Catholic Factions
The Catholic Wise Guy has decided to share his wisdom on factions within the Catholic Church. As distasteful as it may seem to the naive, all churches have factions, even the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” This is the way “it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.”
Why would a community united in “one Lord, one faith and one baptism” be riddled with factions? The answer is simple – there are no Perfect Catholics (PCs). The building blocks of the church – except for the Cornerstone – are sinful, fallen human beings. We are irregularly shaped, uneven in spirit, out of balance, and resist being cemented into our assigned spaces. One day we do good, another evil.
The Catholic Church has been sliced and diced many ways. Some see hundreds of factions, others only a few. The Wise Guy, seeking Wisdom in simplicity, divides Catholics into two groups: Practicing Catholics (PC1s) and Protestant Catholics (PC2). We analyze them based on two criteria – their source of authority and their beliefs & practices.
Practicing Catholics (PC1s)
Source of authority. The Magisterium of the Church is their source of authority, which is based on Holy Scripture and the teaching of the apostles and their successors. This is summarized in our two creeds – the Apostles & Nicene – and detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Conscience is important in applying the teaching to individual situations but can never ever override a teaching.
Belief & practices. The PC1s accept and try to follow the Church’s teachings, including the “difficult” ones related to sex. Our PC1 follows the true gospel direct from Jesus and the apostles, and not another gospel, whether of his own making, that of another Christian denomination, or a mystical vision outside of Christianity.
As the name suggests, PC1s practice their Catholic faith. What does it mean “To practice the Catholic faith”? Here are examples of PC1 practices.
Attend mass regularly; pray regularly; read Scripture; believe in heaven and hell; fulfill family obligations; share their blessings of time, talent, and treasure; help the poor; believe in the Real Presence of Jesus’ body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine; try to follow the moral teachings of the Church and head to confession as needed; evangelize in word and deed.
The practice of our faith stretches and strengthens our spiritual muscles, so we become the strong agile disciples the Lord wants us to be. Ready to serve. Ready to suffer if that is His will.
Protestant Catholics (PC2s).
Sources of authority. As the name suggests, the Protestant Catholics are cut of the same cloth as our “separated brethren.” They “protest” or reject one or more Catholic teachings. They practice a faith, but it is not the Catholic faith, despite their Church membership. They intuitively support “the priesthood of all believers.” Their feet are planted in two worlds – Catholic and Protestant. And they may not realize it. Their authority is a hodge-podge of pillars: parts of the Magisterium, Biblical principles, a pastor, Protestant friends, their conscience. As they move through the Catholic cafeteria line, they are heavy on the drinks and desserts of love and mercy, and light on the fruit and vegetables of discipline, self-sacrifice, and humility. Conscience is their overriding authority and is loosely tied to Church teaching and Biblical authority.
Belief & practices. Because of the diversity of viewpoints, it is difficult to characterize the PC2 beliefs and practices. The PC2s are far less homogenous than the PC1s. Common rejections of Catholic teaching include the divinity of Jesus, the authority of the Pope, the Real Presence, and of course, the “hard” teachings. Abortion, gay marriage, and other sexual no-no’s grow like wild weeds in the fertile PC2 soil. The Wise Guy hastens to point out that sexual sins are not uncommon in the PC1s. The difference is that the PC1s take their sexual sins to confession while the PC2s refuse to label them “sinful.”
How do the PC2 practices stack up against those of the PC1s? Refer to the list of practices shown above. The Wise Guy concludes these practices do occur in the PC2 community but less frequently. An individual would not be a member of the PC2 faction if they regularly practiced the faith as PC1s do.
Conclusion
Neither the PC1s nor PCs are morally perfect. As previously noted, Perfect Catholics do not exist. All Catholics – and non-Catholics for that matter – are infected with sin. The Wise Guy makes no judgment on the state of the souls of those in each faction.
The problem with the PC2s is their lack of intellectual consistency; moral and spiritual integrity is not their forte. Many lack awareness of their inconsistency. Others do but consider themselves rebels and agents of change. They see themselves as great reformers on a path to cure the Church of its antiquated ways and authoritarian leaders. They feel called to usher the Church into the modern world. The thought they might be just another heretic in a long line of heretics stretching back 2,000 years does not occur to them. Sometimes they serve as a 5th column within the Church, creating confusion and anxiety among the PC1s and, intentionally or not, aiding the enemies of the Church.
The Wise guy often wonders why the PC2s don’t just pull up anchor and set sail for Protestant waters. Of the thousands of picturesque Protestant bays in the great lakes of Christianity, they could surely find one with calm clear waters where they feel culturally, intellectually, and spiritually at home.