THE CHALLENGES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

  Many, varied and important, are the challenges that must face the Catholic Church so that they can continue to ensure its survival over the centuries to come. For an institution with more than two millennia behind him, who has had a great influence in societies where it has implemented, always close to the centers of power, enjoying many privileges and the total impunity, no need to account for their actions, the adaptation to the current hard times will not be easy. The monolithic structure of the organization, with strong resistance to change, even is demand from some of his own internal organs, is an added difficulty and makes it even more difficult to undertake this enterprise, especially in a period when there is no progress of century to century, as in the past, but day to day.

 

    Regardless of religious beliefs, more or less established, it is not difficult to admit that an institution like the Catholic Church, if it is completely faithful to serve its purpose, which is none other than disclose the Gospels and act in total and absolute conformity with its principles, is both useful and necessary.  Nothing to object or criticize about teachings that lead us to respect, help and assist our neighbors, give greater meaning to our existence and strengthen the essential foundations of morality, as well as help us, with its message of faith and hope, to overcome the many obstacles encountered throughout our lives, giving consolation, finally, to address the inevitable moment of death. The problem, then, is not the mission but yes the peculiar method of carrying out this work, in deviate from its true path and not knowing how to lead by example, in cling too to earthly things, attending more to the affairs of the body  than those of the soul. That is precisely its real Achilles heel and where, necessarily, have to put the accent.

   There is no doubt that some organizations promoted by the Church, as the case of Caritas, are doing a commendable social work, and that many people linked to it, sometimes in inhumane conditions, are giving their lives in benefit to the most need, without request or expecting anything in return, only driven by the high concept of charity. It is not, therefore, to discredit the Church as a whole, or to promote a satanic conspiracy to erase it from the face of the earth, as from some radical sectors appear to be trying, but to expose and denounce the damage by certain people in your organization (too many, unfortunately) that do not deserve, or are not worthy of belonging to an institution of this nature, by reason of having committed reprehensible acts, with the aggravation of their status as clergy, protected, sometimes, by the passivity of those church leaders who had the obligation to avoid these, and, more seriously, by connivance, in other.

Throughout the centuries, with great men and women who have been an example to follow, the Church has had within it some people who have shown just the opposite, even in its highest level. Popes as Calixtus III and Alexander VI, of the saga of the Borgia, a family cruel and eager for power, have not gone down in history for his piety and honesty, but by scandals unworthy of the hierarchy they occupied. The same could be said of Pope Paul III, who practiced nepotism and loved the arts as much as women, performing incestuous and pimps practices, or of Paul IV, Grand Inquisitor and master of torture, character who inspired to Hitler, for give just some examples of some illustrious religious that have disreputed the chair of St. Peter. Some high dignitaries, as the Cardinals Richelieu and Mendoza, along with others less known, besides a long list of archbishops and bishops, have also been examples of very bad and disordered lives, that not contributed to the strengthening of an institution that declares itself founded by Christ. All this without forgetting the many conspiracies and shady deal that took place within it, for the sole purpose of increasing wealth and power, regardless of damage. It is clear, therefore, that, in all periods of its long history, has always had convulsions and shameful situations that, though, because it is a traditionally highly protected institution, has always been careful not to reveal. In the  modern times, where everything are much more open and the informations travel the world in seconds, is much more difficult to remain opaque. The higher level of information, coupled with higher education and freedom of expression, makes everything can be analyzed and questioned. We must all accept this reality and live with it, no exceptions.

In recent times, since 1985, which was uncovered in the U.S. on child sexual abuse by the pastor of Louisiana, Gilbert Gauthe, passing through Ireland with the staggering figure of over 2,000 testimonies recounting physical abuse and sex to the child, uncovered in 2009, to the most recent scandals brought to light for the Legionaries of Christ, order founded in 1941 by Mexican religious Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008, which has had several children and will be remembered by history as guilty of many sexual abuse to child, and systematic drug use, the claims by such shameful acts, widely disseminated by all media, have spread around the world, plunging the Church into one of the worst crises in recent decades. The condemnation that Pope John Paul II issued on the occasion of the scandals and debauchery reported by the Boston Globe newspaper, in USA, and public commitment that Benedict XVI established the April 21, 2010 in the Vatican for take action to address the global scandal allegations, referring to sexual abuse committed by priests, have not been followed by concrete measures strong enough to eradicate, once and for all, this shameful, dark and humiliating problem.

