In light of the recent high-profile conversions of Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, Tammy Peterson, Candace Owens, and questionably the enigmatic Russell Brand, many have asked why they chose to enter the Catholic Church. Their answers to this question are public, especially Ms. Owens. She has detailed on several platforms what it is that brought her home to Catholicism. Her reasons, and those of her fellow converts need not be summarized here.
The sad reality is that many, too, leave the Catholic Church. They do so without fanfare but with some good reasons. Many leave the Church looking for succor. They either drift away from religion altogether, find comfort in pantheism, some amorphous “spirituality”, nature, the occult, yoga and meditation, or some protestant denomination. Why are they leaving is being asked too infrequently, and almost never by the correct people. Whether or not the defectors know it, they leave because the Catholic Church today is hiding its depth and its raison d’être to a large degree. Aside from access to the Sacraments, the Church today routinely covers its light with a bushel basket. And regarding the seven Sacraments, access to the pearls was even limited during the Covid response, leaving many to wonder just how important they are to a Catholic Church who left us without them for so long.
At best, the Church does not realize that it is in competition with the secular world for the attention of those in the pews. The Church is not equal to the task of wresting away from people their attention for an hour per week, and if that isn’t bad enough, just as often the Church is distracted itself.
This hypothesis is based upon the observation that homilists, and their bishops, seem to have all but forgotten the final entry of the Code of Canon Law of 1983, which states that the Supreme Law of the Church is the salvation of souls. It cannot be understated, nor should it be forgotten, in these modern times, the preeminence of that statement. In its ideal state, the Church exists for the task of bringing its adherents closer to Jesus Christ. This is achieved through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, instruction and evangelization, and through the Sacraments. In a very tangible way, times are difficult. Not necessarily worse than other times, but life is tempestuous. As it is written: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (Job 7:1) All of the suffering that the world endures can cause interior corrosion or, with proper direction, it can be made to serve a purpose. In the absence of authentic counsel of the Church there is only despair, but the Church, at its best, offers some consolation in the here and now. It also offers hope for the future that these sufferings present a salvific opportunity. If properly purposed, one comes to accept that the trials and tribulations of this world cannot be escaped. But not only that. If they are embraced, these crosses can become “sweetmeat and confection”, says Saint Louis de Montfort. But if no one is there to point that out, and if a path is never offered which transcends and focuses difficulty, the laity are never reminded how dealing with challenge properly prepares the soul. As a result, the average member of the laity either has to flesh this out on their own or they might just leave, looking elsewhere for comfort. “A negligent and lukewarm religious man has trouble upon trouble, and on every side suffers anguish, because he has no comfort within and is hindered from seeking any without.” (Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 25, number 7) Some stay in the Church and look deeper on their own. Not unlike Tammy Peterson, they enrich themselves in the depth of Catholicism through study, prayer, books and podcasts – which often originate from the laity. All of that is beautiful, but just like vitamin supplements, it is not the same as a healthy diet. Why is it that those who are suffering are often left to themselves to sort through the weeds for the message? The truly expressed Catholic Faith is guidance to navigate the narrow path, and at the same mysterious time it brings the Physician to the sick; the Fountain to the unclean; Light to blindness; Water to the parched tongue; Clothing to the naked; Lord of Heavan and Earth to the needy.
The problem is that people realize every day that they can live without the Church when she dilutes her message with environmentalism, politics, health directives, and music from Disney Cruise Line. In fairness, that sentence is incomplete. Mass attendees realize that they are already getting that information from other sources, and in realizing that they are getting nothing authentic or necessary from the pulpit, they discard the Church, making room for that which is not superfluous in their lives. This Holy Father and the Church in general are failing to convert and save souls. They are distracted, so why is it any surprise that some leave the pews.
