Fidelity

Why is it that there are no groups who advocate for changes in Church discipline and at the same time do not advocate for changes in moral theology or Church dogma?  For example, where are the advocacy groups who simply want a married priesthood?  Instead, you get groups who advocate for the married priesthood, women priestesses, gay marriage, artficial birth control, abortion etc. etc.  I would have more sympathy for a group of women who argued for women priests on theological grounds while at the same time not attacking the moral underpinnings of the Church.  Until I see responsible discussions on these types of disciplinary issues, I am always suspicious of those who advocate for change in the Church.  Why stay “Catholic” if you disagree so vehemently with the Church?  Is it because you truly feel that the Catholic Church is ‘the’ Church? If so, you are living a contradiction – where God protected His Church only to have you ‘reform’ it.  Or is it because you see the Church as a giant opportunity for change?  And isn’t it so much more fun being a gadfly than a person of principle?

Finding Peter

I’ve been thinking of what it means to be in union with St. Peter.  In the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, Peter is presented as the most prominent Apostle.  That is until some guy named Saul is struck blind.  From that moment, Peter seems to fade.  Paul’s influence seems much greater.  He did write the majority of the books of the New Testament after all. 

Even as a kid I remember thinking that Peter got the short shift.  And as a Protestant, I often felt almost guilty for ceding to Paul such influence . . . .  I know, strange, huh?  Yet as a Catholic, I’ve come into communion with St. Peter, the rock.  I can see more plainly now that whereas Paul has his place as a prolific and influential apostle, Peter’s promise was never about a book. It was the Church.  It is only in the Church, the Catholic Church, where Peter finds his proper expression.