The Catholic Church, with about 1.200 million baptized (about 17% of the world population), according to data collected by the Pontifical Yearbook, 2011, can not remain any longer without undertaking a definitive plan to combat the three problems more serious than at this time are undermining its foundations and they are putting into question his vows of chastity, poverty and obedience: the sexual abuse, pedophilia and financial scams. This all, without  longer delay  the exercise of a thorough and quiet internal reflection necessary to address a major renovation project, a condition sine qua non of face and overcome the many important challenges facing and ensure their projection into the future. Probably not will be necessary rescue the moral ideals that the priest and religious reformer Arnold Brescia proposed in the twelfth century, although still might have some effect in our times, but lay the foundations essential to impart their faith above all other interests, becaming more credible and encouraging the participation of the laity, as the receiving end of your message, achieving, at the same time, it be understood, accepted and respected by the clergy, combining their basic rights as individuals  to the exercise of their pastoral functions.

The Church of the twenty-first century will have to make a great effort to recover the connections of ecclesial institutions with secular society  that they serve, currently very weak. It's not sustainable that their meetings have been reduced progressively  to events such as baptisms, communions, weddings and funerals. It is understandable that in Spain, to use a significant example, over 80% of young people declaring themselves Catholics and only 4% of them admitted to follow the doctrine of the Church. It is unacceptable that a vast majority of priests do their work as if they were mere administrative, understanding their state as a profession, limiting their work to celebrate the cult that is required, closing then  the churches to take refuge in the comfort of priestly houses or residences private, without going out to testify the Gospel and incarnate with the problems of society, offering guidance and support to all those in need. Something must be happening for all this to happen, and something must be done to avoid it.

Much effort should be put to face the task of overcoming the challenges in all spheres: social, political, economic and cultural to wich is facing the Church, and many minds have to be changed, on the basis of living in a world that few sometimes is seems to reality, to have a real chance to get it. Such important issues as the restoration of trust, recognizing errors and repairing, as far as possible, the damage, establishing mechanisms for these are not repeated; addressing the changes needed to face a new framework for relations with civil powers, based on the progressive and irreversible loss of their influence with they and final independence, with the consequent extinction of their privileges; solve the funding problems with the  orthodox management of its assets (very abundant at that), and unique contributions of the faithful; address the important problem of falling vocations, with elimination of absurd traditions, such as celibacy, and reconsidering, in all orders, the role of women, including access to the priesthood; change patterns of behavior of all the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which traditionally had been governed by political and economic criteria to move to do so exclusively by religious criteria, as it should be by its very nature, are just some of the most important issues that should be among  their main challenges.

For these reasons, the profound renewal to which the Church must face looks very complicated and difficult, must overcome many difficulties and, above all, take time and effort. The biggest problem to carry out this delicate process will probably be more endogenous to exogenous. The scandal produced by leaked documents, known as "Vatileaks", in which are recognized corruption in the administration of the Vatican City and money laundering in the banking system, in addition to denounce political infighting among the cardinals vying for the spotlight to position themselves for future Pope election, while the current Pontiff, about to turn 85 years, focuses his waning strength on other issues, show a disorder and a big decadence very difficult to overcome. The rumors published by the Italian press, referred to the preparation of a possible attack on Benedict XVI, arising from the visit that the Cardinal of Palermo, Paolo Romeo, made ​​last autumn to China, and the onslaught against the Secretary of State, number two in the Church, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, with the rumors of his possible replacement by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, may be more than fantasies and be behind some reforms, that quietly, it seems that already beginning to be in gestatión. For now, officials sources of the Church considered that all this are just ridiculous speculation, but if, eventually, all this is true, the Church will be not  in the best way, nor has the best luggage, for achieving the proposed objectives. The pity of all this is that the big loser, no doubt, would be the Church itself. Nevertheless, there is still hope that, as work of God, the divine inspiration, which should be provided, may contribute, sooner rather than later, to impose the commom sense and overcome so many obstacles own of the human condition. For the good of many, that so be fulfilled.

