A pivotal scene in last year’s critically acclaimed film BlackBerry shows the company’s executives, who had dominated the smartphone market for the better part of a decade, watch as Steve Jobs unveils the first iPhone. Their faces freeze as the reality sinks in: the BlackBerry, in that moment, went from essential to obsolete.
The story is not unique. In 2004, there were over 9,000 Blockbuster stores worldwide. A mere decade later, after failing to adapt quickly and thoroughly enough to Netflix’s direct mail and streaming services, every company-owned store had closed. From carriage makers to Kodak, the business graveyard is filled with victims of disruptors, products that fundamentally changed the market landscape.
Voices for change within the Catholic Church apply a similar adapt-or-die paradigm. To a rapidly secularizing culture, the Church appears increasingly obsolete. Some of her least popular teachings seem like old VHS tapes still sitting on the shelf: a quaint reminder, at best, of a benighted past; at worst, an embarrassment and a hindrance to progress. Progressives see themselves as having to drag the Church into the modern age, with all the patience and frustration that comes with teaching grandma how to FaceTime.
The business model shapes their vision of Pope John XXIII’s call for aggiornamento, or updating, on the eve of the Second Vatican Council. The sainted pope sought to present ancient truths in new ways. Progressives then and now, however, dismiss that approach as a half-measure, saying that the problem is not the pitch—it is the product, and the sooner we realize that, the better chance the Church has at surviving and remaining relevant.
The experience of many Catholics further reinforces the sense of urgency. At least in the northeastern United States and most of western Europe, the Church looks like a chain going out of business, its locations regularly merged, shuttered, closed, sold. To carry the analogy further, the store closings are the result of fewer customers, with fewer employees doing more work with lower returns. Those employees, as it were, work under the cloud of a CEO who doesn’t seem to like them very much, while they hear a diocesan bishop refer to them in a deposition as “independent contractors”: potential liabilities for whom he takes no responsibility.
In such an environment, morale undoubtedly suffers. Who wants to be the one to turn off the lights at the last Blockbuster?
Viewed through the lens of the business model, the situation in the Church appears bleak, even dire, and prompts calls for drastic change. The most visible push for adaptation, the German Synodal Way, abounds in the language of updating. For example, the document on “Women in ministries and offices in the Church” calls for a “new reflection” on “new forms of ministries” that flow from a “new beginning” in how we understand women’s role in the ministerial life of the Church. Similar language seeks updates to everything from allowing lay persons to preach and hear confessions to the acceptance of artificial contraception and sexual unions outside of marriage (including praise for “the productive aspects of lust”).
Most champions of change are less overt, couching their argument as a development in which a given doctrine becomes more fully and recognizably itself. While their language may be more subtle, their endgame is no less radical, calling on the Church to teach the opposite of what it once held to be true. They attempt to stave off accusations of contradiction by invoking historical contextualization, that a certain doctrine was true for its time, but altered conditions and awareness have today rendered such a belief outmoded and incorrect. Cardinal Robert McElroy recently articulated this exact perspective, calling upon the Church to “refine” those teachings that rest upon a limited or defective understanding of human nature and moral reality.
As these calls for adaptation grow in frequency and volume and explicitness, it is important to understand why such an outlook is fundamentally misguided. In the first place, such adaptation, in the way progressives envision it, remains antithetical to the Church’s core identity. Immutability is essential to the brand. After all, we believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That same Christ reveals himself through Sacred Tradition: we come to know God through that which has always been believed and taught.
Were the Church to recall a product, admitting to a doctrinal error only recently corrected and brought up to date, then everything becomes subject to the shifting sands of time. Any doctrine is proclaimed as true only until it is not. The Church’s raison d’être, and her claim to teach the fullness of truth that God has revealed, would cease to exist. To continue the business analogy, there can be no adaptation when the very product you are selling is unchanging and permanent.
