Jesus' Church

Someone said to me recently, "I want my Church back". He was expressing the sadness he felt that the beauty and grandeur of the Church, which was largely unchanged for 2000 years, seemed to have been abandoned in the protestantization of Catholic practice over 50 years ago. I completely sympathized with his angst and said I have the same sadness and grief at how protestant practices were allowed to influence the renewal of the Catholic Church after Vatican II.

I did, however, (politely and gently) express disagreement with his assumption. He was assuming that someone had "taken" the Church away from us. In truth, that can never happen. The Church is owned (and protected) by Christ the Lord, and can never truly be "taken away" from us. The Church can be attacked, it can be harmed, it can be diminished, but it can never be lost. Christ promised that the gates of Hades would never prevail against her.

In actuality, the Church was not "taken away" it was "taken over". She is still here, and we are still her children. It is just that many of those making major decisions in the Church (and it was not always the Popes, sometimes others pull the strings--make sure you are clear on that fact!) were not always doing so in accord with the Catholic faith. If a bad manager is hired at a business, the business is not gone, it is just "under enemy occupation".

We are dealing with similar issues in the Church today. Those who have taken charge (legitimately or not) have even gone so far as to mislead many of her children into thinking that the protestant way of doing things (though never referred to like that) is just the "new Catholic way". This might deceive a few of those who have never really experienced protestantism. For those of us, however, who have "been there, done that" we can see it clearly.

Civil governments, and secular corporations can always be stolen away. Any organization started by men can be taken, which includes religious organizations. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, however, can not be taken. Let us work to protect her borders; let us seek to do the work necessary to make sure that she return to the path of righteousness and never give in to despair. This is Jesus' Church, and no one can take it out of His hand.