Let me ask you this question. Did Jesus come into our midst to start a Church for it to “naval gaze”, hold celebrity contests, and become more pre-occupied with the ‘news-worthy’ gossip of its own status-quo? I don’t think so but the reality of the matter is, the state of the Church in our time defies all odds when it comes to authentic renewals being chronically sabotaged and supplanted by worldly agendas of certain ‘influencers’ who claim a certain right to be considered ‘spokespeople’ over and above ‘everybody else’. And btw, these people are not exactly what you would call “the founders” for they are not the stuff of ancient legend or tradition like the Apostles were. They don’t have the sensitivity of heart to be as St Paul was “all things to all people”! Quite the contrary, they are cliquish and parochial, all too often preferring the kudos of similar ‘high profile’ others who are sharers in publicity stunts and controversy corners. It’s beginning to sound more like 3AW or 2UE every day, what you hear coming out of the great majority of Church news. Sadly, the vast majority of the faithful do not get any ‘airtime’, nevermind the countless numbers who have something to testify about in one way or another. Where is the genuine synodality of community talk-therapy in the contemporary Church? Frankly, it doesn’t exist – not even at the parish level. It is by and large supressed by ‘the committee’, ‘the management’, if not the pastor himself being the instigator of such suppression. Neither is it common-place for there to be a parish year book or journal where anyone and everyone can contribute whatsoever is on their hearts to share, to write, to publish. In fact, there ought to be such publications coming out of every single parish, at least yearly if not bi-annually. Catholic journals or magazines ought not to be the exclusive property of ‘official writers’ selectively chosen and privileged by the Archdiocese. No! There needs to be the space and scope in this regard for ALL the faithful to get involved if they so desire. It does not need of course to be obligatory in that no one should be obliged to write or speak out if they feel it isn’t suitable for them to do so. But a space needs to be made available and opened up for those who want to contribute and be involved in this vibrant apostolic work. It needs to be encouraged to thrive and it must not be suppressed. For this is bringing spiritual health and vitality to the congregations so that their needful participation is alive and well instead of doomed to wither and shrivel up thereby suffering counterproductivity. And this type of endeavour will heal those who are wounded and help those who struggle with being heard, accepted, and loved. Such opportunities too, assist proactively in the faith-formation of all the congregation. They encourage openness, transparency, and facilitate the development of genuinely caring relationships built on trust. It is not enough for parishes just to open volunteer positions for coffee & tea duty or working bee rosters. They are fine for certain types only who are adept at practical around the house & garden duties. Not everyone has such a disposition, and not everyone who does have this disposition in their own home environment is blessed with the charism of being able to spontaneously bring it into a public environment. And so, it is time to renew on multiple levels the way life is lived and breathed within the Church today. There needs to be a freeing up of parishes to unleash inter-personal creativity and to open up space for encouraging the flourishing of ALL participants in whatever way the Holy Spirit moves each and every one to desire to participate. I am writing this as both a call-out for positive change in this regard and as a critique of that which I see as pervasive unhealthy stumbling blocks getting in the way of God’s holy will being actualized. If you look at the following article from the National Catholic Register, you will see that there is a part of this article which highlights the need for the kinds of change I am staunchly in favour of.
“The author, John Howard Griffin, was a white man from Texas who had darkened his skin and was traveling through the South as a Black man to see what life was like for African Americans. The stores in New Orleans he had tried previously that day had turned him down, with some clerks suggesting he had come by the check dishonestly. He had just about given up. But remembering the Catholic Church’s stance against racism, when he saw the sign for The Catholic Book Store, he decided to try it.
“I was so grateful I bought a number of paperback books — works of Maritain, Aquinas and Christopher Dawson,” Griffin, a convert to Catholicism, wrote in his 1961 bestseller Black Like Me. Griffin sent Henderson a copy of Black Like Me after it came out, according to Robert Bonazzi’s 1997 book about Griffin’s book, called Man in the Mirror. Henderson wrote back to Griffin: “I want to say ‘Thank you,’ though I regret from the bottom of my heart the situation that makes so ordinary an act newsworthy.”
