Under the Next Pope, a Second World?

Folks (cough*New York Times*cough) keep portraying the future of the Catholic Church as a football in play between two warring opponents: the First and Third World. We're liberal, they're not. We're irreligious, they're zealous. We don't have enough priests to serve our . . . hey, wait a minute . . .

The fact is, Church problems don't conform to lines on a map. Parishes are underserved the world over. It's tough to imagine how the Church will address any of the problems the Times neatly divides down the middle - religious inaction in Europe and America, poverty and violence in the developing world - when the trend of priests, nuns and brothers dwindling in number shows no signs of reversing. The Church is a community, and the reverberations of changes can span oceans and leap the equator. I am sure that the sex abuse coverups in the American church, and the resulting loss of confidence and committment among American Catholics, hurt Catholic programs that help many people in the Third World. Conversely, if the Church decides to get logical about addressing the African AIDS epidemic (and discover that condoms do stop transmission), Americans and Europeans will take note and be proud. The notion that the First World and Third World, within the Church, have separate and opposed interests is unChristian and just plain inaccurate. We're all working to usher in the whole new world, if you will, that we call the reign of Christ on earth. I hope our coming leader will address some of the concerns that affect all Catholics to help the Church in this work.

This October, bishops will converge on the Vatican for a synod on the Eucharist, which the Vatican has planned to address "the needs and pastoral implications of the Eucharist in celebration, worship, preaching, charity and various works in general." (full text). Wouldn't it be terrible if this wonderful teachable moment, which will occur under a Pope whose direction will be very much unset, were allowed to degenerate into didacticism about whether we may recieve the wafer in the hand?

FutureChurch is sponsoring a petition to be sent to the bishops who will be members of the Synod. Signers are asking members of the synod to consider reinstating marriage for priests and opening the diaconate to women. They're only pressing for women deacons, not priests, at this point because canon law only forbids female priests (an oversight that Ratsinger may be only too glad to fix once he's aware of it. Ooh, snap!) Anyway, despite the trope that the Church is not a democracy, I expect that the large majority of the Synod are people of good faith who will take seriously the concerns of Catholics who love the Church enough to see it change. If your situation permits you to espouse such noncanonical views, please consider signing the petition here.

To be honest, as a cradle Catholic, I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of married priests. There's a beautiful respect that attaches to a person who truly gives up their whole life to serving the Church - compared to a priest, nun or brother, the ministry of a married person somehow comes to seem more of a career choice and less of a vocation. I realize this may seem derogatory to Protestant and married lay Catholic ministers, and I don't mean it that way. The issue may be more that a little too much is expected of every Catholic priest. Celibacy is a beautiful charism for those who are called to it, and I wholeheartedly support the teaching that some may sublimate the love that would have gone to a spouse and family into serving a congregation. But perhaps the link of a preaching and pastoral charism to a celibacy charism doesn't need to be absolute. Indeed, we all know married or single people who are clearly gifted in preaching and counseling. There are also those personalities, so alien to our pop culture, who seem called to celibacy (to the constant consternation of their older female relatives) despite no interest in ministry. Praise God for our differences! It would be a worthy and necessary challenge to the faithful to encounter Christ personified in someone who has a minivan and kids, as well as - not over and against - the image of a holy loner slipping in and out of social circles, nourished on baked goods from the local ladies.

There's a lot more to be said here, but I think I'll have to leave you hanging for tonight. Peace and contentment be with you!