Apologetics

"Tell me Loz, do you think that if the carpenter who delivered the Sermon on the Mount returned to Earth, would He recognise His church? I think that St Francis of Assisi summed it up beatifically when he declared that 'for evil to work requires not active assistance by Man, but mere acquiescence'."

"I have a friend who i went to law school with, who is currently representing a client's claim against the Church. I have no problem in forgiving the sinful priest, I have serious problems with forgiving the Church which has repeatedly tried to buy off my friend and his client."

On the whole I want friends and relatives and strangers to comment in the comments section, because the good thing about a blog is that it can be a forum for differing views to be shared. Even though I enjoy having the final say (who doesn't?) I enjoy debate and hearing what other people think.

And talking of the final say, above I have posted Michaelangelo's 'The Last Judgement'. It depicts the Resurrection that will take place at the End of Time. Our Blessed Lord promised He would be with His Church even unto the End of Time, and so Catholics do believe that Our Lord shall return and we say this in the Creed at Mass when we say, "...We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Communion of Saints, the Resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting."

We believe therefore that when Our Lord returns in Glory that He shall recognise His Church simply because She is His Bride and He is the Bridegroom. Christ is united to His Church and the Church, though full of men and women who err and who sin, is united to Christ and the whole Court of Heaven.

St Francis of Assisi loved the Church, was faithful to the Magisterium and although he was faithful to the Gospel, took a compassionate view on those who erred simply because he took literally the words of Our Lord who in the Sermon of the Mount said, "Blessed are the merciful, they shall be shown mercy." At the end of 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon', it is Pope Honorius III (played by the late, great Alec Guinness) who descends from his throne, approaches the poor man of Assisi, and kisses his hands, and his feet. Great film, I'll post some of it in a mo'.

Ultimately, my personal feelings on the abuse crisis is that for every priest or clergyman who abused his authority, there are many, many others who serve Christ lovingly. While it is not a bad thing to ask for holiness from the Church, it would be naive to think that the Church would be immune to the scandal of child abuse, when it has infected every sector of society from care homes, to schools to scouts groups and even families themselves. I couldn't say why the Church is trying to "buy off a client" and if that's true that doesn't sound good. At a guess I would imagine that the Diocese is trying to limit the scandal. From an apologetics point of view, that Diocese is clearly not awaiting a 'verdict', has admitted the depth of the scandal and the sorrow caused and is already offering compensation. The whole affair is very sad.

For Catholics however, the question is not, will Christ recognise His Church when He returns to judge the living and the dead? The question is; Will He recognise me? We don't believe in a rapture that takes believers into Heaven and non-believers to Hell. When it comes to the Four Last Things, of Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, these are salutary things to think upon for us all, Catholic or not. For Catholics, the question is not, is the Church faithfully witnessing to the Gospel? The question is, am I faithfully witnessing to the Gospel? The question is not, is the Church abusing its responsibilities? The question is, am I abusing my responsibilities? The question is not, is the Church feeding and loving the poor and hungry, visiting the sick and the imprisoned? The question is, am I?