“That’s typical of Florence Henderson,” retired New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes told the Register this past weekend, “and reveals how she would divert attention to herself as significant.” “
It would do well for us to be reminded that people like Florence Henderson are only highlighting the moral truth of the situation – that the act was ordinary because it should be the ubiquitously done thing that people treat each other with equal dignity regardless of this or that. Therefore it’s clear that such a person as Florence is not going to be holding a celebrity contest even if it were the case that she voluntarily went more public about the issue in response to Griffin’s book. The other thing is that the moral standing of her act as exemplary should be newsworthy only insofar as it will help draw people’s attention to how those identifying with Gospel values should set good-willed examples regarding the proper way to treat all people – with equal dignity and respect.
Can’t you even see that the simple act of one among many of the faithful going public about some very important issue need not at all equate with them earning celebrity badges? It doesn’t need to. But the sad fact is in our time many are afraid on one level that for the vast majority of the faithful, that it will – that such an experience of “going public” about something they did will jepoardize their simplicity…. Funnily enough though, this same concern is not applied to clergy or so-called high-profile spokespeople or others holding some kind of official status. Rather, it’s only ever mentioned insofar as it pertains to so-called ordinary folk. How absurd is this double-standard, and one that no doubt smacks of Phariseic high-brow mentality feeding off the naiivete of unsuspecting hundreds and thousands. In other completely different circumstances however, the same Archbishop mentioned in the above article may be absolutely fine with giving accolades to someone else provided they are so-called ‘high-profile’ enough, and unfortunately, it appears to be the case that such an intra-Church trend of this sort favours people who already have some very public ministry or who are in certain types of positions like those of attorneys or clergy. And so when it comes to other types of people who are by way of their state in life, not so ‘high-profile’, they are routinely expected to shy away from any kind of publicity – even if that publicity is only for the good-will of the cause they extol. There are different types of publicity you know. Not only one sort. You can indeed have morally efficacious publicity – after all, what is evangelism if not simply morally and spiritually efficacious publicity? It is still publicity because the one/s involved are publicising the Gospel in some way, shape or form. And furthermore, Jesus expressly called all His disciples to go and do exactly that – preach the Gospel to every creature, go out into the wide world yonder and make disciples of all nations, baptising them all in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This call to evangelize was not reserved by Jesus for only those who are ‘high profile’. In fact, He expressly taught against this idolatry of high-profilism since He said that His followers were not to take after the world’s princes by lording it over others. Rather, all Jesus’ disciples were called to love, honour, and serve one another as equals in dignity and relationship as brothers and sisters to each other. What also needs to be recognized here is that evangelizers are called to spread the Good News, not to become worldly status-brokers or high-profile types with a celebrity standing. The problem is that there are some within the Church who, on one level acclaim celebrity statuses for certain people (as has been mentioned above) but on another, they preach that for those who are not ‘high-profile’, it is more preferable for them to not be a front-runner at all, even if by being a front-runner, they end up simply heralding the cause they care about rather than using that platform to earn a celebrity status. And so I need to iron out the imbalance of principle in what Archbishop Emeritus Alfred Hughes said here. Because there needs to be a righteously merciful balance struck instead of flitting between extremes that just fall out of attunement with Gospel values altogether.
