Dangerous Visions

Now and then we should think outside the “traditional ” box, and cast a glance at how the “other side” sees the world. In that spirit, let’s take a look at “A church refreshed: A dispatch from an American Catholic future” –   a dream offered by Patrick T. Reardon in the National Catholic Reporter.  Please note that this not some satire by a traditionalist but an absolutely serious attempt to imagine a progressive Catholic utopia. Indeed, some comments appearing on the site where this article appeared criticized the author for not going far enough: he still seems to assume a male priesthood (if under the control of female “chancellors”)

CHICAGO, MARCH 13, 2063 — Song leader Sophia Santiago stood to the right of the altar of St. Gertrude Church in Chicago and invited those in the crowded pews and in folding chairs to greet their neighbors. “All are welcome,” she proclaimed.

To the simple notes of a single piano, the parish choir and the congregation sang a sweet, lilting version of “Come to the Water” as liturgical dancers, altar servers, ministers of the word, parish chancellor Emma Okere and pastor Fr. Antonio Fitzgerald processed up the center aisle. The song filled the soaring interior of the 131-year-old structure. On a banner high behind the altar, in large, easily readable lettering, was a quotation from Pope Francis: “Who am I to judge?”

This was one of thousands of celebrations across the globe marking 50 years of rejuvenation and renewal dating from the election of Pope Francis in 2013, popularly called “refreshment of the faith.”

By this time in the future,  the cult of Pope Francis seems to have displaced that of the once-revered Founder of this religion;  for doesn’t a banner with “Who am I to judge” – in “easily readable” letters of course – dominate the sanctuary instead of a crucifix or cross? We can only applaud the honesty of the author in acknowledging the revolutionary implications of the utterances of the current pontiff.

The same honesty pervades the rest of this piece in which the reduction of Chicago’s churches to a small handful is applauded – as is the abandonment or destruction of the Catholic legacy of art (some former churches survive as museums).

The closures affected 314 churches, dating back to 1860. Some were sold, usually at nominal cost, to other religious denominations. A handful were rescued by preservationists and reopened as architectural museums or cultural centers.

The majority, however, were stripped of their stained-glass windows, gold ornamentation and other finery, then torn down, the victims of impossibly high maintenance costs.

Rarely has the progressive hostility to art and beauty  – so dominant since the Second Vatican Council – been so frankly acknowledged (and commended).

What survives seems to be a “church” exclusively dedicated to making those who show up feel “welcome”  – “we are all sinners” is the other mantra of this future church – and to relieving material poverty. Because is little money and even fewer priests in the author’s vision of  future church,  Catholicism largely has devolved to a network of conventicles of “believers” who don’t necessarily share a common creed at all.

Read the whole thing – and reflect that the realization of this dream is already underway in theory and practice.

Update:  Of course it is also striking that our author does not foresee some glorious, expansive future for the new church of Bergoglio. On the contrary – once again he has the candor to acknowledge that the future church will be limited to a minority huddled in a handful of outposts. And those frequenting these churches and pastoral centers are clearly no longer Catholic or even Christian. Rod Dreher ( in “the Liberal Catholic Benedict Option” in The American Conservative) points out that it is the progressive equivalent of the growing Traditionalist realization that the faith will survive only in that minority of churches and organizations that are fully committed to the faith in liturgy, theology and morality. And in his post, Rod offers the following parody of the above article by Erin Manning:

Imagine there’s no organ
Felt banners proudly fly
No kneelers below us
Dancers prancing by
Imagine all the faithful
Unfolding their chairs…

Imagine there’s no reverence
It’s pretty hard to care
Nothing much to worship
Nothing that looks like prayer
Imagine plastic boxes
And strip-mall pseudo church…

You may say I’m a dreamer
Stuck in nineteen-sixty-five
But my past shall be your future
So my world will stay alive

Imagine lady deacons
Female chancellors too
No need for priests or Masses
Nothing for them to do
Imagine there’s no pastors
Just unguarded sheep…

You may say I’m a dreamer
Stuck in nineteen-sixty-five
If my past becomes your future
Then the Church will not survive