Too catholic to be Catholic
Peter Leithart writes:
“Catholicism and Orthodoxy are impressive for their heritage, the seriousness of much of their theology, the seriousness with which they take Christian cultural engagement.
Both, especially the Catholic church, are impressive for their sheer size. But when I attend Mass and am denied access to the table of my Lord Jesus together with my Catholic brothers, I can’t help wondering what really is the difference between Catholics and the Wisconsin Synod Lutherans or the Continental Reformed who practice closed communion.
My Catholic friends take offense at this, but I can’t escape it: Size and history apart, how is Catholicism different from a gigantic sect? Doesn’t Orthodoxy come under the same Pauline condemnation as the fundamentalist Baptist churches who close their table to everyone outside? To become Catholic I would have to contract my ecclesial world. I would have to become less catholic – less catholic than Jesus is. Which is why I will continue to say: I’m too catholic to become Catholic.”
May 26th, 2012 at 8:56 am
A Catholic response to Peter Leithart:
http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2012/05/too-catholic-to-be-catholic-a-response-to-peter-leithart/
May 26th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Leithart has written a further post in response to such responses. And he is right on the mark. “Roman Catholic” is a contradiction in terms. Their “Catholic” unity is anything but catholic. It’s a bit like “World Series” Baseball!
May 26th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
So Leithart an Co. call the Mass idolitrous and then whine about not being able to partake in the Catholic Eucharist?
May 26th, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Yep – check out Jordan in the article linked above in most recent post.
http://biblicalhorizons.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/one-holy-catholic-and-apostolic-church/
May 26th, 2012 at 10:26 pm
And did you notice the charge of idolatry wasn’t only leveled at Roman Catholics?
June 2nd, 2012 at 4:57 pm
http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter_details.php?id=241
Some may say that Roman Catholic then is an an oxymoron, but it is not. The “Roman” in the phrase does not modify the word “Catholic” rather, it merely identifies the unifying principal of Catholicism – the Bishop of Rome. Besides, the term “Roman Catholic,” is one that was employed as a pejorative by the Protestants, it is not our “official” name, and is not used by Catholics to describe our catholicity, rather it is used simply because that is how our Church is commonly referred to by the general public.
June 2nd, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Hi Mikulas
With all due respect, the fact that the Bishop of Rome is the unifying principle is exactly the problem. The truly unifying principle is the Spirit of Christ, Who rules earth from heaven, not Rome. Christ did not send a vicar but His Spirit. Worship centralized on earth was judged forever in AD70. Men tried it once again in Rome, and again the wineskin was burst. True catholicity will always tear the veil, always transcend the highest walls of men, whether they be Roman or Protestant. And that is exactly our blessed hope.