The second flaw in the business approach is that it does not account for the role of Providence, in God’s abiding presence in and guidance of our lives and the life of his Church. Obviously, the Church is not a corporation, but if we take our discipleship seriously, we are offering something to people. We may not be trying to convince people to buy a consumer good, but are trying to persuade them to accept the truth that sets them free. We strive, as St. Paul did, to preach Christ and him crucified, with the aim of gaining not revenue or profits, but souls for the kingdom of heaven.
Too often, however, we can fall into the trap of approaching evangelization as a marketing strategy, with slick ads and parish mission statements that contain all the leaven of a corporate boardroom. Archbishop Fulton Sheen spoke to the folly of such Pelagian pursuits, writing that young people want a challenge: “When we follow the type of advertising appeal used by Madison Avenue to sell toothpaste, when we use commercial techniques in our vocation literature, do not the hearts of the young spurn our distance from the Cross?” Jesus gave us the ultimate mission statement in his last words in the Gospel: “Go and make disciples of all nations…and behold, I am with you always.”
That trust in Providence includes believing the Faith that has been handed down to us, in its perennial vitality, transformative potential, and undiminished relevance. It is sometimes wryly observed that certain professions—undertakers, for example—will never suffer from lack of demand. On a deeper plane, the doors of the Church will never close. As long as there are human beings on earth, there will be souls searching for the truth, searching for God, trying to find their way home. The Church must be that light in the darkness, shining as brightly as we allow her to.
The decline in almost every measure of Church life over the past decades—in baptisms and marriages and Mass attendance and religious vocations—has many causes, as the Church finds herself swimming against the strong tides of cultural change. One wonders, though, if her attempts to adapt to and accommodate those changes have accelerated, rather than stemmed, the decline. For many entrepreneurs, companies like BlackBerry and Blockbuster remain cautionary tales.
But there’s an alternative to the adapt-or-die scenario. In a misguided effort to remain relevant, to compete with a younger rival, Coca-Cola infamously introduced New Coke in the mid-1980s. The backlash was swift. Coca-Cola had marketed its flagship product as “The Real Thing,” something reliably stable in an ever-changing world. Although New Coke represented both a breach of trust and a commercial flop, Coca-Cola had the good sense to accept its mistake and reverse course before suffering lasting damage.
There will always exist the temptation to be with the times, not to get left behind in the arc of history. The challenge is to resist seeing the Church and her mission in those worldly terms, confident that Jesus Christ continues to supply every demand. He remains the ultimate disruptor, the one who makes all things new.
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I very much hope Fr. Graebe cc:’d the Bergoglian Vatican on this.
The business model and its calls for adaptation to the times are based on the premise that we no longer need to be fundamentally concerned with the views expressed by Jesus Christ, because He is dead.
EXACTLY. If the Church were merely a human institution with nothing divine about Her — if She is not the Body and Bride of Christ — then She would be a fraud and should be allowed to die.
Dear Outis, just a small but VERY important correction.
You claim that the Church would be a fraud: “. if She is not the Body and Bride of Christ”. This is the same erroneous proposition made, most subtly, against our Catholic Church by freemasons and other pagans, in that it is preposterous to imagine a man’s body can also be his bride.
As explained by Saint Paul, inspired by The Holy Spirit, in his letter to the Ephesians and in his letter to the Colossians, Christ is the Head of THE BODY, that is His Church, made up of those who obey Him.
As Saint John the beloved, inspired by The Holy Spirit, explains in Revelation 21:2 and 21:9, The New Jerusalem is THE BRIDE of Christ.
It is only as parts of Christ’s Body that true believers who obey Jesus’ commands become eternally married to The Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens & New Earth.
New Testament truth is very beautiful; it overturns every preposterous slander.
Am trusting you did not consciously mean to slander our Catholic faith.
Ever in the love of The Lamb of God; blessings from marty
The Church is not the US and Europe; and it certainly is not Bergoglio, McElroy and the rest of the virtue signalers who appear to want the Church to die off or at best become a branch of their political party of choice. There is abundant hope for the Church in Africa and Asia. If the Church dies off in Europe and North America because leadership is embarrassed by its teachings, it deserves to die off. So be it! The gates of hell may prevail over certain quarters of the Church. But the promise remains that the Church shall prevail. Let it prosper and assert itself in places and among people who actually love the Church. As for the US and Europe, it is probably a providential thing that the Church drastically shrinks so that its ruling elite is deprived of the money they love and the prestige they crave. They’ve betrayed Christ and the Church; let them enjoy for now the 30 silver pieces … and the infamy they bring on themselves.
How’s business Father Graebe? A great analogy by Fr Graebe. Why the failure? “To continue the business analogy, there can be no adaptation when the very product you are selling is unchanging and permanent”.
The business analogy of a failed product, FS, has caused enormous damage to the Church, its doctrinal products now perceived as subject to revision rather than permanence. Although this is not quite the whole enchilada. Fiducia is clearly a failure. Despite the failure of the American Church to refute FS, straining itself to appear loyal to His Holiness, the rest of the world has. Has the failure of FS caused widespread failure of the value of Church doctrine? What’s the saving event in all this furor is, in fact, the abject failure of an attempt to sanitize gay and other irregular relationships. The DDF scheme to convince that we can bless same sex parties and not bless same sex parties didn’t work for obvious reasons. Christians rallied in defense of the truth. That’s a damned good indication that the Church is not quite bankrupt yet [diocesan bankruptcies are likely a good thing in narrowing the Church to the faithful few and the virtue of real poverty – the time for bishops to live in palaces is about over].
We should join Fr Graebe in wishing that the Church withdraw its failed product to avoid irreparable damage, although in the scheme of things the Church is far more resilient than Coca Cola. At least the aroused faithful who comprise it.
Yes, Coke took 30 days to correct their error, the Church is approaching 60 years and still yet to figure it out.
Brilliant Edmundson. Absolutely brilliant.
Don’t ask me who it was, but someone once said that the church that weds the spirit of the age is soon left a widow. The current papacy seems determined to prove the point.
James 4:4 says it well enough. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
A certain wishy-washiness lies at the heart of the situation. Too many priests are willing to embrace secularism in an attempt to make the church “relevant” in a way in which it’s most ardent supports would refuse to accept: transgenderism, homosexuality, etc. I would prefer it if priests would begin to announce church positions with clarity from the pulpit, and let the chips fall where they may. For example, couples living without benefit of marriage, or those married at city hall, are operating in a state of sin and are barred from Communion. No doubt that will elicit a lot of screaming and some quitting the church. So be it. The flip side is, a smaller more faithful church body might be just what we need. An attempt to be everything to everybody results in being nothing to everyone.
I’ve been saying this since I was 13 years old… there is no possible way that the Catholic Church offers a TRUE story about the universe and humanity. It’s great to be vindicated now 25 years later, as NONE is now the default position in America.
How, exactly, have you been “vindicated”?
Psalm 26
1 Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
3 For thy steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to thee.
4 I do not sit with false men,
nor do I consort with dissemblers;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go about thy altar, O Lord,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all thy wondrous deeds.
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of thy house,
and the place where thy glory dwells.
9 Sweep me not away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 men in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.
Well, by the fact that Catholicism is evaporating further and further into irrelevance by the year. Also by the fact that Jesus still isn’t “back” nor will he be back anytime during the next billion years. Funny how the dead remain dead.
And murderers remain convinced that they get to determine the “relevance” of their victims. The relevance of their invincible willful stupidity will provide them endless time to contemplate the notion of “irrelevance”, despite the very high temperatures.
Andrew, here I go again but how many children are the Nones having? Nothing can “stay in business ” without another generation to pass a faith, culture, or ideology down to.
Fertility rates are a critical part of the issue but so is community. If you don’t retain young people by providing community and support , fertility rates will be less important.
mrscracker, clearly secularists are winning despite low fertility. so much for your theory. it’s not that secularism needs a contempt of condoms in order to survive, it’s that religion needs a global contempt of technology in order to go back to the good ol dark ages where skepticism could be easily suppressed and shamed, and conversations slow and local, and if your preferred flavor is islam, women uneducated. but that won’t happen, obviously. you’re all toast.
