LifeSiteNews recently published an?Opinion Piece by E. Scott Lloyd entitled ?The Church According to Governor O?Malley.? It appears occasioned by the Maryland Governor?s decision to support, through legislation, the right of gay and lesbian persons to marry partners of the same sex.?
The Governor views it as ?unjust? for the State of Maryland to treat the relationships of gay and lesbian persons differently than those of heterosexual persons. To Mr. E. Scott Lloyd, the Governor has essentially ?declared his sincere willingness to be seen as a sham from both sides of the gay marriage issue.? The ?reasoning? of E. Scott Lloyd: If the Governor finds the exclusion of same-sex persons from the legal marriage process an injustice, then he must view the Roman Church as guilty as the State of Maryland, and if the Roman Church teaches injustice, why then has the Governor remained a Catholic, and overlooked their advocacy of what he sees as injustice??
Perhaps Mr. E. Scott Lloyd would respect the integrity of someone like novelist Anne Rice who last year shared that while she remains committed to Christ she would not be allying herself to sentiments characteristic of Christianity but foreign to Jesus: ?In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control?? In subsequent interviews, Rice expanded on why she feels no longer able to attach herself to Christianity.
Insofar as Rice has found herself committed to Christ, but dramatically less so to Christianity, I remember thinking that she had tapped into one very important reality, namely, that Jesus and the Church are distinct. However, I was bothered by the whole happening of her leaving Catholicism because I felt that a second closely related reality might not have been entertained in?her reflection. I felt that as real as the distinction might be between the Church and Jesus, equally real is that the two are held in relation.
In theological reflection about the Church?s identity, a number of images find their origin in the earliest moments of Christianity. Images such as ?people of God,? ?body of Christ,? or ?temple of the Holy Spirit? each articulate different features of the Church?s identity and relation to Jesus, but one image in particular goes all the way back to Jesus himself. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus refers to himself as the ?bride-groom,? and then in the Letter to the Ephesians, the author identifies the Church as the bride of Jesus. When the Church is understood as the bride of Jesus Christ, primarily what emerges is a recognition of the relational reality between Jesus and persons, and found within such a relation is love.
The Introduction to Pope Benedict?s encyclical Deus Caritas Est sheds light on this mystery. In Paragraph 1, the Pope writes that ?being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.?
By Rice?s claim to abandon Catholicism in particular, and Christianity in general, I remember thinking that it seemed she had reduced both Catholicism and Christianity to certain propositions about human sexuality. Instead, Catholicism and the larger Christian community are characterized by their encounter with Jesus Christ, a person who ?gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.? Rice felt compelled to leave Catholicism, but by making the Church?s teachings on human sexuality the litmus test of catholicity, I felt she seemed to share the mistake of many with whom she would normally disagree (individuals who question the catholicity of any Catholic whose views on human sexuality are at odds with those of the present Church).
If an encounter with Jesus gives a person?s life a new horizon and a decisive direction, then the Church cannot be indifferent to any facet of human life, including human sexuality. However, if individual Catholics like Ms. Rice can use their occasions of disagreement with the Church as an opportunity to reflect on the Church as the bride of Christ, then the result will be positive, because it will remind such persons of the self-giving love that exists between Jesus and the Church. It will remind such persons of the importance of the Eucharist, a central way in which such love is expressed. Perhaps one of the reasons Rice stated she would so miss the Eucharist was because in those moments when Christ had been mediated to her and others, she had experienced the transforming love of Jesus.
I believe we are called to love what Jesus loves. From the earliest moments of Christianity, Christians have articulated Jesus? love for his Bride the Church. Jesus loves those imperfect persons who represent the Church that?Ms. Rice feels is responsible for diminishing the dignity of others. Despite the Church?s long history, wherein many sins have been, likely are being, and will continue to be committed, the Church both continues to experience, and mediate, Jesus? transforming love.?
That is why I would hope to never leave the Church, and?I would love to have discussed this with Ms. Rice. Given the quality of ?The Church According to Governor O?Malley,? no doubt Mr. E. Scott Lloyd would very much have benefited from listening in on such a conversation.
K.
Kelly Wilson is a Seminarian for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. Besides Vox Nova, he writes at his blog Musings.
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Source: http://vox-nova.com/2011/09/09/disagreement-shouldnt-motivate-departure/
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