Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

A Catholic Thinker

Home
Catholic
The Glorious Failures of the Catholic Church

The Glorious Failures of the Catholic Church

Last updated on: July 7, 2015 at 11:15 pm by Tod Worner

The Glorious Failures of the Catholic Church 2015-07-07T23:15:57-06:00 Tod Worner

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Martyrdom of St. Peter by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Today I was out for a run when I heard it. And it stopped me in my tracks.

“There is nothing that fails like success.”

Uh, excuse me?

Now, granted, I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, I have been listening (and re-listening) to this same guy saying similar odd things for years during my routine runs. But instead of dismissing this statement as pure foolishness, I had to stop. And think.

Because this guy is a genius.

G.K. Chesterton (through the austere voice of David Grizzly Smith) was piping through the earbuds of my iPhone. From the introductory chapter of Chesterton’s 1905 classic, Heretics, Chesterton was making his point. And it was a damned good one.

“There is nothing that fails like success.”

My first reaction was to think, “Oh, he’s got it wrong.” Curiously, in the last few days before I heard Chesterton utter his statement the correct phrase, as I always knew it, had seeped into my consciousness, “There is nothing that succeeds like success.” Surely, this adage attributed to Alexandre Dumas was what Chesterton truly meant, right?

Wrong.

In fact, Chesterton emphatically meant what he said. Why?

Because it is absolutely true.

Backing up to better understand where Chesterton was coming from, I heard this,

“A man who is perpetually thinking…of whether this cause or that cause is promising, is the man who will never believe in anything long enough to make it succeed. The opportunistic politician is like a man who should abandon billiards because he was beaten at billiards, and abandon golf because he was beaten at golf. There is nothing which is so weak for working purposes as this enormous importance attached to immediate victory. There is nothing that fails like success.”

At first, I thought that this phrase was critical of the concept of “success”, but then I began to think of it differently. I flipped it and approached it in a paradoxical Chestertonian fashion. The willingness to fail again and again en route to the ultimate goal can be an indispensable feature of success. Or in other words…

True. Success. Often. Fails. First.

And Fails.

Not convinced? In light of recent events, many call the Catholic Church a failure. You’ve heard the words. Dogmatic. Intolerant. Arrogant. Unreasonable. Unloving. Even the adoration of Pope Francis by the Church’s biggest critics comes at the expense of Francis’ predecessors and the honest representation of his faithfulness to the Catholic Creed.

And yet here the Church is.

It survived failure in the death of its Christ on a bloodied cross (which in truth, begat its greatest success – Redemption & Resurrection).

It survived failure in the inverted execution of its first Pope.

It survived failure in the beheading of its greatest evangelist.

It survived failures in martyrs and wars, debates and schisms, oppression and anarchy. Over years and years and years. To requote Chesterton,

“There is nothing which is so weak for working purposes as this enormous importance attached to immediate victory. There is nothing that fails like success.”

For the Church, there has been a seemingly endless string of failures without immediate victory. But in spite of its failures, the belief in the Creed of Christ endured. And endures. Christ gave us many assurances, but the one he gave about the Church is particularly comforting,

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

– Matthew 16:18

He didn’t say the road would be easy, but that victory would be assured. Because it had already been won. That is why our Church is not triumphal even though it is triumphant. It is a Church of paradox. In our setbacks, we look to the heavens. In our weakness, we are made strong. In our failures, we succeed.

So, lest you are tempted…don’t be dismayed. Don’t despair.

Nothing fails like success.

Absolutely nothing.

——————————– Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Uncategorized

Catholicism

Previous Post

June 29, 2015

“Ah, All Will Now Be Happy”: Mozart & the Sacredness of Solitude

Next Post

July 13, 2015 What Amazes God

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Catholic Thinker's Story Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the number of the beast in Revelation?

Select your answer to see how you score.

777 666 144 1000