Reasons for Hope

In the face of the heartbreaking, scandalous decline of the papacy and episcopacy, I am boundlessly encouraged, hopeful and joyfully confident about my Catholic Church. The short answer: our Church is regularly disheartening in its human aspect, but endlessly delightful in the divine.

More specifically:

1.  Christ promised that He, and the Holy Spirit, would be with the Church...always, always, always...unconditionally, efficaciously, endlessly! Concretely, we have the effficacious sacraments, the Word of God, the infallible magisterium, the witness of the doctors and fathers, and the company of the saints (on earth, in purgatory and in heaven). A different formulation of this is my "Father Burke Principle." For the first 20 years of my life, our pastor, Father Burke (nicknamed "no work Burke") was Never around: he would appear randomly, bounce around in a theatrical cape, and act strangely and distantly. As a 12-year old altar boy I knew he suffered alcoholism or a mental disorder. BUT, the work of the parish went on marvelously:  thousands of us were graciously baptized, catechized, married, buried and so forth...through the broader Church of priests, sisters and brother. Christ does not need good leadership at the top to guide and sanctify His bride and body.

2.  There is a fierce resilience and persistence to sound religious traditions. To be sure, they are not invulnerable; but they are ferociously resistant to suppression. Consider practices like the rosary, devotion to the saints, the Latin Mass, Eucharistic adoration! Even when not encouraged by the clergy, the laity pass these on from generation to generation. Consider the miraculous success of EWTN: without theological sophistication or the support of bishops or popes, this humble group powerfully passes on a no-frills, meat-and-potatoes, common sense Catholic faith to countless believers.

3.  The alternative, a liberal and accomodating faith, "Catholic lite", is lacking in vigor and appeal. It will always attract the majority who want to keep their faith but adopt what they like best in society, whether that is sterile sex or gender uniformity or the dismissal of useless human lives. The resurgence of this in the current pontificate may well prevail in the new episcopacy and the Vatican, but it is shallow and without charm.

4.  The lay ecclesial movements and the younger religious orders are a breath of fresh air, enlivening the Church and re-expressing Tradition in creative, exciting ways. They are bearing fruit in vocations, large families, energetic communities and fervent evangelization and catechesis. They are the hope of the Church.

5.  Young priests: those now in their 30s and 40s are often traditional or influenced by John Paul and Benedict. This may be especially true of those who studied in Rome and are destined to take leadership in their local churches. They will not implement the agenda of Team Francis. And we can anticipate a tension between the new episcopacy and the new priesthood.

6. The Catholic Church has a genius for living with a degree of division and disagreement. For sure, we have clear boundaries and beliefs; but we are not a narrow cult; we tolerate well a degree of dissent and disagreement. For example, for the last 50 years since Humanae Vitae we have been in virtual schism on sex, authority, gender and tradition. But the pastoral decision in 1968 was to go easy and tolerate the dissent. There was a cost to this decision: a confusion about the Truth. But the gain was the unity of the Church and an ongoing openness to those unable to understand or accept Church teaching. My own archdiocese of Newark now has a strong liberal in Cardinal Joseph Tobin who succeeded a conservative, Archbishop Meyers. Both have been clear in their pastoral and theological visions; and both have been generous, tolerant and gracious to those who see things differently. And so, as the episcopacy goes liberal and the lower clergy conservative, we will not see a real schism: we will see mutual respect, charity and generosity, along with tension.

7. The spiritual/theological legacy of John Paul, Benedict and their school (Baltasar/Speyr, Girard, DeLubac) is incomprehensibly rich, profound, promising. They have done for the third milenium what Augustine did for the first and Thomas for the second. They are exiled by the current pope but their work will bear abundant fruit, slowly and patiently.

8.  Perhaps most important, I remind myself that ultimately the only thing that really matters is my own holiness. As I grow in closeness to God, as I respond docilely to the promptings of the Holy Spirit; as I am made fresh and pure in Love, I will draw those around me in the same direction. That is all that counts!