1. I’ve worked for and with the Church as a social worker. She is failing to observe that there is indeed a human element to the Church. As I used to say to my parish priest before he went “home”, “There is the Spotless Bride of Christ and there are the nutcases who work for it.”
2. She seems to imply that the Church has “arrived”, that there is no possible further change that could be made to the Church, and that it is perfect, and holds all of the truths. I would argue that the Church is actualliy an organic being following the koine Greek definition of “perfect” found in the New Testament, which is an implication that one should strive to be perfect. Some of these “truths” which we as Catholics hold dear are the result of conflict, strife, and disagreement. The Nicene Creed we recite every Sunday is a prime example, coming out of a Council which was made up of people with very different ideas of the nature of Christ. Today, in America, some of the fights are on the ordination of women and contraception. The Church will continue to grow as it deals with this. There was conflict involved in the Middle Ages when various religious movements developed inside and outside of the Church which fought against the corruption and gold-digging of church leaders at the time. As a result, we have the Franciscans and the lack of investiture. The Church is stronger for it. Dogma is much more mutable than physics.
My hope with this post was to show that the Truth of Christ is unchanging and unchangeable; however, our understanding of the truth changes.
The changes we see in the Church – like the change in the creed or the recognition of the failures of the “sons of the Church” – are signs of our growth towards that unchanging truth which is contained in divine revelation. We change but the truth does not change.
You mention the organic nature of the Church. It is true; there is an organic element of the Church. It is an “ancient and living” Church as opposed to a dead one. The truth was revealed to the early Church in seed form. In time that truth has unfolded and become clearer, as St. Paul says. But every development of truth is organically connected to that seed… just as an oak tree grows from an oak seed (see CCC 89).
Also, Dogma is a sure truth that we can count on. It is not mutable and it does not change. Regarding them, we called to an “irrevocable adherence of faith” (see CCC 88).
God Bless,
Mary H
MargaretApril 8, 2005 - 7:13 pm
Mary, I really liked your post. I especially liked the bit about the next PG&E president making electricity less shocking. I’ll have to try that one on anybody stupid enough to express their hopes to me in the next few days that the next pope will be more “in touch” or something like that.
4 comments
The only problems I have with her post are:
1. I’ve worked for and with the Church as a social worker. She is failing to observe that there is indeed a human element to the Church. As I used to say to my parish priest before he went “home”, “There is the Spotless Bride of Christ and there are the nutcases who work for it.”
2. She seems to imply that the Church has “arrived”, that there is no possible further change that could be made to the Church, and that it is perfect, and holds all of the truths. I would argue that the Church is actualliy an organic being following the koine Greek definition of “perfect” found in the New Testament, which is an implication that one should strive to be perfect. Some of these “truths” which we as Catholics hold dear are the result of conflict, strife, and disagreement. The Nicene Creed we recite every Sunday is a prime example, coming out of a Council which was made up of people with very different ideas of the nature of Christ. Today, in America, some of the fights are on the ordination of women and contraception. The Church will continue to grow as it deals with this. There was conflict involved in the Middle Ages when various religious movements developed inside and outside of the Church which fought against the corruption and gold-digging of church leaders at the time. As a result, we have the Franciscans and the lack of investiture. The Church is stronger for it. Dogma is much more mutable than physics.
Nate
Hi Nate,
Thanks for your comments.
My hope with this post was to show that the Truth of Christ is unchanging and unchangeable; however, our understanding of the truth changes.
The changes we see in the Church – like the change in the creed or the recognition of the failures of the “sons of the Church” – are signs of our growth towards that unchanging truth which is contained in divine revelation. We change but the truth does not change.
You mention the organic nature of the Church. It is true; there is an organic element of the Church. It is an “ancient and living” Church as opposed to a dead one. The truth was revealed to the early Church in seed form. In time that truth has unfolded and become clearer, as St. Paul says. But every development of truth is organically connected to that seed… just as an oak tree grows from an oak seed (see CCC 89).
Also, Dogma is a sure truth that we can count on. It is not mutable and it does not change. Regarding them, we called to an “irrevocable adherence of faith” (see CCC 88).
God Bless,
Mary H
Mary, I really liked your post. I especially liked the bit about the next PG&E president making electricity less shocking. I’ll have to try that one on anybody stupid enough to express their hopes to me in the next few days that the next pope will be more “in touch” or something like that.
Thank you Margaret. 🙂
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