The association of religion with power and money has always been bad for religion, doubly so for Christianity. You’d have to admit the Catholic Church has been one of the most powerful institutions in the whole of world history. So hostile opinion sees Catholicism as fair game because it’s strong and powerful.
The last word on this ought to belong to the Methodist preacher, Dr Colin Morris. Something he said 25 years ago stuck with me. “The Gospel cannot be preached from the strong to the weak,” he said. This was John Wesley’s objection to the mighty Church of England of his time, when he founded Methodism. The Latin American liberation theologians are saying much the same about the Catholic Church there.
Jesus was a political outcast and itinerant preacher with neither power nor wealth, who got on the nerves of the powers-that-be to the extent that they had him done away with. What Colin Morris meant was that even if you came up with technically the right words, the mere fact of them being uttered from the pulpits – or radio stations – of the strong and powerful meant they weren’t the Gospel. If you’re rich you can’t expect to be listened to when you say “Blessed are the poor.” In this case the medium is the message and so the message is wrong. And that’s a Gospel truth all the Churches need to see from time to time when they look in the mirror.
“The Gospel cannot be preached from the strong to the weak,”
As Martin Luther put it; “May God in his mercy save me from a Christian Church where there are none but saints. I want to be in that little company, and in that church where there are faint hearted and weak people, the sick, and those who are aware of their sin, misery, and feel it, and cry to God without ceasing and sigh unto him for comfort and help; and believe in the forgiveness of sins and suffer persecution for the Word’s sake.”
The irony is, while the Catholic Church is indeed land rich and rich in art, most of that doesn’t translate into actual cash. It’s the same thing for the CofE. People see large buildings and pieces of artwork etc. etc. and they assume wealth. But you can’t liquidate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral. And the light bill still needs to be paid.
The entire Vatican actually runs on a budget smaller than many dioceses, because there is so little ready cash around.
C.S. Lewis ‘Mere Christianity’ page 61
I have heard some people complain that if Jesus was God as well as man, then His sufferings and death lose all value in their eyes, “because it must have been so easy for him.” Others may (very rightly) rebuke the ingratitude and ungraciousness of this objection; what staggers me is the misunderstanding it betrays. In one sense, of course, those who make it are right. They have even understated their own case. The perfect submission, the perfect suffering, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because He was God, but were possible only because He was God. But surely that is a very odd reason for not accepting them? The teacher is able to for the letters for the child because the teacher is grown-up and knows how to write. That, of course, makes it easier for the teacher; and only because it is easier for him can he help the child. If it rejected him because “it’s easy for grown-ups” and waited to learn writing from another child who could not write itself (and so had no “unfair” advantage), it would not get on very quickly. If I am drowning in a rapid river, a man who still has one foot on the bank may give me a hand which saves my life. Ought I to shout back (between my gasps) “No, its not fair!” You have an advantage! You’re keeping one foot on the bank”? That advantage–call it “unfair” if you like–is the only reason why he can be of any use to me. To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?
Money and power tend to corrupt people and institutions. When it comes to the Church, giving the Church money and power has been one of the Devil’s greatest victories. Witness the lack of missionary zeal that Endowments brought to many ECUSA congregations and dioceses. The idea that we are the church of the wealthy and educated has given us a sense of a lack of need for God. We have provided our own daily bread and have forgotten to ask for it.
“Beware lest you say in your heard, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.” (Deut 8:17, 18)
While I love the beauty and majesty with which we worship in TECUSA, I would rather we had the missionary zeal and love for God and His Word that I saw in Peru and hear about in Africa.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Liberation Theology has been will critiqued by Pope Benedict XVI He was not fooled by its Marxist Christ. There is only one Christ. And He is revealed in Scripture not in the Communist Manifesto.
I often get aggravated with the politics of our religious orders. Too many have bought into the lie of Liberation Theology. But I have to admire their hard work on the ground amongst the poor of all nations. These men and women are hardly rich and have given up much in service to others. They teach, provide health care and are a voice for the least of us. They perform numerous works of corporal and spiritual mercy living witnesses to the Gospel.
And if the perceived richness of the Church is seen as a barrier to evangelism what explains the rising popularity of the prosperity gospel in the developing world? Its preachers sure aren’t St. Anthony of The Desert.
One thing about the Truth of Christ is that it is the same whether uttered by the slave, the free, the poor, the rich, male or female. When a person shuts their ears against the word of God because they claim a rich Church just could not understand the plight of the world . I think they are just giving themselves an excuse not to confront the reality and cost of their own sins. If you don’t like the message kill the messenger (sp)
The article is a croc. In England Catholics are not persecuted by “elite” leftwing/journalistic British opinion because of the Church’s wealth or power. The Church and its faithful adherents are persecuted because they believe in an alternative belief system than the secular humanism advanced by the postmodernists. The post modernists associate this belief system with as we would say in this country “the man” or the old/traditional establishment. Europe is in the process of outlawing orthodox belief. Think Animal Farm – all beliefs are equal – some beliefs are more equal than others.
St. Benedict spoke of the poor monastery as being blessed and I think the same can be said of parishes and dioceses. The vast sums of money flowing out of Catholic dioceses to pay victims of sexual abuse is money well gone: how good it is when we are ready to follow the Lord over this month’s good investment advice.
Words Matter:
That is very true — it’s horrendous what those priests did, and the Cardinals who covered for them, but just think: more of the consequences of sin being realized.
The larger real shame is that such a few persons (I forget the actual number now, but I think it was less than .01% of all priests) have now tainted such a larger ministry and as a result have diverted resources that could (and should) have gone to real needs ministries.
Jim –
About 5% of priests over 50 years were accused. Probably 3-4% were actually guilty. Most of those were guilty of one-time indiscretions; our bishop ran a man out of ministry because 20 years prior, on a teen campout, he kissed a 16 year old girl (he was 28). The real predators – Kos, Shandley, Geoghan – were relatively rare creatures, just as predators in the “sex offender” population are also a small subset.
Actually, the costs haven’t cut into outreach as much as things such as the bishop’s residence in Boston, which could best be described as a palace. To repeat myself: good riddance! I truly believe that when we as a Church are unburdened of luxuries, God will reach out through us in a manner that money simply cannot buy, but only hinder.