The official Church is so massive that one easily feels alienated from it. It does not always seem like friendly space. Its teaching on faith and morals may seem distant and aloof, unrelated to anything that I experience. The Church does not always present as being emphatic about personal development or human relations. It sometimes gives the impression of wanting to get a number of “good works” done through efficient bureaucratic and institutional means. It appears to suggest that if we want to participate in church life we have to fit into a slot. And that once there we will be very happy. But if we happen to be one of the increasing number of people for whom the Church seems to have no slot, what are we to do? Some attach themselves to a role or function within the organization and try to make do with an approximation. Others lose heart and leave the Church, regretful, but firmly believing themselves excluded.
If the Church could allow itself to be reduced to human scale, it could become a much more attractive focus for spiritual life. And in fact that is beginning. But it needs to happen more. In a more accessible church, the Scriptures and other spiritual patrimony of the ages would function as myth, revealing mysteries of the spirit to searchers, and unveiling our own hidden depths. Pastors would not be administrators of a written law, but people who understand when it is wise to insist and when it is better to bide one’s time. Our brothers and our sisters would be known to us and we to them. Our prayer and mutual service, our dialogue, patience and fun would all be shared. Then our story could be told, because others would be ready to hear it.
This may seem as idealistic a picture of the Church as the one Saint Luke paints in the Acts of the Apostles. Idealistic means something toward which we aim; so I agree. I am not naive however, in estimating the effort it would take to achieve. Nor do I underestimate the labors of so many who are attempting to create an accessible church. The ideal is worth being reminded of.
Michael Casey, OSCO
Toward God, pp. 137-138