Moreover, trying to place upon a pedestal “a moral obligation of indifference to Florence Henderson’s personhood” is an outright contradiction to the concept of “infinite dignity” that was recently publicized in an official Vatican document on the subject of the inalienable worth of our existence, by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. To endorse a “hiding away” of the person behind the righteous action, as if “her remaining hidden away in the shadows” and “preferentializing her being irrelevantized to the issue itself” somehow amounts to a significant ‘moral virtue’ is grossly misleading. This gets me riled up because on the other extreme, there are celebrity contests being held within the Church as we speak. A few examples of this unfortunate fad are Bishop Robert Barron becoming more and more driven this way – (btw, he was even going down that path prior to becoming a bishop) – because he told someone I was with at one of his seminars that he only consents to having “group photos” taken and refuses to pose in photos with only one other person! How arrogant can you get?! I mean, for goodness’ sakes, don’t you even care about what the Gospel teaches about being true friends with everyone? The act of refusing individual photos and preferentializing being seen exclusively in group photos says alot about how this man wants to be seen as being amongst a whole group of “admirers” instead of being seen to be “friends” with simple individual members of the flock. Isn’t the shepherd supposed to love each individual sheep as Jesus, the true Good Shepherd does? Even Fr Chad Ripperger who, so I am informed via an email newsletter from the foundation that promotes his seminars and retreats, will not be meeting anyone on a one-to-one basis – I mean how selfish and utterly detrimental to the wellbeing of those afflicted people who need the kind of help he can offer? He is supposed to be in one of “the helping professions” and in the context of a conference where there will no doubt be many turning up who have never had the chance to receive pastoral guidance from Fr Chad, all of a sudden he closes the door to these poor people and refuses to now help those who likely most need it on a one-to-one basis?? And as for people like Wendy Long, an attorney who is “prominent, well-known, respected, and loved”, and therefore invited to give public comment on issues:
https://youtu.be/4Kt37LQrImY?si=kr0VUCnUoB-L-X24
Frankly, I don’t think this idea of “prominent, well-known, respected, and loved” should be considered within the Church anyway, as some kind of “green light” to offer a platform for the person concerned (in this case Wendy Long) to express their grievances about something controversial or for them to be inundated with all the support from within the Church they want. That just aggravates the crisis of modern-day Phariseeism and preferential treatment given to the well-to-do within the Church while this same practice silences and sidelines the humble, poor and needy – effectively keeping them outside and from ever having any substantial influence or input. The Church is supposed to be all for “preferentializing the poor”. However, there are many instances where this “preferential option for the poor” is merely a token-gesture while being in the main sidelined in favour of those who are far from poor in every way, shape or form. Hence I didn’t think it was fair for this woman Wendy Long to be given the right to speak on this show Faith and Reason, episode 93, with these two others, the interviewee on Lifesite News and another pastor, only on account of the fact that she is a prominent lawyer and is successful in her own way within the Church. What about giving such platforms to simple folk who are not necessarily “prominent, well-known, respected, and loved”? And, how about giving it to people who are faith-filled but wounded, needy, and in need of healing, and being shown love and acceptance for a change within even just their local parishes?
And here’s another example yet again of the same celebrity-status patterning that is unfortunately rife in the contemporary Church. It’s from a pilgrimage website citing Catholic author and university educator Scott Hahn:
https://www.206tours.com/cms/frcalloway/
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the pilgrimages advertized themselves, it’s the way they’re being advertized that strikes me as odd and out of place with the kind of righteous humility that all sectors of the Church should be promoting:
“For many years now, I have been leading pilgrimages to various Holy sites around the world. The pilgrimage agency that I work with is 206 Tours. Founded in 1985, 206 Tours is the best Catholic pilgrimage agency available. Hey, you know you are doing something right when respectable people like Scott Hahn and Jim Caviezel use your company to go on pilgrimage!”
You gotta be kidding me! “RESPECTABLE” – so since when has worldly status become the order of the day insofar as the living out of Gospel values are concerned? How grossly out of touch are these double-standards when compared with authentic Gospel values?! Frankly, I don’t care “who” you are, what your “name” is. So long as you are people of genuine good will, that’s all that matters and believe me, this does matter to God. The Church is supposed to be a conduit for bringing the liberating message of Jesus Christ as Saviour, Who loves those whom He has created and who deep-down in their heart of hearts, want to truly know, honour, and love God. It is not a platform for celebrity contests and should never be used like this. And neither, by the same token, ought it be used in the other extreme, to denigrate the self-worth of any individual. Hence the need for me to write this, to call this out as the problem is much bigger than many even care to recognize or acknowledge.
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