Change In The Church

Change In The Church

By Joe Renna

There are issues with Catholicism with which many people struggle. Some traditions and hard line doctrine is hard to understand and accept, and because of the confusion, many float away. Does the church relate to the needs of its congregation? What a loaded question, and the answer is . . . somewhat.

The church does the best it can with change. It may not be fast enough for some people. It happens so gradually that you may not notice it happening. As an altar boy I had to recite lines with the priest in Latin while facing the altar with my back to the people. How radical it was to abandon the Latin and face the congregation. Simple things like breaking ranks and offering a sign of peace freaked people out. Now imagine being told you may touch the host! After a lifetime of calling in osha to clean the spot where a host fell.

The list of rules and regulations are endless. As an exercise, try to list ones you can remember. Not eating an hour before mass. Women must wear headgear. etc. Now imagine these changes happening in one week instead of over forty years. The pews would be in utter chaos. Look what happened to the Soviet Union when democracy was thrust upon the masses. They were totally unprepared and to this day the countries are in turmoil.

What we must understand is that the church is 2,000 years old and some of the rules are just as dated. The symbolism used may seem downright ridiculous, but understand it is not ridiculous to a 12th Century illiterate peasant. Symbolism was their language . . . an international language at that.

We have the privilege of living in a society that is extremely sophisticated. Complex scientific theories are common grammar school curriculum. Even located in the New York metropolitan area exposes us to a diversity of knowledge that cannot be matched anywhere in the entire world!
So the church must appeal and be relevant to farmers in Asia, nomads in Africa, factory workers in Central America, military in Europe and, yes, the stockbroker from New Jersey. No mean task. Does it work? For the most part, yes. Where it doesn't work is with the sophisticatos who ironically can't grasp the concept of a communion wafer representing the body and blood of Christ. Or they don't want to or need to. There are parishes that are more progressive than others. It happens when the desire of the majority in the community work within the boundaries of the church and make the change for themselves. It is possible.

Does the church change dramatically to accommodate these folks at the risk of bucking the majority of followers worldwide who find comfort in the structure? I would say not. But what the church is doing is slowly raising the field level for everyone.

Changing church doctrine is like turning an oil tanker as opposed to a jet ski.
Merry Christmas and God bless you