Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
In the Sound of Music, Maria (Julie Andrews) sang of her favorite things– raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and the like. What are our “favorite things” as Catholics? Popular culture, whether justified or unjustified, is quick to assign us the following “favorites” (as they perceive us): superficiality, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness.
In 1981, long before the abuse crisis unraveled, the Archdiocese of Hartford received a lofty real estate offer. They owned valuable downtown property, and accepting the lucrative offer, the tenants there found themselves homeless.
The harshest critics of this move were Catholics who’d left the church. This was 1981, – eons before the global pedophile revelations, eons before some Bishops got cozy with certain amoral politicians who exemplify the antithesis of Gospel values.
So it’s no surprise, according to Gallup, that we lost over 20 percent of the people-in-the-pew between 2010 and 2020. The bleeding hasn’t stopped. Hypocrisy is clearly a turnoff, yet some Church leaders keep finding new ways to alienate.
Rather than condemning those who left, would it be better for us to ask the question, “why?”
Of our four adult children, 3 sons and a daughter, only one practices the faith. All four grew up in a Catholic home (ours) and attended at least 13 years of Catholic schools. They were seeped in parish life (Nativity of Our Lord in Cincinnati). But for them whenever our bishops publicly single out a person or a group of persons it is like the screeching of fingernails on a chalkboard.
Our kids are truly generous people. They admit that Catholic social teaching has impacted them. It’s in their bones. They live very simply as do their spouses. One served full time for years on the staff of a street outreach in one of the meanest and most unforgiving LA neighborhoods. His clientele were street people, drug addicts, and the mentally ill. His brother also assisted there. There was danger in those streets.
Yet neither sons want anything to do with the Church. Although they admire Pope Francis, they reject organized religion of any kind. Like Gandhi they are apt to say, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians.”
And there are countless numbers of seeking and sincere young people just like them.
It is natural for us to become defensive when we hear stories like my family’s. It is understandable because we love the church so much. But today Jesus demands that we put honesty and humility above all else. Pride cannot have a home.
What is required is our own sincere soul searching and listening — respecting, and honoring their journey, rather than fretting, pointing fingers and judging.This is not a suggestion or recommendation. It is the command of the Gospel proclaimed today.
-Timothy J. Cronin