Turbulent Waters

A faithful priest will always be willing to say what needs to be said. That means that there are times when he needs to correct an errant parishioner by telling him he is wrong. I do know of a couple priests who actually like doing this (and they give me the creeps being around them). Most priests, however, do not like hurting their parishioners; they want them to find salvation and work to lead them on that path (even if they are confused about what that path actually is!).

The last few days have been a sad case of contention in the Church. Rome recently released the document "Mater Populi Fidelis" about the right use of titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary. I have already written in regard to a few basic points of the document, and I will not repeat them here. I will, however, point out that I had a few other thoughts about how people are handling this whole thing. Regardless of whether the Dicastery is correct or not, there is a godly way to deal with these kind of things.

So, I sat down to write a full post about it, and ended up deleting the entire thing. Why, you may ask? Because I realized in the current climate it is almost impossible to be certain that people will take what you say correctly. I could write words of good solid counsel and still have people overreact and throw a fit. Just like Rome publishing the document leads to people reacting with much zeal; so also if I write something about it there can be even more zeal.

The context that we live in is such that Rome should have been more careful in what she said and how she said it. This means that I have to be cautious. If I can learn from their "mistake" (I use that word hesitantly), then I will realize I cannot merely charge forward in giving my opinion. If I say I agree with the document, someone will call me an apostate (for agreeing with something he does not like). If I say I disagree with the document a different person will call me an apostate (for not submitting to the Church).

We really do need to learn better how to talk about difficult subjects. We need to stop responding the way that protestants do by running off and protesting every time someone says something we disagree with. This is not the first time that the Catholic Church ever had to deal with a disagreement, but technology may make this the first time we have had this many people fighting over it. If a priest cannot guide his people in faithfulness because he is concerned about how many people will misunderstand him, then something is seriously wrong. Pray that I can speak the truth, and that the Catholic Church throughout the world may find true faithfulness.