Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Since I was knee-high to a grasshopper—this week in the Church year has been called the Church Unity week. And originally it was intended to be an opportunity for us to pray Our Blessed Lord’s prayer that all may be One as He and the Father are one. And what this means—simply put—is that we are praying that all people in the world would become Catholic— Protestants, pagans, atheists, Jews and Muslims—all of them are called to be Catholic—and we Catholics are called to bring them in. It is Our Lord’s will that there be One shepherd and one flock—which has always been taken to mean that one day the world would be Catholic and under Christ and His Vicar, the pope.
That was Church Unity Octave Week before the Sixties. Now Church Unity week—for the moderns and modernists is taken to mean that all religions are really the same—that everything is beautiful in its own way. They ask: Why should any religion be truer than another religion? For modernists, religion and faith not about true or false—right or wrong—what is or what isn’t—religion is about doing good deeds daily and feeding the hungry and eliminating poverty. Religion is about the brotherhood of all mankind and the sisterhood of all womankind. Religion is about good will and fellowship and nothing more. Modernists ask what could conceivably separate us—one religion from another—except silly historical traditions that we still cling to?
(Dis)unity in diversity
There is—the moderns would feel—no need to assert that someone is right and someone is wrong—as if truth mattered. Truth? Why, everyone has their own truth—is that not the modern lesson par excellence? So for some Church Unity week is not concerned with overcoming differences but actually denying that there are any differences. We are all searching for God—just on different paths! And of course, the highest achievement for some during Church Unity week would be to have an ecumenical program where we end up in each other’s churches celebrating unity in diversity. And we stick in our thumb and pull out a plumb and say “Oh what a good boy am I.”
Well the problem with this understanding of Church Unity Week is that it begins with the premise that there is no One True Church, and this leads to the conclusion that there is no truth—and that even if there were a truth—we could not find it. This is a subtle swipe at God Himself. It is as if to say that if we cannot find Truth, then we cannot find God and then perhaps there is actually no God to find.
And God forbid that any Bishops should ignore the fact that the Church in which they are Bishops is the one True Church. God forbid that they might hint or even preach that all beliefs are equal—and none are truer than others. Do they not realize that they put their own authority in jeopardy. Why indeed should anyone listen to them? Because they wear those handsome red-trimmed cassocks and fancy vestments? Because they still maintain pretty churches and magnificent residences? If the Church they represent is not the One True Church then who are they and what is their point?
One True Religion?
Maybe I am exaggerating, but when was the last time—in forty years—you heard our Catholic religion—called “The One True Religion”? Well—if it is not the One True religion, then what is it? And why are we here? I can easily imagine modern people asking: Who are we to say that we are the One True religion? Are we implying that all the others are false?” Well yes. That is exactly what we are implying. Actually saying it. If there is such a thing as Truth, and if God is the Author of that Truth, and if God wants us to know that truth—then—some things are true and the opposite things are false. It is that simple. If we are the true religion then all others are false religions.
Now, I know that we hear Muslims talking like this all the time: “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet!” And we watch them in action blowing up innocents or beheading reporters or crucifying children. We say to ourselves “God forbid that we should be like Muslims.” But we are not like them—because we do not do what they do. And that is all the more reason it is important to say that their religion is false and their god is false and their practices are evil. If we cannot say that—then they have successfully silenced us—and we are made impotent in the face of all the Muslim atrocities.
So what is the Catholic religion? It is the religion founded by Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Catholics are bound by the same body of beliefs and rituals and sacraments—and we are all under the Pope who is the Vicar of Christ on earth. And by having been baptized as Catholics we are incorporated into the very Mystical Body of Christ. We are members of the true religion—not by virtue of having registered in the parish—but by Baptism. The same life of God—sanctifying grace that flows through this one and that one—binds us together as brother and sister—closer even than genes would bind us together.
To what do we belong?
We must avoid the modern feeling that Church membership is about a mere external connection—you sign here—you get your envelopes—you believe most of what is taught and you are in. This extrinsic notion of church membership is more common than we would care to admit. This is the disaster that is unfolding in Germany where Bishops like Cardinal Kasper want to change Church teaching about marriage and divorce. They say it is about “mercy” but it seems more like they don’t want to lose any more officially registered Catholics.
You see in Germany—every citizen pays 10 percent of his income to either the Lutheran Church or the Catholic Church. If you do not pay the Church tax you are no longer considered a member of that Church—and the only sacrament you can receive is the Extreme Unction—and maybe confession. So the German Bishops and Cardinals are worried that divorced and remarried people will leave the church—and be released from paying the church tax. Follow the money I guess. Yes, it has made the German Catholic Church the richest Church in the world but in Germany nobody goes to Mass— and nobody believes a thing.
So we need to understand surely that our membership in the Catholic Church is deep and it is part of our very identity as baptized persons. Our Catholicism is so deep in fact that what we must believe or do in order to be saved does not come from our consent. Our beliefs do not come from the vote of bishops in a synod—or from some desk downtown. Our beliefs cannot change—because they come from God who cannot change.
Is it really a good thing to let atheists remain in the darkness of their doubt? Is it a kindness to let them languish in their uncertain and restless lives. Is it merciful to let Muslims—and their victims—wallow in bloodshed? How does it help them—if we do not teach them who Jesus is and who is His beautiful Virgin Mother? Is it a good thing to deny Jews the love of the Messiah? Or is it kindness to let people from the Cicero Bible Church be ignorant forever of the Body of Christ in Holy Communion?
Who will teach these things to the world if not us. And how will we teach the world—starting with our own children—if we do not believe strongly enough to say that what we believe is true and the opposite is false? To call everyone to Church Unity Week is to call everyone to our Catholic faith. It is a call to reason and to repentance and to inner conversion. Church unity is a call to think and conform oneself to the Truth—to God and to His Church.