Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Staying on Board


Earlier this evening I attended a meeting of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform at the home of my friends Bernie and Eileen Rodel. They, myself, and a number of others are on the committee that’s planning this Saturday’s prayer breakfast that will not only launch a series of “synods of the baptized” but will feature Voice of the Faithful vice-president Janet Hauter as keynote speaker.

Looking through Bernie’s great collection of books on theology I came across Hans Küng’s Reforming the Church Today: Keeping Hope Alive (Crossroads, 1990). And since I’m being very intentional this week in highlighting and sharing thoughts and writings of hope I thought I’d share an excerpt from this book (with thanks to Bernie for loaning it to me so as to do just that!).

I find it interesting that Küng employs the metaphor of a floundering ship to describe the current state of the Church as this is exactly how I’ve been recently thinking of the Church! I’m not planning, however, on heading to the lifeboats – though I certainly don’t think any less of those who do. Indeed, if necessary, I’m happy to direct and help folks to them. But personally, I’m committed to staying on board and doing what I can so as to, in the words of Mary Hunt, “re-think the basis and repair the damage.” And besides, I’ve always loved a good and challenging adventure!

And so, it seems, does Hans Küng, as the following excerpt from his hopeful book, Reforming the Church Today, attests.

_____________________________________


Why am I staying in the Church? Because, in critical loyalty, there is so much in this community and its history that I can affirm, so much in this community from which, like so many others, I draw life. I am staying in the Church because, along with the other members of this community of faith, we are the Church. (One should not confuse the Church with its apparatus or administrators; nor leave it to them alone to mold the community.) I am staying in the Church because, with all the strong objections against it, here I am at home. Here all the great questions are asked: where and whence, the why and how of human beings and our world. I could not think of turning my back on the Church any more than, in the political sphere, I could turn my back on democracy, which, in its own way no less than the Church, is being misused and abused.

Of course, there is also the other possibility. And I have good friends who have chosen it. In the light of its decline, some have broken with the Church for the sake of higher values, maybe even for the sake of being more genuinely Christian. There are individual Christians outside the institutional Church, perhaps, in short-lived boundary-situations, groups of Christians as well. I respect such a decision and even understand it. During the present depression in the Catholic Church – following upon the conciliar euphoria under John XXIII – I understand more than ever why people leave.




I could certainly give as many reasons for leaving as those who have left. Jumping ship for some may be an act of honesty, courage, protest, necessity, or simply the inability to take any more. For me personally, though, it would be an act of weakness, failure, capitulation. I helped sail it in better days; should I give up the ship in a storm? Should I leave it to others, with whom I have sailed, to stem the wind, to bail out the water, even to struggle ultimately for survival? I have received too much from this community to be able to leave so easily. I have been too involved in Church reform and renewal to be willing to disappoint those who have been involved with me. To those opposed to renewal, I do not want to give the pleasure of my leaving; to the partisans of renewal, I do not want to give the pain.

Every day, every hour, the work of Jesus is in truth being accomplished by the witness of ordinary Christians who are making the Church present in the world. And so this would be my decisive answer: I am staying in the Church because I have been convinced by Jesus Christ and all that he stands for, and because the Church-community, despite all its failures, pleads the cause of Jesus Christ and must continue to do so.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
A Brave Hope
Choosing to Stay
One Catholic Gay Parent Who Isn’t Leaving the Church
Rome Falling
Clearing Away the Debris
Something We Dare Call Hope

For more of Hans Küng at The Wild Reed, see:
Hans Küng: Still Speaking from the Heart of the Church
In Search of a “Global Ethic”
An Intriguing Thought
“We Are Facing a Structural Problem”

Images 1 and 3: Christian Stenfelt.
Image 2: Charles J. DeLacy.


3 comments:

brian gerard said...

Just what I needed to read today, Michael.

Phillip Clark said...

Thanks Michael! As always, I see that Fr. Kung always embodies that same sense of optimism, however battered, that remains within me and compels me ever forward. We must not lose hope!

This Easter, my mother was rather discouraged (in light of the economic situation, for as it has been for so many individuals things have been a little bit more difficult...) and dismayed. On her card for Easter Sunday I reminded her of one of the readings for that day. In St. John's account of the Resurrection, when the risen Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene He informs her that He is alive and that He will continue to go before her unto Gallilee.

In that beautiful, festive sequence "Victimate paschali laudes" which we sing in joy on Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene in her own words tell us that Christ goes before us, into Gallilee. Reflecting on this sentiment, I've realized that in all aspects and stages of our lives Christ is always BEFORE us. Whether we sense Him or not, and no matter how long it takes for us to catch up to Him, Jesus is always a few steps ahead of us, ready to lead us in wisdom. Perhaps it will take the leaders of the Church a little while to understand that Christ is no longer behind us, in the past, but continues to move forward guiding all of humanity with His love and Mercy! This thought spurs me on to continue to pray for our Bishops, as well as our Holy Father, that eventually they will be able to turn and follow the Lord who goes BEFORE us and leads us into ever new territory!

I've just realized how much Joseph Ratzinger would be able to identify with this idea of "turning towards the Lord." Maybe he just doesn't realize that perhaps he hasn't turned around completely just yet... Tomorrow as he celebrates his 82nd birthday, let's pray that the Lord would continue to enlighten him in wisdom and truth!

I will forever remain an optimist, what can i say...? =P If Christ is FOR us WHO can be against us?

Michael J. Bayly said...

Hi Brian and Phillip,

Thanks for your comments.

Peace,

Michael