Sherry Weddell Speaks the Truth

Last updated on: September 4, 2018 at 12:28 am by Mark Shea

Sherry Weddell Speaks the Truth 2018-08-31T12:33:11-07:00 Mark Shea

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.

She writes:

I’ve spent the last 21 years traveling the highways and byways of the US Catholic Church. I’m always astonished at how narrow even a Bishop’s perspective can be. The clergy of the global Catholic Church make up ONLY 3/100th of 1% of the Body Catholic. 99.97% of us have never darkened the door of a seminary because 99.97% of us aren’t priests. If you hang out and work with and listen to the laity, especially on the left coast and the mountain west and the midwest and deep south, you’d know how few people know or care about Newark. If you were a seminarian on the east coast – it is possible but by no means certain that you had heard something. But if not?

There are tens of thousands of meaningful Catholic circles of influence in the immense space of the US. 17,200 parishes plus all the missions, schools, hospitals, apostolates formal and informal, home-schooling networks, families, informal bands of friends, etc. The seminary in Newark is just a tiny sliver of the richness, the reality of the American Catholic Church. In 2002, I hardly knew who McCarrick was. I don’t think I had grasped that he was Archbishop of Washington DC.

I’ve never been to Newark but I have driven 9 times across the vast empty quarter of the high plains to and from Dodge City, Kansas. I’ve worked in dioceses from Seattle to Sydney, London to New Orleans. LA, Singapore, and Jakarta. I knew all about the amazing things that God was doing in one particular parish in Boise, Idaho. I marveled at the stunning story of a new convert in Twin Falls Idaho, who entered the Church because when a friend invited her to a local evangelization retreat, a force came out of the odd round metal circle that the priest held up and hit her in the chest. “What is that?” she gasped to her friend. And a year later, I met her as a week old Catholic sitting on the steps of her parish in Twin Falls.

The Catholic insider chattering classes who dominate the US social media and hang out in chanceries is just a tiny slice of the real thing. Not understanding that fuels the blindness that is at the heart of clericalism. The most significant things that God is doing in our midst most frequently take place in Nazareth, not Rome. So the vaaaaast majority of Catholics in the US didn’t know.

Just yes. The work that God is doing in human hearts around the globe is soooooo far beyond struggles, stupidities, and pettiness of ecclesial politics. I want Caesar to open the files in ever diocese in the US and take a firehose to whatever and whoever is there so the Church can get back to doing the only thing that God ever created the Church to do: make saints.

Uncategorized

The Scandal

Previous Post

September 3, 2018

A reader ponders Trump's policy of child abuse and torture at the border

Next Post

September 5, 2018 If you are looking for some fun books for kids 7-10...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month 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 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 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 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 August 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 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz