Struggling to agree with Church Teaching

Let's be honest. All of us have difficulty agreeing with certain teachings from Mother Church. Here are some examples. Some of us are passionate about Gender Equality, and we can't understand why the Catholic Church does not allow for Women Priests. Some of us view the scandals that are being uncovered in the Church among the clergy today are a result of our Priests being required to remain celibate, and thus we strongly feel that the Church should not impose celibacy as a requirement for its clergy. To some, human beings are made with physical needs, and they feel that the Church should relax her stance towards pre-martital sex, contraception, LGBTQ, and even abortion. Some of us feel that the changes to the Liturgy from Vatican II ought not to have taken place. To many, the Traditional Latin Mass is the only form of worship that should be accepted as valid by the Church. To many, the rubrics of the Liturgy are but man-made laws, and we feel that there's no need to observe all the rubrics in the GIRM, if they do not help us in connecting with our God during the Liturgy. And the list goes on.

I must admit, I too struggle with these things. After all, in this day and age, we live in a society of Relativism. We live in a world where views are relative to differences in perception among people. There is always a variety of different interpretations among different concepts.

While we are called to live in the World, the idea of relativism in itself is already a problem for us as disciples of Christ. The Church has always maintained the view that relativism is a denial of the absolute truth. This can lead to the possible denial of what is Sin, and even of God. The Catholic Church offers her children the fullness of truth, and relativism offers us the possibility of denying that the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth. Catholics are called to be in the world, but not of the world. Relativism is something that we are called to reject.



In our creed, we profess our belief and acceptance of ONE Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith. As a family of God, all of us are called to stand united in what we believe. We believe that our Church is the Church which was founded by Christ himself, and he did so upon the authority which he himself passed on to the apostles, which they passed on to their successors. When Christ founded his Church, he did so upon the rock of Peter, where he says: 

"You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it." - Matthew 16:18

Jesus himself promised has us that the gates of the underworld will never prevail against his Church. In saying so, I believe that it is quite safe to say that the teachings of Mother Church will lead us to our Salvation.

As Catholics, we need to take up the call to reject the idea of relativism. We do not get to pick and choose what we want to believe in when it comes to the teachings of Mother Church. When we do this, that is what causes division. If we struggle with agreeing with all the teachings of the Church, let me assure you that this is normal. We are human beings after all, and a lot of the time, our visions can become clouded by our egos. And make no mistake about it, I too am struggling.

However, this is when we are called to pray for humility, to pray for the grace to understand, and to accept even though we may not fully agree. This applies to all teachings of the Church. The journey of faith never ends. So instead of challenging the Church's view on certain things, let us challenge ourselves to be the Church. This is the call for all of us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I feel that all parishes should pray the Divine Office before or during the Daily Mass

Image
I'm sure that many here have read my musing in February about the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours. Together with the celebration of the Eucharist, the Divine Office constitutes the official public prayer life of the Church. All members of the clergy are required to pray the Office on a daily basis, and lay people are strongly encouraged to do so as well.  Not many parishes in our diocese pray the Office together on a daily basis. In fact, The Divine Office is often unheard of among the laity, and even for those who would like to take up the habit of praying it, many are not even sure how to get started. I've personally seen this, when the Circuit Breaker was implemented in April and I started an online initiative within my community, where we gather on an online platform to pray the Morning and Evening Prayer together. Many were unsure of the technicalities of the prayer. Many were unsure of when it was time for them to speak and when it was time for them ...
Read more

No, we lay people should not be using the Orans Posture at Mass.

Image
I noticed something last Sunday when I attended Mass. I noticed that many of my fellow brothers and sisters who were gathered at the Eucharistic Feast were opening their palms in prayer, especially during the various parts of the Eucharistic Prayer. As someone who has had the privilege of learning about the liturgy from a priest who holds a licentiate in Liturgical and Sacramental Theology, this caught my attention at once. I was not distressed about it, neither was I attempting to pass judgment on anybody, but I knew at once what I was going to write about this week.  I'm quite sure that what I am going to write today is going to unruffle the feathers of many. Like all my liturgical musings, I assure you dear reader, that I do not aim to offend or criticise anyone by means of this post. This musing is not an attempt to be a liturgical terrorist, or to push any agendas within the Church. I write this post with only one aim in mind; to shed some light on how the Church intends for h...
Read more

My take on Traditionis Custodes... at least for now

Image
Over the last weekend, Catholics from all around the world would have no doubt become aware that the Holy Father has issued a Moto Proprio. It appears that after years of Pope Benedict acknowledging the right of all priests to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form, Pope Francis has decided to revoke this right and impose certain restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.  Apart from the fact that the Traditional Latin Mass can no longer be celebrated in parishes, the new Moto Proprio dictates that the Diocesan Bishop must give authorisation for any priest to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, and that the Bishop must only grant such authorisation to clergy and groups who do not deny the validity of Vatican II and the Magisterium. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to accompany a friend of mine to attend a Traditional Latin Mass at a SSPX chapel. While I found the rite to be beautiful, I must admit that what I encountered at that Mass was nothing short ...
Read more