The Catholic Church post Vatican II

Archbishop Fulton J Sheen, one of the most popular tele-evangelists of the Catholic Faith once said

Pope Pius XII with Archbishop Fulton John Sheen

“There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.” The Catholic Faith is God's gift to humanity, it is 'The Church' and thus the mystical body of Christ, His Bride and to her He laid down His life and hence in the Credo we say, "I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church". Her holiness proceeds not from her members or her children in the Church Militant but rather from Her master and Bridegroom. In some small measure it also proceeds from her members in the Church Suffering (souls in purgatory) and Church Triumphant (the holy saints of God in Heaven).

The doctrines of the Catholic Church are the teachings of Christ the bridegroom and they are re-interpreted for the faithful in their own generation but they are never changed or altered. Some very close friends of mine once said to me;

• Who is the magisterium of the Catholic? They sit in judgement of people and pass their own rules and regulations and impose those on people, who do they think they are?
• The cardinals, bishops and the pope chose to be celibate but impose hard conditions on the married by forcing them to stop using artificial contraception in favour of NFP (which saves the same purpose) and they want us to have very large families and they will not lift a finger to help us raise those children. Their hidden agenda is to have priests and nuns from large families that can't afford to send those kids to school."
• The Catholic Church expects people to adhere to their teachings but these things are never preached at Mass, where do they expect people to get such information?

Statements such as these have become part of the reason driving Catholics away to Protestant and Evangelical sects or assemblies. The clergy in this century have done little to nothing in feeding Christ's sheep. In many areas around the world church buildings have either been sold or they stand abandoned due to the dwindling number of people attending Mass at any particular day in the week. In Africa large numbers of people go for Mass every Sunday, zero to two people go for Confession "Sacrament of Reconciliation" on any given Saturday in the 30 minutes scheduled just before Mass although everyone receives Holy Communion. The African Catholics fall into three major classes;

• The over 50s who grew up when the CCC was taught without any influences from Protestantism, however, these are fast disappearing, hugely ignored and so they keep to themselves;
• The under 50s who grew up when most if not all Catholic teachings were being watered down and, challenged and being labelled hang-overs from the middle ages; the teachings on reverence at Mass, Hell, purgatory, no salvation outside the Church etc. etc. were labelled fundamentalist ideologies that try to make us scared of God;
• The new breed of Catholics on fire for Holy Mother Church, but always in very small numbers and are hugely ignored and labelled as fanatics that live in the 'old church' which is no longer relevant.

The middle group is always in the huge majority. These are mostly professional and liberal Catholics  who claim leadership roles in the chancery, the parish and other places. These make up the bulk of the teaching crew, thus irreverent noises at Mass, immodesty in dressing, cafeteria Catholicism and more protestant beliefs and practises become characteristic of the whole parish.

The road back

As I mentioned about my friends above, the Church has moved way away from what it ought to be teaching, what its core business is as defined by Christ and reminded to us by Pope Benedict XVI in the Salt of the Earth and that is that the Church exists solely for the salvation of souls. Other things are secondary, even charitable collections, money generating projects and social justice take secondary place to salvation of souls, a cause that led Christ Jesus to death on the cross. The first call is to individuals to take it upon themselves to live an intense struggle against evil and this does not matter what your status is either in the Church or in civil society. In the Hobbit, lady Galadriel asked Gandalf why he had included a hobbit in the quest to reclaim Erebor from the dragon Smaug. Gandalf replied;

Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.

This is because God plus one person makes up a formidable army. Gandalf's response here has also been taught to us by St Therese of Lisieux and recently also by Blessed Mother Teresa "to do small things with great love". Each one of us has the role to take up the arms of our faith and do battle. Each one needs to study the faith intensely, one small bit at a time so as to know God through knowledge of His Church and its teaching. In Hosea 4:4-9 God says;

But let no one denounce, no one rebuke; it is you, priest, that I denounce. Priest, you will stumble in broad daylight, and the prophet will stumble with you in the dark, and I will make your mother perish. My people perish for want of knowledge. Since you yourself have rejected knowledge, so I shall reject you from my priesthood; since you have forgotten the teaching of your God, I in my turn shall forget your children. The more of them there have been, the more they have sinned against me; they have bartered their Glory for Shame. They feed on the sin of my people, they are greedy for their iniquity. But as with the people, so with the priest, I shall punish them for their conduct, I shall pay them back for their deeds.

The road back is not an easy one but each of us can make it exciting for themselves. Reading and discussion Church teaching can become an exciting hobby and the benefits to ourselves and our loved ones is enormous. Faith is one of the Theological virtues that only God can give, however, it is incumbent upon ourselves as individual with such gifts to nurture them and help others along the way. It is true that we learn more in prayer under the cross of Christ, more than from books but we need to make the effort.

The invitation

I am not a good writer as you must have seen from reading my posts but the love of the Catholic Church pushes me to rise above this shortfall. I invite all those interested in growing their faith, to join me as I embark on the journey to grow mine. Please join as a member on this blog and let us light up the fire, let us tag our friends on facebook, twitter and other social hangouts and grow this group.

It is the love for Christ and His Church that is required here and not exceptional knowledge of Church history and Theology although that would be good to help others such as myself to understand better and come to a better knowledge of God. Thank you for reading.