Well Andrew, God bless you. Let’s check back in 20 years and see what the demographic figures tell us.
Yes, I’m sure your petty perspective and Oedipal rage invalidate 2000 years of history.
Mr. Williams, as an actual scientist, I’ve observed your comic book contentions about physics and the universe for quite some time. Vindication would involve your discovery of your pretentions.
That was a good one, Edward. I’m afraid you surrendered any potential claim to “scientist” the moment you mistook “faith” for an actual fact-finding methodology.
Dear Andrew Williams, yours is a triumphalist, scientistic comment unfairly bestowed on dear Edward J Baker. Repentance is mandatory!
I’m an internationally experienced research, doctoral supervisor, & teaching scientist, with numerous publications, including 5 in ‘Nature London’, that are widely cited; & a past Chief Editor of a major biology journal. There are few who are more thoroughly steeped in science than me!
I can assure you that faith is absolutely foundational for science. We believe that our work is meaningful because space-time/energy-matter, life, & humanity are meaningfully constructed & able to be causally connected & hence managed to our advantage.
There are huge voids in our scientific understanding, yet we keep going in faith that the meaningfulness of it all will be found.
Even so, there are leading physicists who say that our universe is very logically made but with a logic that far exceeds our capacity to understand it!
Francis Crick remarked that biogenesis is statistically impossible given the time and circumstances pertaining. Fred Hoyle also came to the conclusion that the physical, chemical, and biological complexity of our universe could not possibly have come about without ‘outside help’!
Anthropic fine-tuning embraces us all, yet science must depend on faith to grasp that matricial reality.
Dear Andrew, you need to check the number of highly successful scientists who are believing Christians. That would show you that *fact and faith are an inseparable duo* that has been and is of immense benefit to humankind.
Scientists without faith hobble on one leg, or worse . . !
Always in the grace & mercy of King Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
Faith isn’t needed in science, unless you mean something cheesy like “you need faith in your senses” or “you need faith that the instruments are giving you the correct reading”. But that’s hardly the same thing (meaning) as “faith” in a religious context, which is why it’s disingenuous of you to pretend that it is. In one case, the baseline (or call it “faith”) is that our sensory perceptions are somewhat accurate, and in the other case, the baseline is that the biggest problem of all comes to us pre-solved, a gift given to us with a pretty bow on top; we already know where everything came from – a very specific invisible agency akin to an outer space concierge which may or may not grant your telepathic wishes. One of these baselines is reasonable, the other is not. Can you figure out which is which?
Marty, you don’t seem very scientific at all. You should be the one repenting for your lies here. Lying about your credentials is still a sin. I do not like liars.
The Catholic Church is alive and well in Africa. It is also alive and well in believers throughout the world, and that includes non-nones in America.
Numbers are not the only measure of existence and power/potential.
The assertion that ‘Catholicism is evaporating’? How does a belief or a concept ‘evaporate’?
“I’ve been saying this since I was 13 years old”
So, you’re admitting that your brain is stuck in permanent puerility.
That’s a good thing; recognizing that you have a problem is the first step toward fixing it.
Good analogy about the Coca-cola reset!
But isn’t Fiducia Supplicans more about Fernandez-Kool-aid as an entirely new product line? “New” ironically as in pre-Christian?
My conversion to Catholicism was delayed primarily to my own sins, but matters were not helped when I witnessed how stupidly most Catholics, it seemed, reacted negatively to Humanae Vitae. Yet in more recent decades I’ve met many willing to admit they were wrong. There was much courage in the Church remaining faithful in not accommodating cultual expectations. Almost all of that capital, to use a business term, has been destroyed on December 18th 2023. Will it ever be restored?
When a priest/bishop/pope whoever is saying that “we must make the Church relevant” he automatically makes Jesus Christ irrelevant. Christ makes His Church permanently relevant. Those who do not understand that, do not really understand Who Christ is.
A paradox: the Church ceases to be relevant the very moment she becomes concerned with own “relevance”. The Bride becomes the Whore. Sorry for being crude but this is how I perceive it.
Not crude, Anna. Insightful.
