We tend to evaluate the Church’s health by Mass attendance. Maybe it would be better to see with what spirit people go to Mass.“The Church is in crisis!” This sentence has become a buzz phrase lately. But what is the ‘Church’?
When people talk about a “leadership vacuum” and “officials past their sell-by date”, I imagine that most are talking about the Church as an institution. Some insist that the Church has lost its authority in Malta, especially after the divorce referendum. What authority?
It seems to me that this is missing two important points: the first is that the Church, more than institution, is a community of believers; the second is that the Church has a message – a prophetic message – to pass on to people.
For many years the Church was indeed seen mainly as an institution. Its image was the famous pyramid, with the laity at the base, the bishops in the middle, and the Pope at the apex of the triangle.
The Church would be in crisis if the community ceases to live these values
This image reached its climax with Vatican I and the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope (1870) – the perfect society. Many have outgrown this image and opened themselves to a new image of the Church, that of Vatican II. Some have not yet made the transition from one image to the other or made it only on the level of intellect.
The Church of Vatican II prefers the image of the Church as the people of God in pilgrimage. Rather than insisting on the distinction between hierarchs and laity, the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, emphasises the fact that we are a community of believers in Christ and that all of us, through Baptism, have been entrusted with continuing the mission of Christ.
This is not saying that the Church is not also an institution; nor is it saying that the Church does not need good leadership; but when it comes to crisis, the real crisis would be when the community loses its faith and its charity and when, alas, it stops loving and living the values of the Gospel.
Putting it this way it is obvious that we cannot focus exclusively on the leadership; we need to see whether Christ’s values are still appreciated in its life. The Church would be in crisis if the community ceases to live these values.
Often, we tend to evaluate the health of the Church by Mass attendance. Maybe it would be better to see with what spirit people go to Mass, whether they do it because they feel obliged – still afraid of a judge God – or whether they enjoy participating in the celebration because it revitalises them. So far, questionnaires on Mass attendance have not addressed this issue. I am afraid that many, both now and in the past, do not enjoy their Mass and not mainly because of dull liturgies and boring homilies.
When it comes to the values of the Gospel it would be even more difficult to decide: we are very generous with those who suffer… as long as they do not come asking our help on our shores. When we find the Gospel exigencies too demanding we are tempted to compromise. In a way, this is understandable, and Pope Francis is insisting on compassion. What is worrying is that sometimes we try to say that these Gospel values are a thing of the past and no longer valid.
The Church has a mission to make these values known to everybody because it is its great conviction that these values are profoundly human and bring all to salvation, that is, to living our lives meaningfully.
The Church proclaims these values; some accept them and some don’t. The time for the Church to make these announcements with the threat of hell fire is over. Pope Francis is showing us the way. He says that all know what Church values are and there is no need to keep on repeating them ad nauseam.
Whether the Church is in crisis or not does not depends on whether its word is accepted or not; it depends on whether the announcement is made with clarity and whether it is preached by example.
alfred.j.micallef@um.edu.mt
Fr Micallef is a member of the Society of Jesus.