As a "crutch"?

[Peter_J]

I’d like to throw a question out here. I’m sure we’ve all heard the expression (metaphor? analogy? cliche?) “using _________ as a crutch” many many times. Do you think there’s such a thing as using Eastern Catholicism as a crutch? And, if so, in what way?

Note: I realize that’s a very open-ended question, but I feel that’s better – I don’t want to say something that will influence how anyone answers. (That’s also part of why I started a new thread for this, although it could probably fit on an existing thread.)

 

[Windmill]

Ok, I’ll bite.

Usually when someone talks about “using something as a crutch”, they mean it is something that helps a person avoid dealing with reality or address problems that plague them. Usually you hear this phrase used against religion as a false assurance for people who are too weak to deal with their earthly problems.

In the case of the OP’s challenge, I don’t think that people are using Eastern Catholicism as a crutch at all. I think those who are seeking a mystical experience of the Divine are not finding it in modern “Latin”-rite parishes because the typical mainstream Catholic parish has abandoned its liturgical roots and set up a style of worship that is so mundane and earthly that it gives the worshipper no sense of experiencing anything beyond this world. When you go to Eastern churches, they have done a good job of preserving this aspect of corporate worship, and this fills a void in the Western Catholic’s soul that, sadly, used to be filled.

So, I don’t think Western Catholics are using EC parishes as a crutch because they can’t deal with the reality of Latin Churches. I think the Latin Churches don’t provide what they should in this area, so people are finding legitimate avenues of religious fulfillment.

Here’s a counter question: 50 years ago, was there such a flow of parishioners from Latin Churches to Eastern Churches? I would bet not.

 

[Casilda]

Well, if I take it literally, a crutch Is a tool used when injured and helps you get from one place to another, without which you’d probably stay put.

In that sense, then I am going to try and use EC as my crutch because I am faltering spiritually and do not want to stay put, but move forward closer to God. I’ve been stuck sitting in the ER (emergency room), I’ve seen a doctor but he’s been too busy with other patients.

 

[Casilda]

Here’s a counter question: 50 years ago, was there such a flow of parishioners from Latin Churches to Eastern Churches? I would bet not.

I can answer that question in terms of my own immediate family: three have never set foot in any church since, one was a closet Catholic (praying to Mary and the saints and to Jesus but never setting foot in any church until she departed in death, the last one, me, wandered in protestant churches searching for God and finding Him but moving on when spurred to do so. The only really holy place I found solace was a Catholic church. I am still not a communicant member. Hence, I will try at the EC.

 

[Cricket2]

Ok, I’ll bite.

Usually when someone talks about “using something as a crutch”, they mean it is something that helps a person avoid dealing with reality or address problems that plague them. Usually you hear this phrase used against religion as a false assurance for people who are too weak to deal with their earthly problems.

In the case of the OP’s challenge, I don’t think that people are using Eastern Catholicism as a crutch at all. I think those who are seeking a mystical experience of the Divine are not finding it in modern “Latin”-rite parishes because the typical mainstream Catholic parish has abandoned its liturgical roots and set up a style of worship that is so mundane and earthly that it gives the worshipper no sense of experiencing anything beyond this world. When you go to Eastern churches, they have done a good job of preserving this aspect of corporate worship, and this fills a void in the Western Catholic’s soul that, sadly, used to be filled.

So, I don’t think Western Catholics are using EC parishes as a crutch because they can’t deal with the reality of Latin Churches. I think the Latin Churches don’t provide what they should in this area, so people are finding legitimate avenues of religious fulfillment.

Here’s a counter question: 50 years ago, was there such a flow of parishioners from Latin Churches to Eastern Churches? I would bet not.

I think you described this well, and you are correct about the absent "flow of parishioners from Latin Churches to Eastern Churches 50 years ago. For that matter I am aware of a greater flow from the Catholic Church to those that are “Non-denominational” about more than any other. I do think that this is partly due to a trend in “watering everything down” and such things a people wanting to remove crucifixes from the Church, or statues of Mary, getting rid of the Latin, and turning the altar into a stage in some cases.

I am really tired of all the people out there who don’t seem to want remember that Christ died on a Cross for us. I have even heard people say it is too violent or “ugly” to have a crucifix on the altar.

 

[MichaelinMD]

Well, if I take it literally, a crutch Is a tool used when injured and helps you get from one place to another, without which you’d probably stay put.

In that sense, then I am going to try and use EC as my crutch because I am faltering spiritually and do not want to stay put, but move forward closer to God. I’ve been stuck sitting in the ER (emergency room), I’ve seen a doctor but he’s been too busy with other patients.

Good answer! If we look at sin (which we ALL participate in) as a spiritual illness and the Church (Catholic Church of any variety, East or West) as a hospital for sinners upon which we rely to heal us as we make our journey with and to Christ, then…I’d have to say “yes”, the Church is a crutch in the best of all possible connotations.

Now then…some crutches work better than others, though, don’t they? If a crutch we are using breaks or is faulty in one way or another, we’d better get another one, right? Or at least, if we are able and it isn’t beyond repair, fix the current one. And…if we can learn to walk without faltering, without falling, then we probably won’t need the crutch, right? Well, at least until we fall down again, anyway…

 

[Cricket2]

I have had this used against me by people who like to criticize Christians. You know: “It’s just a crutch because you can’t handle life well on your own.”

Well I used to get annoyed. Now I simply say: Oh no, the Church is not by crutch. You have it all wrong. The Church is my wheel chair, or alternatively, my hospital bed. I don’t even want to try life on my own. I wouldn’t make it.

That usually results in a lot of silence and the person never using that phrase on me again.
We are all sinners, and the Lord knows I sure could not stand up under judgement unless He was full of mercy and compassion. We all fall, and sometimes really hard. I am glad the Church and God are there too pick me up and carry me.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Yes, some “liturgists” in the West like to use the Eastern liturgies (in general) as a crutch to justify all kinds of wacky experimentation, and the real funny thing is that their ideas in action bear almost no resemblance to and kind of liturgy, Eastern or Western…

It’s sort of like, “Well, they do ___ in the East, so let’s do it here!” not realizing–or perhaps not caring–that a) the result is often pitiful compared to what it is in the East and/or b) the result is not an organic part of the Western tradition.

 

[Peter_J]

Yes, some “liturgists” in the West like to use the Eastern liturgies (in general) as a crutch to justify all kinds of wacky experimentation, and the real funny thing is that their ideas in action bear almost no resemblance to and kind of liturgy, Eastern or Western…

It’s sort of like, “Well, they do ___ in the East, so let’s do it here!” not realizing–or perhaps not caring–that a) the result is often pitiful compared to what it is in the East and/or b) the result is not an organic part of the Western tradition.

I hadn’t thought of it in quite that way, but it’s a very good comment. It also reminds me of something (that I haven’t thought about in a long time) … Namely certain (somewhat) liberal Catholics who would invoke the word “charismatic” whenever anyone complained about how they did things, even though anyone actually involved in the Charismatic Movement would be totally bewildered by that use of the word.