Recently the pastor of my hometown parish announced that he was taking a leave of absence to reassess his vocation. He had taken a sabbatical just last year and it's reasonable to think that this was on his mind during that time as well. His stated reason was that the Church was too conservative and he had no enthusiasm for some of the recent initiatives in the Church (whatever that means).
Some may think that things are better this way and, in a sense, I'd agree with them. Having one less dissenting priest around is certainly a good thing. And I confess to a strange feeling about this, because I'd requested a novena of Masses for this priest and almost as soon as they were celebrated, he made his announcement. It wasn't my intention that he step down! I hardly know the guy, since this is my former parish and he became pastor long after I left. I had no idea he felt this way. But maybe God applied those intentions to helping him make up his mind.
But there's a larger issue of why he stepped down. If he's more liberal than the Church, then he likely felt isolated and alone in his liberalism. Loneliness is something that I think most of our diocesan priests face. With declining numbers of priests, they don't have much of a community to engage with. They may be the only one in the rectory. And of course the rest of us can also feel alone as well. Whether we think the Church is too liberal or too conservative, or too trendy or too traditional, or too this or too that, what we basically are saying is that no one in the Church is like us, and we have no one to confide in.
Myself, I sometimes despair that the Church is too liberal. When I heard the story of this pastor, my first impression was: he should move down here, he'd fit right in. While taking a Diocesan Catechist Certification class, I was told that Catholics committed more atrocities than any other group of German soldiers in WWII because of their tendency to follow orders, that women priests were right around the corner, and that Joan Chittister was a great model for Catholics to follow. That's a lot for a conservative, traditional-minded Catholic to swallow in one morning.
Unfortunately, I don't think we connect with our fellow Catholics enough. Our parishes are too big and the crowds produce a sea of anonymity. Finding a community of Catholics can help keep people in the center and away from the fringes on either the right or the left. Perhaps my hometown Pastor and Catechist instructor would have become more comfortable with "conservative" Church teaching if they were regularly exposed to good faithful Catholics who happened to be conservative. Perhaps I'd be more comfortable with the more liberal wing of the Church if I was regularly exposed to faithful Catholics who happened to be liberal.
What tends to happen though is that people find like-minded individuals, either in person or online, and that tends to pull them to the extremes. "You can fall out of the boat on the left side as easily as the right" as the saying goes. I don't think we can have a good discussion with people any more. Our role models on the cable news shows don't exhibit charity in their discussions. Their opponents are either Nazis or Communists, either crazy, evil or both. And unfortunately we carry that into our day to day interactions to the point that we are afraid of making contact with people for fear of being labeled a Nazi or a Commie or finding out the other person is a Nazi or Commie.
I'm not sure what to do about it, but perhaps greater participation in the various parish events is a good start. Getting involved with the charities, fundraisers and social groups (like K of C or CD of A) may help broaden horizons and make us comfortable with each other.
And of course prayer should be the biggest part of it all.
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