Christian Identity, Catholic Identity

Christian identity, Catholic identity: NOT the same exactly.
Response to article in NCR


CHRISTIAN:
• Following the teachings of Jesus: He wanted fulfilled the laws of the Jewish religion, recalled them to its fundamental principles with respect to justice and affirmed God’s love for each of them. For that he was crucified.
• Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself.
• The Sermon on the Mount.
• His example set toward women, outcasts, poor, uneducated, etc. through parables and actions.
• His willingness to suffer the consequences, even to death, for preaching the truth.

CATHOLIC:
• Bowing to the authority of the popes and hierarchy, agreeing to whatever they say, without open dissent. Ignore the opulence, hording and deceit of some, for the sake of the rest, who are good pastors and followers.
• Following traditions of worship, as they are thought to be traditional. If there is no priest, there is no Mass. End of subject. (Liturgy worked better in Latin, as it was more spiritual and meditative, not necessary to understand.)
• Accepting the theology, usually applications of Biblical or Jesus’ teaching to a given historical moment, which has now shifted radically. “Modernism” and “relativism” to be rejected in favor of certainty, as given already. (This worked better when it was all in Latin. People felt holy, and felt like church authorities knew more if not all of everything, for sure.)
• Obeying church laws, which are designed to support the structure through attendance and donations. If not, you might go to hell or be excluded socially.
• Doing service through accepted channels. Cemeteries, hospitals, universities, seminaries and schools do a lot of good, as non-profits, employing many very productively, to good ends. Who could object to that?

If I were the Pope, I would call Catholics everywhere back to their Christian roots, de-emphasizing differences among various churches or disciplines. Create and focus on the theology that applies today, and encourage a variety of expressions of solidarity, including the traditional ones the Catholic church knows. This would require giving up a lot of control and power, so it is not likely to happen, unless there is a catastrophic event worldwide that loosens the grip of centralized governments everywhere, including church. Maybe Global Warming and Global War are the Spirit’s ways of clearing the field for Its work again. I think John XXIII tried this, but that has been pretty well thrown out now.

Catholic churches have a future if they see themselves as the genuine extended family of everyone who chooses to join them: rich, poor, any gender, any race, any disability, in other words, when they return to being truly simple Christians.

Meanwhile the Catholic Church will hobble along like any business that has matured and finds itself obsolete, because it is now selling the wrong merchandise: exclusivity. “For lack of a vision, the people perish.” Catholics are perishing, or parishing together as people tend to do.

Those obsessed with “Catholic” identity will:
• Adhere closely to the rules from Rome on liturgies, so they are all alike somehow.
• Continue to preach tradition as higher in importance than the current evidence of our own intelligence or intuition, deferring to church “experts”.
• Will feel guilty whenever they fail to follow all the directives, past, present and future.
• Will love and support the church financially as best they can.

Christians will live in confidence that God is good and benevolent, to each and every person on the face of the earth. Christians will live their lives to the best of their ability, bring compassion to others whose lives they affect or influence. They will weep with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who are joyful. They have a personal relationship with the divine. And Jesus will say to them one day, “Come in. I know you.” Some of them are also Catholics.






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