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

The Cordial Catholic

Home
Catholic
Let Me Explain Why I Love All This Catholic In-Fighting, OK?

Let Me Explain Why I Love All This Catholic In-Fighting, OK?

Last updated on: October 4, 2017 at 1:11 pm by K. Albert Little

Let Me Explain Why I Love All This Catholic In-Fighting, OK? 2017-10-04T13:11:40-04:00 K. Albert Little

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.

Photo Courtesy of the European Parliament.

You may have heard that a group of Catholic priests, lay people, and theologians have called out Pope Francis as a sort of quasi-heretic. It’s complicated situation, really, featuring lots of nuance and detail and the sort of stuff that mainstream media—even some Catholic media—unfortunately choose to paper over.

I get it: people’s attention spans, yadda yadda.

Suffice to say, many in the Catholic, Christian, and mainstream media are convinced there’s some kind of big old fight brewing within the Catholic Church over one liberal, Jesuit Pope’s interpretation of certain aspects of dogma and the push back from so-called conservative believers.

And while there is, a little bit, although it’s certainly overblown.

But in all honesty, truth be told, cross my fingers hope to die? As an Evangelical convert to Catholicism, I love all this in-fighting, OK?

Let me explain.

Early in my faith-life, as a teenage convert to Christ, I was once chastised, convinced I wasn’t really saved, because I hadn’t had an experience of speaking in tongues, delivering prophecy, or seeing spiritual visions. I was disappointed, in despair, and prayed to be delivered from my lowly state of sin but didn’t receive any sort of baptism of fire I was told I needed to be a Christian.

As an angsty teen, it was devastating.

When I returned to the group the following week, Holy Spirit still absent from the scene, I was treated as an outcast, as were others who also hadn’t been baptised through a charismatic experience. With this particular crowd, receiving a special grace from the Holy Spirit—these gifts of the Spirit—was a kind of Christian badge of honour.

Who was in and who was out were clearly delineated, by God himself.

Later, in my faith life, I’d look back on this group of rather fringy believers and shake my head. What their elevation of a small part of the Christian charism ended up doing was not good but tangible evil: it divided the Christian body into have’s and have-not’s. Into a group of elect who could clearly establish their eternal security with God, and those who’d have to slog it out on their own until the Holy Spirit decided to drop the gauntlet, as it were.

They could spend a whole life waiting.

But here’s why I bring this up.

Because that group of fringe charismatic Christians broke off from a much larger group of more doctrinally grounded Pentecostal believers, who’d split from a larger church of Pentecostals, who’d been sprang out of an American seminary, which was founded by a pastor who’d experienced a radical conversion to Christ at a revival tent meeting in the 50’s.

When their emphasis on spiritual gifts became a bit too much of a focal point, a small group of believers left that Pentecostal church and started their own.

They only existed, it turns out, because they couldn’t agree.

Now, as a Catholic, the overwhelming feeling I get when I read news of the heretical Pope and his schismatic interlocutor is relief.

And grace.

Because for all the fighting we may do as Catholics, in the end, it’s all in the family.

It’s *in-*fighting—which is, of itself, a great big thing full of grace.

See, us Evangelicals fought all the time whether it was over the nuanced details of St. Paul’s inventory of spiritual gifts or prescient social issues like marriage, abortion, and gender. We fought. And when we’d disagree it wasn’t something to be settled by a symposium, a synod, or at the feet of the Chair of Peter—it was something to just get up and leave over.

And plant a new church.

We didn’t, in any genuine sense, have to wrestle with theology if we didn’t want to. We simply had to pull up stakes and endure the pain of learning everyone’s names again in the fellowship hall after Sunday service.

We didn’t fight in the family; we got a divorce.

What I love about all this news of heretic popes and a Church in moral crisis is that, truly, in the end, our fight is a domestic affair.

We can argue and debate and sometimes even get a little bit too worked up but it’s all within the framework of a very clearly established authority structure. A holy and universal Church which traces its foundation to Christ Himself, on the cross, and it’s governorship to a clearly defined system.

It’s an argument about the rules of baseball from within the game.

And like St. Paul calling out St. Peter for brushing off the early gentile believers we’re in-fighting—we’re family—and as painful as it might be it also feels right.

As someone who’s experienced what it’s like out there, this is an incredible thing of grace.

To do it this way, and to remember what Christ said about the gates of Hades, the Church prevailing, and yadda yadda yadda.

Previous Post

September 27, 2017

The Catholic Church Makes Sense, Because I Don't Know Best

Next Post

October 17, 2017 How to Explain Purgatory to Everyone

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Appearances Christian Living Explaining the Faith Podcast Tough Questions Uncategorized Why I'm Catholic

Select a Month January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Ananias and Sapphira died after lying to the Holy Spirit about their offering.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Support this
Column