On the Futility of Church Reform

A 300-strong faction within the Catholic Church in Austria has declared open rebellion against the Church hierarchy, calling for policy changes such as allowing remarried divorcees to take communion and letting women become priests. The “Priests’ Initiative,” which is pushing for these, was started by the former Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Vienna and director of Caritas, Helmut Schüller. Their demands have been seen as refusing obedience to the Pope, a sin that merits excommunication. Sure enough, Vienna’s Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn has threatened them with (or informed them of the risk of) that penalty.

Helmut Schüller, leader of Priests' Initiative

 

Even as a former Catholic, one of the traits about the Roman Catholic Church that I can at least admire is their tenacity and refusal to yield to societal pressure. Because, if indeed the Roman Catholic Church is the one organization God himself thought to start, then changing any core teaching of the Church would be against the will of God. And I think the Church hierarchy, from the pope down to the parish priests, agree with me on this. This is why it is simply unrealistic to expect the Church to budge on issues such as these, either in Vienna or in Manila. It is for this reason that I find it hard to sympathize with Schüller’s cause.

There is an easier and more intellectually honest solution for Schüller and his followers: leave the Church. Start a new religion or drop religion altogether. As much as I’d like to believe that the Church would be willing to consider the possibility of reform and acceptance of progress, changing their tenets simply surrenders too much and renders their Church impotent. It is either God commanded the Church to have these totalitarian dictates or he did not.

Look at what these “rebels” are fighting for: the acceptance of divorcees and women as equals in a congregation. It would almost be comical if it wasn’t so sad and infuriating that in this day and age some people aren’t treated as human beings in an institution that boasts 1 billion adherents. To challenge the Church hierarchy on anything as integral to its tenets such as misogyny and sexual repression is to challenge the very foundations of its claims to holiness. For if God, as revealed by the Church, is wrong in disallowing women from becoming priests, where else could their God be wrong? Unfortunately (or fortunately), it simply isn’t plausible that the Creator of the universe would create an institution as small-minded and as provincial as the Church. Without this premise of holy origin, the Church is simply a club of nerds fighting over rival interpretations of fan fiction.

Image credit: Internationaler Controller Verein

2 comments

  1. >>” changing their tenets simply surrenders too much and renders their Church impotent”<<

    Possibly the RCC will be rendered impotent by their rejection of any modernization and sticking to outdated 2000 years dogmas, which are often considered disgusting or obsolete in the 21st century.
    And getting entangled and immobilized in their own web of dogmas (declared from themselves as infallible), combined with boring sermons might empty the Catholic churches – at least in advanced countries with educated audience – even further and give an edge to other religions as alternative for spiritual gatherings.

    Believe statistics Austria: believe in god 54%, believe in some higher spirit of life-form 34%
    ( http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/e… on page 7 )

  2. When god Yahweh’s word as revealed in the Bible is at all some part of the guidance than there is no mentioning of divorced couples are to be excluded from communion. When you go that far to re-interpret the consensual end of a partnership and living together with another partner as ‘adultery’ – well adultery leads not to exclusion of communion but demand simply every faithful Christian to do his duty and to stone all involved (former and new couples) all to death !!

    Women priests : agreed : unthinkable for followers of Saul of Tarsus (St Paul).

    Celibacy : not explicit mentioned here but the usual demand of “progressive Catholics”, also no hint in the (properly translated !!!) *** Bible, Celibacy was invented to ensure all the inheritances of priests end up with the Catholic church not with the kids of the priests.
    *** Math 19:12 is not the purposely Catholic mistranslation “renounce marriage” but “there are eunuchs, that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.”

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