I always enjoy discovering your perspectives. Thank you for your contributions.
Thank you Fr. Graebe. In business, we can think what we want, but only the truth of the market leads to lasting success. Christ is Truth. If we bite His hand, why should we expect to be fed? At root, deviation from the Truth of Christ is a lack of Faith in Him. Selling secularism only works for a while, like a drug, before it decays in death.
“Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”
(1 Corinthians 15)
The “church” that the Pontiff Francis and his party want to have for themselves is what Fr. Robert Imbelli alludes to as “The De-Capitated Body of Christ.”
It is a gruesome, grim, and delusional neo-pagan cult, having “the mind of McCarrick.”
She has come to a end of endless profit, it is time for her to be destroyed. The United Nations will hate the harlot. Revelation 27:16
If I remember correctly, Block could have purchased Netflix for $50,000 but didn’t. As far as worldly buried treasure that would have been the plot to latch onto. Fortunately, this story doesn’t delve into some of the filth in the movie industry.
Mass attendance cannot compete with video games with our youth; parenting is key there.
Didn’t Kodak invent much of the digital picture technology, which based on the pictures sent to me by family members is nothing like the Kodak world quality I grew up with.
It seems that married priests may be one solution. The pay would have to be higher though, to support a family. Also, if people want to leave because the Church won’t cave, let them leave. Many have left in heart already. I recently heard on that Vat II dropping Latin was in order to get the Protestants to convert, which didn’t work. (if this is wrong please comment)
I appreciate the comments of LJ and Anna about the wishy-washness of those who wish to make the Church relevant.
The Gospels seem pretty clear that Christ’s first command was to repent. The McELroys and evidently Pope Francis seem to want a church that offers absolution without repentance. Frankly a meaningless church that would actually become utterly irrelevant.
The Holy Spirit directs us to ignore those church leaders who do not bring the doctrine of Christ (2 John:9-11).
You are right, dear Tom in Florida: it is Christ’s commands that must have priority in our mind, heart, & soul.
To repeat previous comments on foundational Catholic Christian teachings [please excuse the length of this].
No progress until the real Catholic Bishops – true Episcopes for Christ – organize experienced & tested state & national scrutiny teams, whose work is to systematically interview all existing Catechists, RE Teachers, RCIA leaders, Alpha leaders, Youth leaders, Children’s ministers, & any others who are charged with the guidance of tender new Catholic souls & seekers.
Our bishops are in deep sin where they authorize, untested, whatever floats to the surface to do this most precious ministry for the lambs of our LORD Jesus Christ.
Episcopal Scrutiny Teams (EST) need to be spiritually discerning & skilled in weeding out candidates with allegiance to materialism, freemasonry, witchcraft, Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age, and anything else that is incompatible with Catholicism.
Bishops should appoint only loving women & men in whom they discern The Word of Christ dwelling abundantly & who have a good knowledge of & firm allegiance to the CCC.
The situation is dire. Will the real Episcopes please stand up & do their proper work! Today’s pseudo-Catholicism lacks all power & authority to save anyone’s soul. It could be sued for flagrant misrepresentation! Yet, our bishops could remedy that whenever they chose to.
Is there anything more eternally basic in our Catholic Faith than: “If you love Me, obey My commands.” Yet, how can God’s life-saving prescriptions be obeyed if they have not been properly taught & memorized? Yes, my dears – that means OBEDIENCE . . !
Even though part of The Holy Trinity, Jesus, our LORD obeyed rules:
John 8:28 “I do nothing of Myself; what The Father has taught Me is what I preach.”
John 8:54 “If I were to seek My own glory that would be no glory at all; My glory is conferred by The Father.”
Then there’s those famous 7 words of Matthew 26:39: “Your will be done Father, not Mine.”
————————————————————
‘Tis easy to forget that Jesus is IN CHARGE OF ALL OF IT, and always & only for the sake of Father God’s glory:
John 16:14-15 “The Holy Spirit will glorify Me, since all He tells you will be taken from what is Mine. Everything The Father has is Mine; that is why I said: ‘All He tells you will be taken from what is Mine.’”
