Quote of the Day

. . . Most of the Catholics I know who have left have not rejected the Eucharistic aspect of Catholicism. They have rejected the authority structure. They have rejected what passes for Episcopal authority because it's bankrupt in it's integrity, and unaccountable for any of its acts. The stench inside the doors is too much. It covers up that which is hidden within the doors. The only Catholics who seem oblivious to this are either somehow above it all, or whose fear of hell keeps them solidly in denial. The rest of us are stuck somewhere out in the parking lot. Sort of in our own evacuation zone outside the toxic spiritual pollution. If that's the case, maybe we should just have Mass out in the parking lot, celebrated by priests who feel the same way. I'm sure the collections would be large enough to support the priests out there with the rest of us and there would be one other side benefit. We wouldn't have to use the new Mass translation.

In the meantime the desperate true believers and their unaccountable leadership could continue to desperately try to save a clerical system which is beyond salvation until they see they have to bury it for their own good. . . .

– Colleen Kochivar Baker
"Is It Lay Passivity or a Self Imposed Evacuation Zone?"
Enlightened Catholicism
March 20, 2011

Related Off-site Link:
Sex Abuse and the Legacy of Lay Passivity – Jamie L. Manson (National Catholic Reporter, March 14, 2011).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
What It Means to Be Catholic
The "Underground Church"
The Emerging Church
The Shrinking Catholic Tent
Dispatches from the Periphery
A Catholic "Crisis and Opportunity" in South Minneapolis
A "Catholic Moment" in Brisbane
An Update on St. Mary's in Brisbane
Of Mustard Seeds and Walled Gardens
Time to Go?
Knowing What to Do, Knowing Why to Stay