, "Whatever you shall bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The choice of what to do is now with the Spaniards.

Frank

[Frank Sheed]

---It's not so simple, it seems to me, for Catholics in public life.---

Amen+ Thomas More and Thomas a Becket both died for upholding their Faith against the whim of the State!

[Frank Sheed]

Bravo! Well said!

[Frank Sheed]

---I'm so glad you told me. I had no idea you knew God's will exactly.---

Yes, the Second Person of the Trinity revealed it to us. Grab any Bible; the version doesn't matter.

[netmilsmom]

Very wise my FRiend.
I would rather quit my job than lose my soul.

[netmilsmom]

>>I'm 38.<<

Why, you look so much younger! ;-).
You're just a tot. I'm pushing 45.

[delacoert]

Said a history professor at a Spanish university, "I had never heard of such a direct call to civil disobedience."

Unidentified source misreprepresenting the facts. Refusing to issue licenses or process paperwork etc. does not break the law. You might lose your job, but it's not against the law. Since it's not breaking the law it's not civil disobeience.

[Frank Sheed]

---I was responding to your post that stated that we should expect to lose---


In this life. We are only Strangers and Sojourners in this life.

[Diva]

does a foreign sovereign have the right to command American citizens in the performance of their duties to the republic?

He most certainly does if these laws go against the laws of God. What happened when Rome told Christians they had to accept ceasar as a god?

[Frank Sheed]

[Pinch myself}...OUCH... definitely no!