Fratelli

If the Catholic Church is neither a conservative club, nor some liberal bastion, what is it then? If it is not a harbor altogether separated from woke gender ideology, nor a traditionalist war room, what is it? I think most Catholics would say it has to be one or the other. Maybe not most, but certainly a lot. Probably most.

So where’s the harm in that? What’s wrong with thinking that the Catholic Church is only fully mature, and therefore fully effective, when it is entirely conservative (or entirely liberal), or when it is finally through wrestling with the modern dilemma of the gay agenda (or the tedium of old fashioned ritualistic holdovers)?

It’s because the Church is about the work of reconciling divisions. Therefore divisions will always exist in the Church, as long as we are living in this world. If you walk into a building on a Sunday where you find everyone thinking the same way as you do about everything, you have walked into a cult, but not the Church.

I’m going to explain, but I want to say two personal things. First, I find it very difficult to accept this reality myself; I am not saying it is easy. Every time a Baptism family, for example, brings a professional photographer, after we explicitly ask them not to, it is then that I wish the Church were in fact a cult, and that we could just lock our doors against the disruptions of the obnoxious. And secondly, I am aware of how I vacillate between the liberal and conservative view, the compassionate and critical response, and the gentle and irritable temperament; and how I probably always will.

So why stay in the Church? If it’s not a refuge from all of the people with whom we disagree, nor a place that enables us to settle down neatly and undisturbed into a finally impenetrable worldview, then what good is it?

Here’s what I think it is, and what makes the Church not only relevant, but necessary for peace (between those who are open to peace). If the Church is the Body of Christ, then the Church is Christ and therefore carries on His mission. But while Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, He has not come in glory yet. Therefore, we are still in the age of mercy. There will come a time when He will indeed lock the door to the obnoxious and the unrepentant, but the time of that final judgement has not yet come. This is still the time wherein He is calling us to open the doors, to provide the opportunity for conversion.

This is why I think the temptation to see the Church as a conservative club, or as a political liberation from sexual morality, is just that, a temptation from the Evil One. God’s perspective is different. He knows we were born into sin, and that we’re all being treated mercifully by Him. In other words, we’ve all got stuff that will need to come out in the wash before we will be able to walk in the Land of the Living.

I’ll share with you why I’m thinking about this. Obviously, the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples opens up questions about the proper response to evil and oppression, which has felt like a blow upon a bruise, really, because our hearts are already breaking for the people of Ukraine and Russia. But I’ve also been particularly interested in the response of the Holy Father, who uses the word “fratelli” for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people. How could he not choose a side? Isn’t the Church supposed to judge which side is right and which is wrong? Isn’t the Church supposed to intervene between warring brothers and declare a winner? I don’t think it is. I think we’re called to do something much more difficult.

To be sure, the Church does have what is called a Just War Theory, which challenges pacifism by way of the belief that a man is permitted to protect his family, even by use of force, without offending God. But with regard to violent retaliation (vengeance) or punishment (making someone suffer for some offense), Christ proposes reconciliation, which is best of all. It is the Kingdom He came to bring.

This past Monday, we heard from the Gospel of Luke about a man who comes to Jesus and says, “Tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” But if Christ hasn’t come to judge, what has He come to do? Saint Ambrose said it best, “Between brothers, no judge should intervene, but natural affection.” This is what Christ is trying to do in these days. This is why Pope Francis uses the word “fratelli” for both Palestinians and Israelis. There will come a time when Christ will indeed come as judge, and He will separate the sheep from the goats, but this is still the age of mercy, still the time, not to judge and arbitrate, but to forge bonds of natural affection.

Isn’t that what the Church really is? Of course, we will always be tempted to think of it as a club or cult, a place that conforms to our own views and preferences. But at its best, the Church is a community of otherwise very different people making decisions about how best to share our common inheritance from our Heavenly Father, a decision not based on legal (nor military) intervention, but on a restored affection born of a mutual compassion for our common condition.

It is a wonderful thing for us to be of the same mind and heart, as we are, in Christ. And we pray that the whole world will join our communion. But let us not lose sight of how we got here. We didn’t start like this. We weren’t born into friendship; we were born into enmity. It is Christ’s mercy that is restoring our friendship. Neither the violent, nor the obnoxious, are destined always to be so. The lion can lie down with the lamb. We are proof that it is possible. This is the sign that you and I can become for the world: we were once enemies, but He has called us friends, brothers, fratelli. +