- Feb 5, 2002
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The Catholic Church is the Bride and Body of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit to become the matrix of a redeemed and renewed humanity.
Unlike many societies in which membership is determined by blood — the purer the better — belonging to the Church is very much a matter of baptism and belief. A child’s rite of passage into the community of believers, for instance, does not require proof of kinship with people who look alike or whose skin color is the same. Christianity is not a tribal affair, admission to which depends on race or ethnicity.
Nor must it meet Groucho Marx’s exacting idea of the perfect club, which is one that would never have someone like him as a member. Set the admissions bar too high and only saints will qualify, leaving the rest of us to weep and gnash our teeth in the dark. If the state of your neighbor’s soul is too sordid to abide sitting alongside him in the church pew, then by all means go and find a more perfect church, bearing in mind, of course, that the instant you do its perfection will have been diminished by your membership in it.
Continued below.
Why the Church? This Is Why...
Unlike many societies in which membership is determined by blood — the purer the better — belonging to the Church is very much a matter of baptism and belief. A child’s rite of passage into the community of believers, for instance, does not require proof of kinship with people who look alike or whose skin color is the same. Christianity is not a tribal affair, admission to which depends on race or ethnicity.
Nor must it meet Groucho Marx’s exacting idea of the perfect club, which is one that would never have someone like him as a member. Set the admissions bar too high and only saints will qualify, leaving the rest of us to weep and gnash our teeth in the dark. If the state of your neighbor’s soul is too sordid to abide sitting alongside him in the church pew, then by all means go and find a more perfect church, bearing in mind, of course, that the instant you do its perfection will have been diminished by your membership in it.
Continued below.
Why the Church? This Is Why...
