Authority always has the tendancy to make some people feel that those with the authority are unapproachable. But my esperience has been otherwise with the authority structure in the Roman Church. I have spoken to my bishops on many occasions. Even more, I have spoken to my priests. I think this ties quite well into my papacy dependancy remark earlier. It is true that the Pope is not too accessible to the average member of the laity, but the pope should not have to be. Many things can be addressed much lower in the heirarchy than people bother trying.
It amazes me reading the catholicism community. People ask questions - oftentimes that cannot be answered universally - that they could easily just go ask their priest. But they don't, they just leave their questions insufficiently answered.
I think it is rather difficult to look at the Church from the outside and really understand the structure .. especially for Westerners and most especially for Americans. The Church hierarchy is not legislating like our government does. They are not creating beliefs, but revealing them. Take the example that you give, either it is morally acceptable to purposefully allow someone to starve to death or it isn't. Yes, there are all sorts of other considerations, other moralities and immoralities, extenuating circumstances and circumstantial specifics, but they do not change that one issue. Though much of our world is - and though catholics often woefully fall into the same trap - there is no place for moral relativism in Catholicism. It is not that the "lower" people in the Church have no choice as to whether to accept what the "upper" people say, it is a matter of all the church either embracing or rejecting that which is good and that which is bad. In fact, the lower/upper dichotomy is a perversion of the structure of the Church - one that even the church falls into from time to time unfortunately.
And, we cannot forget, that at one time, every priest, every bishop, every pope, every religious, was once a member of the laity. Every one of them was raised to some extent by the laity. Many of our theologians come from the laity. Most sponsors for converts come from the laity. Motherhood and fatherhood actually play the biggest role in shaping the Church through the way they raise their children. Most movements that have changed the Church - catholic workers, liberation theology, liturgical reform, clerical reform, popular devotion, the very nature of the sacraments - have started in the laity. The laity has tremendous power in the Church, it is just that many choose to live their faith passively and not embrace their role as a priestly people.
The clergy will tell you unabashedly that there is nothing about their vocation that inherently makes them more holy. They are sinners just like the laity. They need forgiveness just like the laity. It truly is a situation of where the only one that can disenfranchise a person is themself.
I have heard priests quietly voice their qualms about certain doctrines. But I have also heard priests vocally express their qualms. Passive-aggressive behavior changes nothing, and I find that most of the people who complain about the these matters do not truly act.
BTW, do you know what heresy the priest was being accused of?
I am, of course, biased on this account. I see the Catholic faith *and* religion as tremedously empowering and vitalizing. But many just go through the motions and then complain about the "failings" of the religion. Many do not take an active role and then complain about how things are going at their parish or in their diocese. Many use the excuse of a "preist shortage" to justify all kinds of stances, but simultaneously raise their children to avoid the religious life. Faith must be lived. Many want the faith to transform to suit them, but the point of faith is to transform us.
sorry for the rant .. i just looked at the preview pane and this is quite long
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-03-25 10:59 am (UTC)It amazes me reading the
I think it is rather difficult to look at the Church from the outside and really understand the structure .. especially for Westerners and most especially for Americans. The Church hierarchy is not legislating like our government does. They are not creating beliefs, but revealing them. Take the example that you give, either it is morally acceptable to purposefully allow someone to starve to death or it isn't. Yes, there are all sorts of other considerations, other moralities and immoralities, extenuating circumstances and circumstantial specifics, but they do not change that one issue. Though much of our world is - and though catholics often woefully fall into the same trap - there is no place for moral relativism in Catholicism. It is not that the "lower" people in the Church have no choice as to whether to accept what the "upper" people say, it is a matter of all the church either embracing or rejecting that which is good and that which is bad. In fact, the lower/upper dichotomy is a perversion of the structure of the Church - one that even the church falls into from time to time unfortunately.
And, we cannot forget, that at one time, every priest, every bishop, every pope, every religious, was once a member of the laity. Every one of them was raised to some extent by the laity. Many of our theologians come from the laity. Most sponsors for converts come from the laity. Motherhood and fatherhood actually play the biggest role in shaping the Church through the way they raise their children. Most movements that have changed the Church - catholic workers, liberation theology, liturgical reform, clerical reform, popular devotion, the very nature of the sacraments - have started in the laity. The laity has tremendous power in the Church, it is just that many choose to live their faith passively and not embrace their role as a priestly people.
The clergy will tell you unabashedly that there is nothing about their vocation that inherently makes them more holy. They are sinners just like the laity. They need forgiveness just like the laity. It truly is a situation of where the only one that can disenfranchise a person is themself.
I have heard priests quietly voice their qualms about certain doctrines. But I have also heard priests vocally express their qualms. Passive-aggressive behavior changes nothing, and I find that most of the people who complain about the these matters do not truly act.
BTW, do you know what heresy the priest was being accused of?
I am, of course, biased on this account. I see the Catholic faith *and* religion as tremedously empowering and vitalizing. But many just go through the motions and then complain about the "failings" of the religion. Many do not take an active role and then complain about how things are going at their parish or in their diocese. Many use the excuse of a "preist shortage" to justify all kinds of stances, but simultaneously raise their children to avoid the religious life. Faith must be lived. Many want the faith to transform to suit them, but the point of faith is to transform us.
sorry for the rant .. i just looked at the preview pane and this is quite long