A large and strong tent

Susan Stabile has a beautiful post on her blog, Creo en Dios!, on what it means to be Catholic.  Although not addressing directly our recent conversation of academic freedom and dissent, it provides a profound image of what it is to be Catholic.  Susan is speaking for herself, but I think many of us can identify.  Here is a bit, but I hope you read the rest:

"As I prayed ... one morning, I saw an image of the apostolic line stretching forward from Peter through the Popes over the years through to the present day Pope.  I saw that it is that apostolic line that holds the structure of this tent we call Catholicism.  And I realized that the fact that there is a tent held together by that apostolic succession means something.  It keeps us united as part of one Body, as one community.  It creates the necessary ecosystem for us to thrive.

Inside the tent, we squabble a bit and sometimes we squabble a lot (and some of those squabbles perhaps deserve a name more serious than “squabble”).  And any given time, one or another of us may not be fully happy with some of the ground covered by the tent.  And that’s OK.  The thing is, not only is the tent large, but there is some give in the contours of the tent and over time it stretches a bit here and moves a bit there.  It stretches, it pulls, it bulges, it strains - but it holds, it doesn’t tear.  It holds and it helps us remember who we are."

Thank you Susan!