{"id":1431,"date":"2011-05-02T14:27:56","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T19:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2011-05-02T14:28:44","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T19:28:44","slug":"throwing-stones-at-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/throwing-stones-at-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwing Stones at “The Church”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
About two months ago, I wrote a post on my personal blog entitled, \u201cWhy is the Catholic Mass So Boring?\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, let me offer this disclaimer: I do not find the Mass boring. \u00a0The Mass is the intermingling of heaven and earth, where the body of Christ (both the heavenly and earthly Church) meet the Body of Christ (in the true presence of the Eucharist). \u00a0That is nothing short of miraculous and stirring to my soul.<\/p>\n

I know that, to non-Catholics (and even some Catholics), there is a perception that the Mass is an incredibly dry experience. \u00a0Without the benefit of understanding all that we understand, there are those who look at the mass and see nothing but empty ritual.<\/p>\n

The point of my post, \u201cWhy is the Catholic Mass so Boring?\u201d was to offer a contrast between the Catholic Mass, which is focused on us, as Church, putting ourselves in a place of humility and worship before Christ, and many Protestant services, which are often focused on entertainment and the question, \u201cwhat did I \u2018get\u2019 out of that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks since that post went live, it has quickly become the second most viewed post in the history of the site, having been viewed by over 450 unique visitors (these are good numbers for my lowly site). \u00a0Looking back through day to day stats, there are people hitting the post almost every day from Google and other search sites by typing in searches like \u201cCatholic mass boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the visitors that find the site that way never have anything to say. They read and they leave. \u00a0A couple of weeks ago, however, I walked out of mass to find a notification of this comment:<\/p>\n

You can tell yourself that Mass is not boring but the fact it is, it will suck the spirit right out of you. God\u2019s ways and the learning of God\u2019s ways and the better practice of God\u2019s ways is NOT boring. If the Catholic Church doesn\u2019t learn that there are new and better ways to present God, their membership will continue to decline. Catholics (and I am a reluctant one looking for a new spiritual home) seem to think that if it\u2019s not boring, it must be false. Break out of the dark ages, come into today\u2019s world where God is patiently waiting for you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I thought for a long time about how I should respond to this person. \u00a0My initial reaction was to latch on to the words \u201csuck the spirit right out of you.\u201d \u00a0Those words seemed so harsh to me but I didn\u2019t know how to respond to them.<\/p>\n

Then, reading the comment again and again, I had a moment of clarity. \u00a0I read, \u201cIf the Catholic Church doesn\u2019t learn that there are new and better way to present God, their membership will continue to decline,\u201d and suddenly I thought, \u201cWait a second… who is the \u2018Catholic Church\u2019 this person is addressing?\u201d<\/p>\n

You see, there is a tendency by non-Catholics and Catholics alike to think about the Catholic Church as the Magisterium, the priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope that make up the formal hierarchy of the Church. \u00a0\u00a0When we do that, it\u2019s easy to stand back and say, \u201cthe Church should be doing this better,\u201d or, \u201cthe Church should be doing that better.\u201d \u00a0And yet, this very criticism is rooted in the failure of our own understanding… the realization that you and I are the church and, if you recognize something that needs to be done, maybe it\u2019s God who\u2019s calling YOU to do it.<\/p>\n

I think you have to love and appreciate the line in the final line of my visitor\u2019s comment, \u201cBreak out of the dark ages, come into today\u2019s world where God is patiently waiting for you.\u201d \u00a0I couldn\u2019t help but offer this in response:<\/p>\n

YOU BE THE CHURCH\u2026 and bring the light of Christ and the fullness of faith to people in ways that are interesting and creative.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the call to the \u201cnew evangelization\u201d that JP II has issued and Pope Benedict XVI has echoed. God is patiently waiting for you to be a part of the solution.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s the call for you and me, to be a part of the Church that is living and active, not sitting around and casting stones and thinking of things that should be done better. \u00a0We vivify the Church as the Holy Spirit vivifies us. Any stones cast at \u201cthe Church\u201d are squarely aimed at ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About two months ago, I wrote a post on my personal blog entitled, \u201cWhy is the Catholic Mass So Boring?\u201d  Now, let me offer this disclaimer: I do not find the Mass boring. \u00a0The Mass is the intermingling of heaven and earth, where the body of Christ (both the heavenly and earthly Church) meet the… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":124040,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/a-response-to-what-sucks-about-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":1431,"position":0},"title":"A Response to “What Sucks about the Catholic Church”","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"June 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every spring brings the Church a batch of shiny new Catholics, and every year I see the same list of complaints. 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