My main doubt stems from the reality that Catholicism has become such a legalistic entity, when Jesus always seemed to oppose legalism. That was a serious problem with the religious establishment at that time.
Now, what do I mean by legalism.
Theological legalism. The Catholic Church insists that to embrace the full truth of the gospel you must accept all of its doctrines. It appears to me that many of the doctrines of Catholicism - e. g., transubstantiation, Immaculate Conception, sinless life of Mary, etc. - came along later and are not clearly found in scripture. Once, for example, that Mary became so central to the faith (St. Paul never mentions Mary) then a variety of doctrines followed, many of them defined quite late: Immaculate Conception, 1864, Assumption of Mary, 1950. I feel that the church should not be so legalistic in insisting that all of its many teachings must be accepted, and that Christians should be free to think more for themselves.
Liturgical legalism.While some variation is permitted in worship patterns, such as practiced, say, by the Uniate churches of the East, Catholicism has a quite rigid plan of worship. Stay with the missal. There is am approved, right way to celebrate communion - for example, the host has to be made of a certain bread - and certain words to absolve sinners, etc. It could be argued, and is, that this is a strength of Catholicism, the same gospel, the same words of consecration, etc., the world over. I have found it disconcerting that when priests process into a special ceremony they all wear the same colors, only men are in the procession. etc. In other words, with only slight variation, there is a right way to worship and that is to follow the cookie-cutter patterns set down by the church.
Moral legalism. In my mind, there are many gray areas in this area. Birth control, for example. If a couple have the number of children they feel they can raise. providing the benefits of college, etc., I feel that they have the right to limit the number of children. Catholicism permits limiting children, too, but condemns to condemn artificial birth control. Legalistic. Or, take abortion. Millions of good Christians are against abortion, but they would make occasional exceptions, to save the life of the mother, perhaps, or in the case of rape. Or, divorce. Catholicism has annulments, which is church-approved divorce - frankly - but here again the presence of legalism. Many marriages are fine when they start out, but something changes. Maybe the husband becomes addicted to alcohol, changing his personality, or the woman goes criminally insane for some unknown reason. But, no - no divorce unless sanctified by the church. Catholicism's harsh criticism of gays and lesbians is legalistic. I oppose gay marriage myself, but have finally concluded that some people are 'born gay' (God's doing?) and should not be deprived of intimacy the rest of their lives. There is a wide gap between committed loving relationships and wanton promiscuity. and may we should accept the one while condemning the other.
What I guess I'm suggesting is that the church got off the track somewhere. It began as a form of liberation from the legalism of traditional Judaism with all of its don'ts. But today traditional Catholicism is weighed down by its own legalism. This certainly is one one reason so many people either have left the church or ignore its pronouncements.
This is not to take from the wonderful work that thousands of devoted priests and nuns have done, and continue to do, around the world. The problem is not with them (well, there are exceptions) but with the ecclesiastical framework within which they have to work. Perhaps its time that the hierarchy took a good look at itself. Perhaps it is another example of legalism.
God bless all of his children of every creed, culture, color and country. May religion become a bridge and not a barrier among them.
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