*Catholicism IS Life in Christ Jesus* – thus, always about obedience to the commandments, of Him who constantly stands ready to shepherd us with encouragement or restraint! His “No!” is no; and His “Yes!” is yes.
——————————————–
Colossians 3:17 “Never say or do anything except in the Name of the LORD Jesus.”
We are NOT doing it ‘in Jesus’ Name’ if we haven’t asked Him first!
As you’d know, it’s a fatal flaw to think we’re OK to decide to do what we feel motivated to do, and only then say: “In Jesus’ Name”; as if His Holy Name is some sort of universal charm! “Why do you call Me: ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I say?”
He only calls us: “Friends.” when we have understood all He has commanded us to do.
———————————————
Ideally, Catholics need to find how to come into the Presence of Jesus and be able to prayerfully converse with the LORD at any time. Once we know the Christ of The New Testament, are able to hear God’s Still Small Voice, and understand what it means to seek to be obedient at all times, we are on track . . .
Psalm 80:17 – “O that my people would heed Me, that they would walk in My Ways . . .”
———————————————-
More than 70 years ago, I was catechized by wonderful Marist sisters, who emphasized the human need for the 10 Commandments. Later, as an adult evangelizing in Africa, the USA, & Australia, I found it effective to link the 10 Commandments to our 5 plus 5 fingers, as a fun way to embody MEMORIZING God’s awesome prescription for our eternal happiness. For example:
HAND ONE
Thumb: “With all my heart, mind, body and soul I will worship the one God revealed by Jesus Christ: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.”
Index Finger: “I will serve no other god nor any idol.”
Middle Finger: “I will not use God’s name profanely; I will not swear oaths, for my ‘yes’ is yes and my ‘no’ is no.”
Ring Finger: “I will keep the Sabbath Day holy, in the way Jesus taught us.”
Little Finger: “I will honour my mum and dad.”
HAND TWO
Thumb: “I will love every person as Jeus loves me; I’ll not hurt or kill anyone, nor think evil of them, nor hate or take revenge.”
Index Finger: “I will maintain sexual purity & faithfulness in my thoughts, words & deeds.”
Middle Finger: “I will not steal; I will not rob others of their reputation.”
Ring Finger: “I will not tell lies, deceive, nor cheat.”
Little finger: “I will not covet for God in Christ is providing all I need”.
Notes
In Exodus 20:1-17 and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 the Semitic Ten Commandments reflected Jewish cultural belief in the cleanness of the right hand (the first five commands) and the uncleanness of the left hand (the second five commands). Tough if you were born left-handed!
Remaining true to Moses’ original, today’s Catholics can expand the Commandments with a positive, personal, ecumenical, & egalitarian hermeneutics, faithful to Jesus’ New Testament teaching & made easy to remember for today’s visually-oriented young people.
A common resolve among our Church leaders at all levels to see every Catholic parish, every Diocese, and all the Roman Curia back to honoring & obeying these 10 divine treasures, graciously given us by God for our good, would surely transform our worldly society, instead of the world spirit progressively polluting the Church, as we see so often these days, and in Fr Brian A. Gaebe’s fine, exhortatory article.
Again:
Is there anything more eternally basic in our Catholic Faith than:
“If you love Me; obey My commands.”
Yet, how can they be obeyed if they have not been taught & memorized?
Too difficult? No way! Jesus’ yoke is easy & His burden lite.
The Father desires to give us more of The Holy Spirit: our Counsellor, Helper, Advocate, & Comforter. For goodness’ sake – how can we be throwing in the towel?
It’d be an easy step from ‘going out of business’ to ‘filling the world with God’s Glory’. The really hard part has already been done by The Lamb of God on Calvary.
You are right, dear Tom in Florida: it is Christ’s commands that must have priority in our mind, heart, & soul. Our prayers are that this would be so for PF & the Curia.
This is expanded on in previous comments on foundational Catholic Christian teachings [please excuse the length of this].
