Signs of Hope: The Christian Religion

“... Church that emerged from Vatican II is the same Church that entered the Council, but much truer to its founder, Jesus of Nazareth. It is a Church of which one is proud to be a member.”

Jesus of Nazareth is the central figure and the founder of the Christian religion. The religion is all about him. The individual person who becomes a Christian is committed to follow the Way of Life of Jesus of Nazareth. That Way of Life is centered around virtues he chose to humility, gratitude, trust, forgiveness detachment and compassion. Pursuit of these, or similar virtues, is essential for the Christian Way of Life. A Christian was, therefore, a follower of Jesus who taught his Way of Life, the pursuit of these virtues simultaneously, led alone to the fullness of life and eternal life Christians at that time were known as the people of the Way.

Jesus of Nazareth was a true mystic in that he had an experience of God the Father that convinced him he knew the Father better than anyone else. At the time of his baptism by John the Baptist in the waters of the River Jordan he emerged from those waters hearing the voice distinctly saying, “This is my son. I love him unreservedly. Listen to him. It was a message he wanted everyone to hear. It both affirmed each person who heard and believed it for it defined his notion of God and the worth of the individual person. It was entitled as ’the good news of Jesus Christ.’

The individual person who accepted Jesus as his personal lord and savior was accepted as one of the new community. He or she found in Jesus the link they had been seeking with the One God. By placing their trust in him and following his Way of Life they avoid the inextricable craftiness of the clergy verses the laity such as are presently found in the sacrament of penance – a dilemma theologically unsolvable by the present rules of the game. The individual person was, therefore, sacred and institutions had to serve the individual person rather than the other way around. The individual person alone was to be served rather than to serve. That was clearly the view of Jesus and it was unpopular at the time. Needless to say, it did not make his followers popular, either.

So, with the advent of Vatican II, thanks to the courage and wisdom of a few old men, We had an entirely new Church – one more in keeping with the intentions of its founder. There is an argument to be made for the continuity of the one with the other. Make no mistake, though. It is an entirely new Church, and the passage of time will prove this to be the correct view.

The main victory in all of the comparisons is the individual person. The lonely person has always been known to the Church as the final moral authority. The Church has consistently upheld this right of individual person but until Vatican II the Church has never put this key teaching down in writing. Thus, giving it the full measure of its support. It was only with Vatican II that this key insight became the official teaching of the Church. Even then, the impact of this fundamental insight was denied by many who should have known better. They tried to pass off as official church teaching that the individual conscience.was not the final voice, but subject to the teachings of the official Church, the magisterium. It was so crude and clumsy an attempt that [i should have been laughable, if the matter were not so serious.

The leaders of the pre-Vatican II Church saw themselves heading an organization that much broader than the one they presently led. That Church came into being with Vatican Council II. It was open where the previous one had been mostly closed; it believed in equality and participation where the previous believed in ranked order and exclusivity. Rather than resist these changes, they welcomed them and made the job of the elderly men who led the council much easier.

Above all, the Church that emerged from Vatican II is the same Church that entered the Council, but much truer to its founder, Jesus of Nazareth. It is a Church of which one is proud to be a member. The contribution of Vatican Council II to this development was immense.

The Church best understood as its people and here there is trouble. At the present,there are three groups about to leave the Church. They are the women, the youth,and the Hispanics. The loss of any one of these groups would be serious enough. The loss of all three groups simultaneously would be lethal.

The Church must come to grips with the legitimate goals of the women’s desire for equality with men. It is a fact of today’s life and will be ignored only to the detriment of the Church. The same is true for ministry to the youth, an area in which the Church was usually in the forefront, but now is hopelessly in the rear. And, the Church must take more seriously its mission to Hispanics. These three groups are going to largely determine the future of the Church in the United States.

The future of the Church was never brighter than at the present time in the United States. Yet, the opportunities presented here and now may go unmet. The bishops of the present day will be blamed, and rightly so. If they think the have troubles now, they will prove to be as nothing compared to what is ahead. Vatican Council II laid out the future very carefully It will be listened to, and the future is bright, or it will be ignored at a terrible price.

Today, in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church must face the disappointment and possible loss of three key constituencies. They are the women, the young people and the Hispanics. Women have been, for a long time, the mainstay of the Church’s members. In our day, however, that is rapidly ceasing to be true. The greatest movement of our time, in this author’s view, is that for the equality of women and men. Where it will lead to is anybody’s guess, ,but that it is a fact of contemporary life is beyond
doubt, The along age of male dominance is drawing to a close.

Another characteristic of contemporary America is the role of young adults. Parents spend an inordinate amounts of money and time on their youngsters The weekends of most American families with youngsters approaching adulthood is governed by the schedules of the youngsters. Most of them are not yet old enough to drive and must be transported by their parents for their activities.

And, the Church in the United States is in danger of losing the Hispanics. ‘There is no fighting the culture,’ a saying as true today as ever. In the battle with individuals the culture wins in some two and a half generations. That is the time it takes for emigres to become Americans. It holds true for Hispanics. The Church in the United States will learn to deal with them as it deals with everyone else.

That said, along with a review of the role of the parish priest as the two general exceptions, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is in good health and a positive sign of hope for the future.