"The Catholic Church is for............."

[IanM]

Oscar Wilde supposedly said" “The Catholic Church is for saints and sinners alone. For respectable people, the Anglican Church will do .” A death bed convert to Catholicism, Wilde understood the essence of the institution he was joining. I think that if he said this he was spot on.
Any comments?

 

[Irishmom2]

Really? You don’t find that message a bit insulting to anyone?

 

[ricmat]

It makes sense to me.

Catholics must accept the fact that they are sinners, while simultaneously striving to be saints.

Those people who are “lukewarm” - in other words, they are happy being right where they are spiritually, are more likely to join a less demanding church.

 

[Dan_Defender]

The quote implies there is a third category. However, we are all sinners and we are all called to be saints, the way I see it. Like St Augustine said: ‘every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future’.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Well, he was making a joke wasn’t he? I’m not that familiar with Victorian Era Irish humor though. So I have no idea what’s funny about it. But it sure sounds dry.

 

[Michael16]

I can see some good in what Wilde said.

For me: The Church is the True Faith and I want to practice the authentic Faith handed down from Christ and the Apostles. One of the things that appeals to me about the Faith is that it’s so demanding.

It’s way too easy to practice a more lenient faith that gives many lukewarm people an easy out and allows them to basically receive forgiveness of sins, God’s Love and the promise of eternal life without putting in the real work of actually becoming better human beings.

 

[do_justly_love_mercy]

Really? You don’t find that message a bit insulting to anyone?

I think one has to assume that most things that Oscar Wilde said were intended to satirize Victorian society.

I’m not that familiar with Victorian Era Irish humor though. So I have no idea what’s funny about it.

I think what’s funny about it is that his audience would have recognized the idea that the Anglican Church was more concerned with conforming to social conventions than it was with the salvation of souls. For people who wanted to do anything as eccentric as repenting of their sins and striving for holiness, there was the Catholic Church, but for people who just wanted to be accepted in the best social circles, being an Anglican was sufficient.

Well, let me clarify that I was asking if anyone found the OP’s comment that the quote was “spot on” offensive.

Oh, I see, I thought you meant Oscar Wilde was being offensive. I think if we took everything Oscar Wilde ever said at face value we’d never stop being offended! And yes, although there was certainly a grain of truth to what Oscar Wilde was saying here, it would probably be a bit offensive to say he was “spot on” without recognizing that this was satirical and that at the time he said it the Church of England (although not so much the Church of Ireland) was undergoing the renewal of the Catholic tradition through the Oxford Movement, which did produce many very sincere priests who ministered to the poorest communities in England, bringing many people to faith in Jesus.

 

[Irishmom2]

Well, let me clarify that I was asking if anyone found the OP’s comment that the quote was “spot on” offensive.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Well, he was making a joke wasn’t he? I’m not that familiar with Victorian Era Irish humor though. So I have no idea what’s funny about it. But it sure sounds dry.

My grandfather who was born in that era in Ireland, used to routinely leap up and do a silly Benny Hill kind of salute everytime God Save the Queen came on the radio. Ha ha. Catholics took great pleasure in insulting the English Protestants at that time.

 

[IanM]

Irishmom2

16h

“Really? You don’t find that message a bit insulting to anyone?”

Hello,
I have to say that I did not (my insults tend to be somewhat more direct and forceful in this restricted medium It reduces misunderstanding )

 

[po18guy]

The Catholic Church is for…

…those made in the image and likeness of God.

 

[AngelusDomini]

It’s a typical example of Wilde’s wit. The Victorian era established church (C of E) was very much a bastion of the establishment. If you were part of the establishment and respectable you attended the Anglican church; it was a hallmark of being English. The Catholic Church however mostly contained poor immigrants and exotic members of the aristocracy who were somewhat suspect by their allegiance to the Catholic faith.