A description of the Church they use from time to time is "the big tent". It conjures up an image of a friendly environment where people of different opinions and viewpoints are welcome, as long as they stay on opposite ends of the tent. Some may be closer to the middle of the tent, and others will stick to the fringes - but as long as we're all under the same big tent, then we can all still call ourselves Catholic.
Well - - - when I hear "big tent", I think of a circus, and if the video in my previous post is any indication, these fake Catholics have got the high wire act rolling along with the mini-car crammed full of clowns sputtering right behind. And circus tents smell too.
The recent (and ongoing) arguments over Health Care Reform have created a further demarcation among the Catholic community. Over at the National Catholic Distorter, one of their "Young Voices" columnists had this to say:
The future of the Catholic church depends on the church being a big tent that is welcoming and inclusive of all people. I’ve spoken with many people who are drawn to Catholicism, but feel they could never join the church because they don’t agree with every church teaching. And, of course, there are many more leaving the church because they don’t feel like they can walk their individual path within the Catholic community.
My hope is that we learn to love our neighbors, embracing them in how they choose to live their Catholic faith as they embrace us in the same.
Let’s lose the club and bring back the big tent.
Gaaacckk! I just choked on a piece of pablum.
The writer needs to meditate on Luke 13:51-53: "Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
Don't get me wrong - we are to work for peace ("Blessed are the peacemakers..."), but for peace according to God's dictionary, not ours. God doesn't make peace with sin, or dissent, or with lies. He makes peace with sinners - when they repent. We are to love our enemies, and admonish the sinner, and instruct the ignorant. And yes - even shake the dust from our sandals when appropriate. But one thing we don't have the power or authority to do is redefine what the Catholic Church is - she is the bride of Christ (and what does it say about the "bride" when it's implied she ought to wear a "tent"? What, she's a fattie?).
Fortunately, through the promise of Jesus and the protection of the Holy Spirit, the Church will not be perverted into such a Frankensteinish crossbreed Episcopresbylutheran community (I nabbed that last term from Scott W at romish internet graffiti, who left in my combox some time ago). The Church will be purified and pruned - Christ said so - which in my mind means the Church wouldn't need a big tent anyway, when all is said and done.
