The Times Herald
June 18, 2011
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110618/OPINION02/106180319
 |
I'm proud to be an American; it's partly why I joined the media.
From when we first recite the Pledge of Allegiance as kindergartners to our first time in the voting booth at age 18, we're taught what an honor and privilege it is to be citizens in the land of the free.
We've memorized the five freedoms of the First Amendment -- religion, speech, press, assembly and petition --and we wear them on our sleeves. Many of us know the Ten Amendments better than the Ten Commandments.
Which is why it's not hard to understand why the American Catholic Council hosted a three-day conference at Cobo Center in Detroit last weekend to advocate for democratic changes in the Catholic Church.
Among the group's headline-catching grievances are the requirements for the priesthood, which exclude women, open gays and married men (with a few exceptions on the latter).
But central to the American Catholic Council's agenda is a fundamental change to the church's power structure, starting with the bishops, who with the pope are the chief decision makers.
On its website, the council calls for lay Catholics to have "realistic and meaningful input into the selection of pastors and bishops," and that elected parish and diocesan councils would be "deliberative and empowered, not advisory."
In promoting its "Catholic Bill of Rights and Responsibilities," the American Catholic Council -- which, despite the name, is not affiliated with the official Catholic Church -- insists that "one must not be told that one becomes a Catholic at the cost of being less an American."
While there's no doubting its members' love for both their country and their church, this last statement doesn't quite sit right.
Jesus tells us that His kingdom is "not of this world" (John 18:36), and Paul reminds us that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20), surpassing that of any earthly nation.
In fact, the Pharisees rejected Jesus precisely because He wasn't the political liberator for Israel they thought He would be. Jesus wasn't "less of a Jew." He was the ultimate Jew.
The American Catholic Council, in its push to "democratize" the church, shows why it isn't the Catholic American Council. It uses the Constitution to justify its positions, not the Catechism.
As appealing as it might sound for everyone to have input into the dogmas and doctrines of the Catholic Church, that isn't how the religion's founder intended it. Jesus gave his apostles -- and only his apostles -- the authority to "bind and loose" (Matthew 18:18), which is another way of saying "you're the boss" -- within reason, of course.
The apostles were given authority to govern the church, charged with passing on the gospel Jesus gave them with the promise that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). And as the apostles departed the scene, they "appointed elders for them in every church" (Acts 14:23), and charged the new bishops to "entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" the teaching they received (2 Timothy 2:2).
The assertion of the American Catholic Council that the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. established that "popes and bishops were chosen by the people at large," is patently false.
Bishops -- which includes the pope -- were never selected by the faithful, but always through the imposition of hands by another bishop, which itself goes back to Scripture (Acts 13:3, 1 Timothy 4:14).
Paul's letters to Timothy in the Bible are a treasure trove of insight into the early church's treatment of many of the issues concerning the American Catholic Council, especially when it comes to the question of authority within the church.
Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron objected to the group's national gathering last weekend, not because he fears change, but because he knows most of the changes the council wants are impossible. It isn't just that the church is unwilling to change its doctrine; it's unable.
This is because the bishops didn't invent the church -- they received it (Matthew 16:18, Titus 1:3). In light of that fact, there are just some things even the pope doesn't have the authority to change.
Contact Mike Stechschulte at mikestech@charter.net
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.