 

C. Diaz Fdez
Oviedo, march 05, 2012

Marginal note

Unfortunately, the persistence of many errors, together with the lack of will to correct them, which in recent times is marking the Catholic Church's management, is leading it, in gradual form, but inexorably, to its disappearance, or, in the better to become, in few years, in a residual confession. Very far from those times of splendor in which its followers were counted by millions. If them do not take a radical turn, a affair that seems less and less likely, the survival in the third millennium of its history does not seem to be assured. 

An alarming symptom that seems to certify the state of decomposition in which the Catholic Church may already have entered is reflected in the process of amortization of buildings traditionally reserved for religious practices. Within the European framework, although in Spain and Belgium, countries that still retain a high percentage of the faithful, with a link to the churches quite remarkable, the process of abandonment of the temples dedicated to worship is not yet undergoing major changes,  this problem it is much noticing in other countries around us. An added problem, which is also contributing, decisively, to the closing of the churches, is the very low rate of priestly vocations that is depopulating the seminary classrooms, which, in turn, causes a serious problem of generational change for attend to the multitude of parishes scattered throughout all the territories.

The German Catholic Church has already closed 515 churches in the last decade and that of England has closed more than 20 temples a year, all within a phenomenon that is likely to worsen in the next decades. The reuse of the temples abandoned to worship is the most varied: from restaurants, hotels, sports venues, dicotheque, auction houses, etc., to the most unimaginable. In short, an unstoppable process of heavenly reconversion caused by the lack of faith that runs through the continent, of which, undoubtedly, the Vatican is the main culprit. If the last 3 pontiffs, at first, seemed called to put order in the Institution, the reality is that both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have not improved things. The last one, Francisco, come from the end of the world, as he defined himself, arrived with many expectations; but, after some successes of principle, everything has returned to nothing. If someone, in times to come, would  try to reverse the state of things, it is possible that it has already arrived too late, just as, in Spain, the apologies of the Basque bishops arrived too late asking for forgiveness for their complicities, ambiguities and omissions about the terrorism of ETA in its more than 2000 terrorist acts in which they caused more than 800 innocent victims; all before the acquiescence and, many times, under the protection of those false followers of Christ. More than 2000 years making serious mistakes, without a single act of sincere contrition to straighten the course and try to lead by example, it is clear that it has been too long.

Can serve, as an example, some illustrations of temples recently reconverted:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
As complementary information about this article on the Catholic Church, I recommend that you read the article: "THE HOLY ALLIANCE, THE SECRET VATICAN SERVICE", published by Emma Rodríguez on her blog, which can be accessed through the following direct link:

https://shemesblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/la-santa-alianza-o-la-entidad-en-el-vaticano-lo-que-no-es-sagrado-es-secreto/comment-page-1/#comment-254

MY CONCLUSIONS:

Unfortunately, both history and recent events aim to move away more and more from the beliefs that the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church preaches. It is very difficult to believe in what even those who preach it do not believe. For a long time, the same life and the lived events, without having done apostasy, have been turning my beliefs and principles in religious matters to positions closer to agnosticism, assuming that the existence of God is not accessible to human understanding and, for this reason, from that condition, we can not pronounce neither in favor nor against that dogma.

Regarding the above, I think it is important to mention what the Spanish writer Fernando Sánchez Dragó says in his book entitled "Letter of Jesus to the Pope", on this subject: "I can not believe in a capricious and arbitrary God, who distributes gifts and goods as if I were throwing a handful of birdseed to a flock of goldfinches. "- I sincerely believe that it is a lapidary sentence, with which, without reservation, I absolutely agree.

Oviedo, November 2018

C. Díaz Fdez.