And it is not only one thing that is handicapping the Church. Its the old buildings and the old set of obligations to organizations that have lost their Catholic character from 'Development and Peace' to your local neighbourhood 'Catholic' university. (...) Most chanceries are full of people being paid by collection money who often do not hold the Catholic Faith in any real sense. The crew in the offices of Development and Peace would constitute a ideologically accurate cross-section of the sort of secularism involved in many of these antiquated institutions. The dispersal of moneys by D & P to abortion advocacy groups was not an accident. And it was not the work of bishops. It was the work of smart and deliberative lay people who were too clever for the bishops to whom they are suppose to answer.[I think he gives the bishops too much credit!] The employees of D & P reserched the groups to whom they gave the funds, and they were pleased with what they found.And then LifeSiteNews had to come and upset the good thing they had going there. Any of the D & P employees get fired over this one? After all, weren't they paid to do one thing and one thing only - find worthy institutions in the Third World to support?It's the story of my life!
Unfortunately, many social justice outfits are inundated with philosophies that cannot be reconciled with the Catholic Faith. At best we might apply the old term 'liberation theology' to them, but the thinking in some of these groups has become so paganized and socialistic that in some cases they have removed the 'theology' commitment altogether; they have left the essential foundations of the Faith far behind in a way that 'liberation theology' had not thirty years ago.
(...)
The Church that many of us experience is an institution, a lifeless, temporally-constrained institution. It is too tempting for clergy to think in institutional terms and not in terms of the charisms of their mission.The great missions seem always to deviate from the mode of the time.
Personally, I need to get beyond something, beyond my disappointment with a prelate who could, but will not, help a certain apostolate with which I am involved. I have a dread fear that he is in the hands of lawyers and businessmen. In this fact alone do we see proof that the enemies of the Church have won. They have made us trade holiness for prudence.[Isn't that the TRUTH!!!]
These days the life of a devout laymen is one of disappointment, if he expects any apostolic help from the one place where he would naturally expect it.
But I feel like many faithful lay people like myself live mostly apart from the institutional Church because of this situation. We go to Mass. That's about it. Then again, I sense that that's what some liberal Catholic elites want-- to be left alone to push their ideology.
Why would I have anything to do with the colleges, the groups, the D &P's and so on when you're never sure that you're going to upset the apple cart with your Catholic theology? I'm all for witness, but there's a case to be made for not wasting your energy with dead wood.
I must admit, it's a bit better since I moved to Ottawa. But I know that I'm lucky. I know that many faithful Catholics are craving leadership from the Canadian Church. And not getting it. Even in the form of decent homelies. Heck, if just the homelies were edifying, that would be a big plus.
