Why fear the small church.

One theme that seems to have crept into the Catholic online discourse recently, although I’m sure it is a discussion that has been discussed for some time. It has been hinted at by the leaders of the let us say the ‘liberal” section of the church, although Modernist/radical is the correct characterisation. This idea is that if we don’t bend the church to the will of the world, we will lose it and be left with a small and unimportant church bereft of members and somehow less able to spread the gospel. This of course is wrong on so many levels, for one it shows a total lack of Supernatural faith, it subscribes to the notion that we should be bringing ourselves up to God, like a modern day Tower of Babel and also the very demonstrably provable fact that bending to the ways of the world somehow brings people to the church, clearly in the West the new evangelisation hasn’t worked.

The common retort to that, is look at Africa and Asia, to which I would say look at Latin America, for one where we are losing out to the Protestants especially the Pentecostal and also atheist Socialism. However even when looking at Africa and Asia the answer is simple, no, the new evangelisation is not working there, the population is simply exploding, if there is let’s say 50 million people in country’s which 50 years ago there was 20 million, then shock and surprise there might be more Catholics! Try looking at the numbers as a whole, look at new Baptism rates, look at the increase in Islam and Protestantism in the country and you will see that we are still at best holding the line, which is in part to the heroics of what would be considered ultra conservative priests and Bishops in countries like Kenya, so no, maintenance or slight increase in Africa is not down to the new Evangelisation it is in spite of it. But I digress, let us concentrate for a moment on the original theme, why should we fear a small church.

Looking at the Bishops in the USA is a perfect example, they are desperate not to slim the church down, when one priest is serving let us say 3 or 4 parishes they will not admit that perhaps it should 1 or 2 parishes, it would consolidate costs but more importantly the Priest might be able to support his community properly, now I don’t want to see churches close, but it’s because I see it as a surrender to the secular world, for these Bishops it’s because they know at a certain point it will become noticeable that there is a bishop for a handful churches, it would mean an end to their luxury lifestyle to their life of respect and privilege. As a unit the USCCB it would mean an end to the taxpayer funded gravy train that is the social welfare funding they receive from the Federal Government.

What strikes me more, especially if you look at the arguments that occur around the world of Bishop Barron and his Word on Fire Ministry a million dollar enterprise in itself, is that a small church would be a disaster that’s it better to draw people in with half-truths and lies about the faith, that the charisma of the truth, the gospels and most significantly of the Savour Jesus Christ isn’t enough.

I would argue the church even when small is more than capable of winning the day! As it is already proclaimed the victory is assured by Holy Scripture! Think of the Christians in the Roman Catacombs and the hundreds of years of persecution they faced, think of the true Catholics led by the lonely soul of St Athanasius during the Arian crisis, most of the church and the hierarchy had gone into full Heresy, denying the divinity of the returning Christ himself, but the truth was on the side of the small church, loyal to Christ that fought on and won the day returning the whole church to its proper form. The Catholic churches of England and Japan are more prime examples they survived despite being surrounded by enemies, being persecuted being butchered, they remain.

I say if we could learn from the Arian crisis or the crisis of the Borgia Popes that it is better to be a small church of true believers than to be a church of hypocrites, pretenders and lukewarm cowards. John Apocalypse 3:16 But because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth. Maybe we should listen to the Angel of God. It was this period of lukewarmness that led us to the reformation, that’s what we are seeing again now, a period where the church is so lukewarm it allows the secular world to dictate to it, when the church should be teaching morals to the world.

It gives to Caesar what is his and what is God’s a blasphemous sin, it shows itself to be expendable and allows sacrilege to occur and then defends that sacrilege.

Surely a church, a small church of believers would not allow this. There is a certain turning point where some just need to believe or leave. If you don’t accept the 10 commandments leave, if you don’t accept the moral teachings of the catechism leave, if you are not willing pull yourself out of bed on a Sunday, every Sunday, every holy day of obligation, if you are not willing to pray in reparation for the sins committed against the sacred Heart of Jesus do you really believe, I am not judging anyone’s interior position, I am no one to judge but if you insist on trying to pull down the rafter around my head while I am praying, while I am believing in the Eucharist, I am obeying the teachings of the church don’t expect me to not stop and say “what are you doing?”

Let us not fear a small church on fire for Christ, let us not fear a small church full of zeal, ready for the coming chastisement, ready to face down the evils of world, ready to love those that persecute us, ready to defend those innocents when it is called for, let us take the example of the Saints of the persecution of the Diocletian, of St Athanasius, Saint’s Moore and Fisher let us Cry out the Glory that is Christ Risen, this will convert people, it always has and always will, look to your own lives. In the past to my shame I tried to water the faith down, to make it more relatable in the hopes of bringing someone coming closer to God it has never worked, when I have said what I know will make the world hate me, I have always be surprised to see that someone has approached me and asked, so you really believe?