For the September issue of Chronicles Magazine James Kalb has written an important article on the state of the Church today. (hint: it is not good). The entire September issue of that magazine, by the way, is dedicated to “America’s Great Apostasy” In his article, Kalb shows a historical sense rare among Catholics.
The basic problem is the relation between the Church and the modern world. The Second Vatican Council was intended to revitalize the Church and her witness under new and challenging conditions. It dreamed of bringing Christ into the world by eliminating barriers and entering fully into its life. But instead it brought the world into the Church.
In what Catholics call her human element, the Church had evidently bitten off more than she could chew. The Council said that she “carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.” Catholic functionaries responded by seeing a movement of the Holy Spirit in every secular trend. That was the path of least resistance, since it let them ingratiate themselves with secular powers while wrapping themselves in the flattering mantle of prophecy. So they took it.
But the problem was not only human weakness. the question raised by the failure of the post-Vatican II opening to the modern world is whether aspects of that world, for example the emphasis on technological ways of thinking, are fundamentally at odds with Catholicism. The concrete issue is whether the Chuch should become basically a component of the all-embracing technocratic order that now seems to be emerging globally as the endpoint of modernity, or insist instead on her independence, authority and vision, as she did in antiquity and the Middle Ages.
The essence of Kalb’s characterization of the current regime in the Church is entirely accurate:
(Pope Francis) is inclined to align with power, and look for ways to join with those who dominate the emerging world order.
That is in fact what is going on the Church today.
Yet what is to be done? Kalb does indulge in a bit of wishful thinking, historically speaking: Anything(=the Church) so enduring must be well founded, so it seems likely after current adversities she will once agan return to type. More concrete proposals? “There is a limit to what laymen can do in a hierarchical Church.” (actually, in the governance of an Ultramontane Church, they can do nothing.). What they can do “includes prayer and the sacraments, keeping the Faith, living rightly, supporting whatever trends and initiatives seem positive and doing everything we can to oppose obvious falsehood and stupidity, in the Church as elewhere.”
Kalb believes that “the future belongs to those who show up.” “So a winnowing (in favor of conservatives and traditionalists) seems likely as the indifferent drop out and the committed stay.” This is not at all only the fond hope of traditionalists, but a real fear of the Catholic Church establishment. 1) It has motivated the actions of Francis from the beginning of his papacy. The ongoing confrontation of these forces of Catholic reform with the progressive Vatican, Church institutions and hierarchy will shape the Church in the next decades. What will be the outcome, in my opinion? The use of brute force and administrative repression alone have rarely, if ever, eliminated a spiritual opponent.
Kalb himself concludes his article with these words:
Catholics are assured by their faith that the Church will ultimately prevail and that in the meantime all things will work together for those who love God. That confidence has often kept Catholics going in discouraging times. For a sufficient number it is likely to do so again today.
- See, e.g., Christoph Paul Hartmann, “Autor: Durch Austritte werden Traditionalisten einflussreicher” (One author: Traditionalists are becoming more influential because of people leaving the Church), Interview with Thomas Schmidinger, Katholisch.de (9/4/2023)
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