No progress until the real Catholic Bishops – true Episcopes for Christ – organize experienced & tested state & national scrutiny teams, whose work is to systematically interview all existing Catechists, RE Teachers, RCIA leaders, Alpha leaders, Youth leaders, Children’s ministers, & any others who are charged with the guidance of tender new Catholic souls & seekers.
Our bishops are in deep sin where they authorize, untested, whatever floats to the surface to do this most precious ministry for the lambs of our LORD Jesus Christ.
Episcopal Scrutiny Teams (EST) need to be spiritually discerning & skilled in weeding out candidates with allegiance to materialism, freemasonry, witchcraft, Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age, and anything else that is incompatible with Catholicism.
Bishops should appoint only loving women & men in whom they discern The Word of Christ dwelling abundantly & who have a good knowledge of & firm allegiance to the CCC.
The situation is dire. Will the real Episcopes please stand up & do their proper work! As so many have commented: today’s pseudo-Catholicism lacks all power & authority to save anyone’s soul. It could be sued for flagrant misrepresentation!
Yet, our bishops have the authority to remedy that whenever they chose to.
Is there anything more eternally basic in our Catholic Faith than: “If you love Me, obey My commands.” Yet, how can God’s life-saving prescriptions be obeyed if they have not been properly taught & memorized?
Yes, my dears – shock, shock – that means OBEDIENCE . . !
Even though part of The Holy Trinity, Jesus, our LORD obeyed rules:
John 8:28 “I do nothing of Myself; what The Father has taught Me is what I preach.”
John 8:54 “If I were to seek My own glory that would be no glory at all; My glory is conferred by The Father.”
Then there’s those famous 7 words of Matthew 26:39: “Your will be done Father, not Mine.”
————————————————————
‘Tis easy to forget that Jesus is IN CHARGE OF ALL OF IT, a ‘business’ that is always & only for the sake of Father God’s glory:
John 16:14-15 “The Holy Spirit will glorify Me, since all He tells you will be taken from what is Mine. Everything The Father has is Mine; that is why I said: ‘All He tells you will be taken from what is Mine.’”
*Catholicism IS Life in Christ Jesus* – thus, always about obedience to the commandments, of Him who constantly stands ready to shepherd us with encouragement or restraint! His “No!” is no; and His “Yes!” is yes.
It’s all for the profit of God’s Glory – The Holy Trinity is sole shareholder!
——————————————–
Colossians 3:17 “Never say or do anything except in the Name of the LORD Jesus.”
We are NOT doing it ‘in Jesus’ Name’ if we haven’t asked Him first!
As you’d know, it’s a fatal flaw to think we’re OK to decide to do what we feel motivated to do, and only then say: “In Jesus’ Name”; as if His Holy Name is some sort of universal charm! “Why do you call Me: ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I say?”
He only calls us: “Friends.” when we have understood all He has commanded us to do.
———————————————
Ideally, Catholics need to find how to come into the Presence of Jesus and be able to prayerfully converse with the LORD at any time. Once we cleve to the Christ of The New Testament, learn to hear God’s Still Small Voice, and understand what it means to seek to be obedient at all times, are we are on track . . .
Psalm 80:17 – “O that my people would heed Me, that they would walk in My Ways . . .”
The end product of this ‘factory’ is divine approval:
“Well done you good & faithful servant! Now enter the joy of your Master!
———————————————-
More than 70 years ago, I was catechized by wonderful Marist sisters, who emphasized the human need for the 10 Commandments. Later, as an adult evangelizing in Africa, the USA, & Australia, I found it effective to link the 10 Commandments to our 5 plus 5 fingers, as a fun way to embody MEMORIZING God’s awesome prescription for our eternal happiness (the actual intent of God’s ‘business’). For example:
HAND ONE
Thumb: “With all my heart, mind, body and soul I will worship the one God revealed by Jesus Christ: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.”
Index Finger: “I will serve no other god nor any idol.”
Middle Finger: “I will not use God’s name profanely; I will not swear oaths, for my ‘yes’ is yes and my ‘no’ is no.”
Ring Finger: “I will keep the Sabbath Day holy, in the way Jesus taught us.”
