The Church Catholic

How did Americans become so insular? The number of people with whom I have spoken, who have no idea of world events, history, politics, geography astounds me. The young and very young, let me say, between 40 and 20, except for the bright, small minority, have no clues as to the location of the Ukraine, Russia, or even Italy. Their worlds have contracted into small, parochial spheres, wherein their small lives of busyness seem more important than that of the larger world.

I blame both Protestantism and secularism for this shrinking of views. Why?

The Catholic Church has been from her creation by Christ, international, beyond the nationality of the Jews,. The one, true, holy, catholic and apostolic Church quickly became that of the Gentiles.

Christ reached out to the Gentiles, such as the Centurion, whose slave He cured, and to the Syro-Phoenecian woman. Paul has been called The Apostle to the Gentiles. He spread the Faith beyond the boundaries of the Holy Land. Rome became the center of Catholicism early on, with the arrival of the first pope, St. Peter. Clear from the nascent beginnings of the Church, because of the command of God to “go and teach all nations”, the Church became an instution larger than any nation or tribe, clan or province.

Christ’s Church is international. Holy Mother Church spans the entire globe. And, the lack of Catholicism, or the falling into provincialism of some Catholics, has limited some Catholics and many Americans imaginations.

The day of missionary activity has passed, sadly, tragically, because of this provincialism.

The great missionary heart of the Church has shrivele and almost died under the pressures of secularism and nationalism.

Take the Anglican Church, for example. It is and always has been from its inception, a national church, a nationalized church. Here in the States, many Anglicans find themselves yearning for the old days of American history when the American Episcolpalians was the church of power and status.

The same mind-set infected the Lutherans who came to the New World and desired to established the hegemony they experienced in Germany, desiring a national identity, especially in the Midwest.

Those Catholics who pushed the national agenda, thankfully, were defined as heretics by Rome in the mid-19^th Century, as the heresy of Americanism was soundly condemned and efforts made by the Vatican to stop the growth of an American Catholic Church.

The Holy Catholic Church cannot be held to boundaries or the whims of government. This stand, this identity, clashes with the nationalistic identity of the Russian Orthodox Church, which will persecute the Catholics, again, in the Ukraine, if Russians take control of certain areas.

Do not kid yourselves into a blind approval of what is happening in Europe. The Catholic Church BECAUSE it is universal, beyond the control of kings, queens, presidents, councils, tyrants, is hated and always will be hated.

The real identity of the Catholic Church defies control and remains independent for one reason. Christ, the Second Person is the Blessed Trinity, is the founder of the Catholic Church and God defies the sordid control of leaders and peoples who desire a national church.

That Americans are ignorant of world affairs can be partly seen as the fact that either they are secular provinicialists, or even narcissistically American, or that their Protestantism ties them to national prejudices.

The days of the WASPS may be fading, but those in power here in the States fall into that category, of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

Many of those leaders hate the immigrant Catholic Church. The Church has always been made up of immigrants. St. Paul, a Roman citizen, brought Jews and Greeks with him on his journeys.  He died in Rome, the new capital of the international Church.

Christ became Incarnated at the Fullness of Time, when the world was experiencing the pax Romana, the time of peace wherein missionaries and travelers spreading the Gospel could move about easily. Think of this freedom of movement, as we Catholics will find ourselves more and more marginalized, set apart, excluded from the world stage.

And, this marginalization must be seen as, in part, the fault of the American Catholics.

Too many Protestant, secular and even Catholic Americans simply do not care about the rest of the world. For news on tv to spend five minutes on world affairs in superficial reporting and forty-five minutes on stateside nonsense is shocking and sad.

Without the Catholic perspective , the people of America will continue to isolate themselves not only from the rest of the world, but from reality.

Christ’s Church, the Catholic Church will not be tied up by those who choose to manipulate Her. Truth will prevail, but nations, partly in ignorance, and partly in malice, will continue to be determined to ruin the influence of the Catholic Church in any nation and country.

As we Catholics continue to lose influence in discussions and governments across the globe, we may have ourselves to blame not only for not creating leaders in the home to work in the public sphere, but for allowing those who are provincial to take the reigns of leadership and hold on to these tightly.

To be continued