The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #149850 Message #3490624
Posted By: Joe Offer
15-Mar-13 - 06:13 AM
Thread Name: BS: Catholic religion response to 'today'
Subject: RE: BS: Catholic religion response to 'today'
Now you're starting to catch on, Michael. From the outside, the Catholic Church appears to be an absolute monarchy, ruled with an iron hand by an infallible pope. That's not how it works, and that's not how it's supposed to work. Every bishop is supreme authority in his own diocese, so the Pope's authority over them is akin to herding cats. But then, pastors are more-or-less supreme in their own parishes; and bishops don't have a whole lot of luck herding them, either.
On top of all that, parishioners belong to the Catholic Church voluntarily. They're largely ignorant of Catholic Church teaching and policy, so pastors don't have a lot of luck controlling them, either. In the United States, Catholics seem to know more about evangelical Christianity than they do of their own religion, because the evangelicals have overwhelmed the broadcast media.
Ideally, the Catholic Church is ruled by collegiality, with decisions made by consensus. The nuns in the U.S. actually make this work, but the men still seem to think they need an authoritative structure.
You're right - the Catholic Church is an absurd structure frought with "thoroughly alarming degree of confusion and inconsistency." But the essence of the Catholic Church isn't the structure or the authority. Although they may disagree about ancillary issues like birth control and the gender of priests and homosexuality, almost all Catholics share a belief in the central doctrines, mostly as expressed in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD - and there's very little disagreement among Christians (not just Catholics) about the Creed. The central acts of Catholic worship are the Mass and the sacraments, which are treasured greatly by all Catholics.
That's the point - it's not an authority structure, it's a worldwide community of believers. It's amazingly diverse, both in the ethnicity of its members and in its spectrum of theology. And membership is voluntary.
So, if you want to understand the reality of the Catholic Church, repeat this ten times:Catholic Church: herding cats
-Joe-