If the Church was supposed to base Her laws and Faith and Catechism on what non Catholics wanted, She wouln’t be here today. As a matter of facts, Christianity would never have started, because the leaders of the Jews wanted to keep all of Jesus’ followers quiet before and after the death of Jesus.
I could not care less what the secular world thinks about our Faith and Jesus’ Laws. The Church has been entrusted with the mission to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. How do we do that if we are not bringing the Good News…just the things that people want to hear?
We are not a feel good religion. Jesus did not feel good nailed upon the Cross. His Mother did not feel good seeing Him nailed upon the Cross.
Why do you think that we, who are sinners, should only feel good. The TRUTH of Jesus Christ sets us free…even if it makes us uncomfortable at the biginning.
READ THE THREAD
I have to object to this a little. No, of course the Church is not a “feel good religion,” but there is a difference between being a “feel good religion” and just wanting to relieve people’s suffering. When the Pope arrived in Africa, was his message, “I’m sorry, but I simply have a job to do, and that’s to say that Christianity is not a feel-good religion, and so all you people who are dying horribly of AIDS because you were sleeping around are just going to have to suck it up and suffer a little. Don’t like it? Tough. Jesus was in pain too, you know. And as for you media reporters? Make sure you get a good look: we don’t care what you in the secular world think, and we are proud of it. We are a proud religion of people suffering and not feeling good.”
Of course not. That’s ridiculous.
Ok, I am going a bit over the top for dramatic effect (
), but I think that you are going a bit over-the-top, too. I am not saying that you are wrong about the Bishop’s decision; I just think this “talking tough” attitude is the wrong way to defend his decision. First of all, the Bishop made the decision not because he wanted to follow some arbitrary divine law which arbitrarily brings us pain, but because we do the difficult thing sometimes only because in the end, it will give us
more happiness than if we hadn’t. In a way Christianity is the ultimate feel-good religion: and in describing the faith we can’t insist upon the Crucifixion without mentioning the Resurrection that took place three days later.
Besides, in what way did the abortion decrease the girl’s pain, and would the c-section have increased it? This isn’t about having to suffer more…I think you are missing the crucial point, which is that a c-section would have been more of an act of compassion than an abortion. The Church absolutely does need to teach that it is the way to peace…even if it says along the way that suffering will be necessary, ours cannot be a message of “just suck it up and stop complaining, cuz Jesus had it worse.”
But the main reason I jumped in isn’t because of the suffering bit…because I do see where you are coming from, and undoubtedly I’ve used that same line of reasoning before, myself. It is true that there can be something profound in suffering that the media never sees, and it is an integral part of both our existence as humans and of our theology as Christians. No, the main reason I jumped in is because of the media part, the “I couldn’t care less what the secular world thinks.” Because Jesus came to save them, too, and you
should care what they think – they are just as precious as you in the eyes of God. This attitude of “us vs them,” or “we get it, and they don’t” is so dangerous…by secluding ourselves in this little bubble, like a privileged club, and saying that if they want to become members they’re going to have to figure it out on their own, how are we contributing to the building up of the Kingdom? Jesus went out among the people who were challenging him in the most cynical, cruel ways – the Pharisees were the equivalent of your “secular world” – and held the equivalent of a press conference. He answered their questions seriously, even the stupid ones; He spread His teachings; and then, most critically, He healed people. “Which is easier?” he asked them. “To say that your sins are healed, or to say to the lame man, get up and walk?” He proved to everyone that his wisdom was salvific, and could accomplish works of love.
That is just what the Pope is doing now, in Africa, and I think it’s the mindset with which we should enter into this Brazilian problem. Not that we should say what the so-called “secular world” (of which we are a part, frankly – it’s not like we don’t have our secular moments and they don’t have their exalted spiritual moments) wants us to say, but that we should take their objections seriously…understand that it is not obvious to everyone that abortion is wrong even in the case of a nine-year-old…and say, “Look, see how compassionate we are…see how Jesus heals us…and see how we want all of you to be together with us. That is what this is about.” No?
I hate that expression, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” It’s too cynical for me.
There may be something to it, but to quote Adorno, the only responsible way to deal with despair is to look at all things from the standpoint of redemption. And I will bet money that there are a great many people who sinned horribly and repeatedly during their lives, but were let into Heaven because glittering at the bottom of the murky lake of their sins were a few precious, beautiful, good intentions, a desire to find God that never quite figured out how to express itself on earth.
Peace,
+AMDG+
