One Church

Since I'm on research leave and working on writing a book about my conversion from Catholicim to Buddhism and back to Catholicim, I confess I've been very neglectful of Mirror of Justice.  I have been poking my head in from time to time to see what people are discussing.

Reading the back and forth between Steven and Rick over the recent Kristoff pieces, I thought I'd share my blog post of this morning titled We are the Church (which you can read in its entirety here).  Talking about the phrase "We are the Church," which I find myself saying with great frequency, I observe that

the phrase “We are the Church” can convey two very different messages, depending on how it is spoken. One can say “We are the Church,” in the way that children say “My dad is stronger than your dad,” or “My muscles are bigger than your muscles,” that is, in a way that suggests we – not you or not someone else – are the church. The alternative is to convey by “we are the Church” the sentiment that all of us – the Vatican, priests, nuns, lay persons, all of us, whether we are labeled “traditionalist Catholics,” “progressive Cathlics” or any other names – are together part of one Church.

On the thrust of Kristoff's columns, I stand closer with Steve than I do with Rick (as Rick knows since he has commented when I post the Kristoff columns on my Facebook page).  But we all need to remember that we are one church.