Little Finger: “I will honour my mum and dad.”
HAND TWO
Thumb: “I will love every person as Jeus loves me; I’ll not hurt or kill anyone, nor think evil of them, nor hate or take revenge.”
Index Finger: “I will maintain sexual purity & faithfulness in my thoughts, words & deeds.”
Middle Finger: “I will not steal; I will not rob others of their reputation.”
Ring Finger: “I will not tell lies, deceive, nor cheat.”
Little finger: “I will not covet for God in Christ is providing all I need”.
Notes
In Exodus 20:1-17 and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 the Semitic Ten Commandments reflected Jewish cultural belief in the cleanness of the right hand (the first five commands) and the uncleanness of the left hand (the second five commands). Tough if you were born left-handed!
Remaining true to Moses’ original, today’s Catholics can expand the Commandments with a positive, personal, ecumenical, & egalitarian hermeneutics, faithful to Jesus’ New Testament teaching & made easy to remember for today’s visually-oriented young people.
A common resolve among our Church leaders at all levels to see every Catholic parish, every Diocese, and all the Roman Curia back to honoring & obeying these 10 divine treasures, graciously given us by God for our good, would surely transform our worldly society, instead of the world spirit progressively polluting the Church, as we see so often these days, and in Fr Brian A. Graebe’s fine, exhortatory article.
Again:
Is there anything more eternally basic in our Catholic Faith than:
“If you love Me; obey My commands.” Should be inscribed over the door of every Catholic church.
Yet, how can they be obeyed if they have not been taught & memorized?
Too difficult? No way! Jesus’ yoke is easy & His burden lite.
The Father desires to give us more of The Holy Spirit: our Counsellor, Helper, Advocate, & Comforter. For goodness’ sake – how can we be throwing in the towel?
It’d be an easy step from ‘going out of business’ to ‘filling the world with God’s Glory’. The really hard part of this ‘business strategy’ has already been done by The Lamb of God on Calvary.
Ever seeking to hear & follow King Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
I can’t help thinking that the sea change in Church teachings wrought by the Second Vatican Council and the gross over-enthusiasm wrought in the “spirit of Vatican II” phenomenon might have something to do with the current plight of our Church.
Well said, Fr. Graebe.
As a father of young adults I can testify that there is a desire of young people to want to go back to the roots of the early church where people self-identified as followers of the Way of Jesus Christ as opposed those who did not follow the Way. Right now many of my son’s followers of the Way friends believe the Catholic Church is going the wrong way. We can all see it and everyday I pray for an answer as to why we continue to follow this bad shepherd with the authority to dictate his way?
The Kingdom of Heaven is not reducible to a marketplace. Remember?
Grand innovations in the Faith lead to Exile from the Kingdom of God. Progressive decline probably will be inevitable. Especially with pride-laden man’s skills aka unhealthy technologies.
Discarding of Natural Law? The spiritual benefits of unbridaled lust? Transhumanism? Really???
The Catholic Church is going to be destroyed. Revelation 17:16 It is the main part of the spiritual prostitute Religions that God Rejects. She committed spiritual prostitution with the kings of the earth.
It is going to be destroyed, but not for the nonsensical reason (Bible quote) that you cite. rather, it will simply kill itself gradually over time because its story doesn’t hold water in the 21st century.
Andrew, if Sacred Scripture and the Church are nonsense why do you choose to spend so much time here on a Catholic site?
Oh? And who appointed you, Mr. Squier, the interpreter and arbiter of Revelation?
Bravo Father! A great analogy! As I was reading the article but had not reached the last analogy, I was even thinking about the disaster that was New Coke. And then you brought it home! I always used the analogy that you have to judge a tree by its fruits. When will the Church wake up and realize that if something isn’t working, you don’t just keep doing more of it. You go back to what works. Successful businesses know when to cut their losses with an innovation that isn’t working before the financial bleeding affects their stock price!
I cannot believe this discussion. Doesn’t anyone believe anymore that Jesus is in charge? Now and forever, till the end of time. He knows what He is doing. In the meantime, Bergoglio’s gotta go!