The messages of this pope are not always wrong. But when Pope Francis is observed to use the Church to advance – or to suppress – his preferences, an observant people sense this. This sense flows right into the deduction, then, that this Holy See is about one man, and that man is not Jesus. This debases the Church into what many perceive as a cult. And even if it is not a cult, no one feels the need to set aside an hour a week just to hear about Francis’ favorite things. After all, he is not Oprah. He especially perpetuates this paradigm, when in the face of arguably heretical actions, he still favors his allies; James Martin, former Cardinal McCarrick and Marko Rupnik, all the while punishing those with whom he has ideological disagreements; Bishop Strickland, Archbishop Vigano, (Father) Frank Pavone and Father James Altman. Other examples on the agenda exist as well; the promulgation of homosexual marriage and the elimination of the Latin Mass. The latter has become seen as an unhinged vendetta. People are not stupid.
Interruption: Fr James Martin SJ is promoting these t shirts of the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a pride 🏳️🌈 flag.
Pope Francis praises and endorses Martin and even wrote the foreword to Martin’s new book!!!
Meanwhile, there are Francis-splainers on here defending Pope Francis… pic.twitter.com/2X3UJoI8ul
— Dr Taylor Marshall™️ (@TaylorRMarshall) June 30, 2024
Many in pain will not waste their time turning to a Church or priest whose main focus is sheltering migrants or the World Health Organization and World Economic Forum. The faithful Catholic can even accept that the Church is scandalized at times by imperfect and frail prelates because they know themselves to be scandalous and frail. Whether or not they can verbalize it, at a natural level people need and desire more than lectures on global warming. Gone are Rogation Days, Holy and Feast Days, Shrove Tuesday and most, if not all, non-Lent ascetic practices. Some of the faithful hunger for those. Conversely, in their day-to-day prayerful contemplation, people grow weary of asking themselves if they need to hunt down sustenance on their own because their pastor is off on some tangent about recycling.
Granted, some of these things may be important, but they belongs in the purview of the laity. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium, paragraph 31, tells us that the “laity are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.” But what “…specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature.” The charism of the laity is secular in nature. It is the laity that should be dealing with vaccinations, immigration and aluminum. “The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God.”
Meanwhile, the priestly charism is ordered toward the sacred, especially the Sacrifice of the Mass. Again, from Lumen Gentium: “It is true that those in holy orders can at times be engaged in secular activities… But they are by reason of their particular vocation especially and professedly ordained to the sacred ministry.” This is where they stray. They are supposed to sublimate the things of this world and focus on the saving of souls, those alive and those in purgatory. There is even an expression used in the Church for this overstretched condition. It is called clericalism. In Modern Catholic Dictionary by Father John Hardon, S.J., it is defined as “the advocacy of exaggerated claims on the part of the clergy, especially in matters that belong to the jurisdiction of the state.” In other words, avoiding clericalism means priests should stay in their lane.
This is not a call for fire and brimstone. There is a message of hope and purpose that flat out gets ignored or jumbled in the weekly announcements. Souls in the Church Militant are being lost because they are not guided properly. Souls in the Church Suffering, Purgatory, are forgotten because the importance of praying for them is no longer emphasized to Catholics. So, they suffer horribly because they are simply forgotten. Too many Catholics today believe that the poor souls in Purgatory are cleansed in a kind of ongoing baptism while being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. But the suffering in Purgatory, however temporarily, rivals the pain of hell. How many mortal sins are being committed because these are no longer addressed by a “companion” Church? It is not the duty of lay speakers and websites to be the largest source of nourishment and instruction. Catholics, even those who attend Mass regularly, are not getting what they need if they don’t go out looking for it on their own. Those who seek find treasure. Those who are not intellectually curious or spiritually hungry, – and to be honest, most people are not – no longer find the need for Holy Mother Church. The beauty and majesty of the Truth revealed is the salve. And without it, pews are emptying and Churches are closing. That is why vocations are lacking and souls are suffering or lost.
Louis Biad is a contributor to Catholics for Catholics.
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