Is it just trying to do too much? (Main Forum)

by Dolores , Northeastern USA, Monday, October 24, 2011, 04:16 (575 days ago) @ Brian Coyne
edited by Dolores, Monday, October 24, 2011, 04:32

Brian, I have been lucky enough to have heard homilies that are "from the heart" based on personal experience. Years ago on Holy Thursday the priest humbly admitted that he was having doubts as to the reality of it all. He was struggling but in that sermon helped to end my struggle in letting me know that struggling was a part of it all. At Easter vigil last year my pastor gave a sermon truly "from the heart" which he prefaced with "I know we are all friends here so I can say this".

But I do agree with you that most priests adjust their talks to those who don't question the rules. My own experience has been that I can talk one-on-one with a priest and they understand "where I'm coming from". But when they get up in front of a crowd - the talk follows the standard, accepted format for general consumption.

What I have been wondering for a long time - is the Catholic Church trying to do too much for too many people? It has become an institution and as such sets up rules to be followed by all. But when I think of how vast the "all" is, I am amazed that the whole thing works at all. I've begun comparing the RCC to the US. We have federal laws governing 50 states. In New England we tend to question any law less than 100years old as being new fangled. In California, they eagerly break new ground as far as laws are concerned. Even if their laws contradict the federal laws.

Then you have the institution of the Church that sets rules for a over a billion people in 150+ countries (link). Unlike the US where the states can promote their own laws, the church demands we all follow the same laws. So what is not acceptable in a particular country may easily become the rule for the entire church. Until enough time passes and what was once unacceptable is now acceptable everywhere. Fr Rohr mentions this as the reason he believes women priests will happen but will be a long time coming. Not because of all the doctrinal reasons they spout but because of the pragmatic reasoning that it would not be accepted in certain countries and they do not want to alienate them.

Even though we speak of an Irish Church and an Australian Church and an American Church this really isn't true in fact. We are all forced to follow the same rules even though we may have vastly differing needs.

It is probably oversimplifying it but I like to think of it like the speed limit in the US. The standard speed limit of 55 mph (89 km/h) works well on highways through populated areas. But it is much too slow where you have long stretches of open empty roads in rural areas. When they began to allow higher limits these areas, people in the city complained of the potential accidents in the rural areas. Their arguments made sense given the number of cars in their area. But they were out of step with the rural areas.

So Rome has shown that it doesn't understand the needs of the rural areas of Australia. It probably can't comprehend them. I can't comprehend them - Toowoomba is the size of Montana?! And I read there are only 18 priests - do they really understand the picture? If not why?

The one thing I keep coming back to is their need to establish rules for such a huge disparate group. Not just guidelines but dogmatic rules. It must be overwhelming. And to try and understand people from all these areas and really understand their problems. How can that even happen if someone like Pell keeps acting like he's from Rome rather than Australia?

Thank you for your insights - they do give me an understanding of just how overwhelming these "temple police" people can be. It's so easy being just me and having the choice to ignore them and their rules. And that's just about little things. When you seriously consider abortion and the serious issues women (and men) must face, it gets too mind boggling. "They" choose only to see black and white when we live in a world of shades of grey.

Go with Love, Go with God