At our RCIA session this past Tuesday, we were talking about
the history of the Catholic Church from the Middle Ages through the
Renaissance. We discussed several
influential Church Councils, including the Lateran Councils and the Council of
Trent. Church Councils serve to clarify
doctrine, and reaffirm the Church’s position on moral dilemmas of the day.
In the course of our discussion, the current crisis we are
facing – that of abuse of minors – was brought up. While we do not want to diminish the
seriousness of this crisis in any way, the point was made that, as a Church, we
have faced a multitude of issues that could have torn the Catholic Church to
pieces. In the case of the splintering
of the Church, first through the Schism of 1054 and then the Protestant
Reformation in the 1500s, differences of doctrinal opinion have divided
Christianity into thousands of denominations.
We must not despair at the brokenness of our Church, even when scandal seems to rise to a fever pitch. The Church is still here, 2000 years after
Jesus Christ walked the earth. It has
been rocked by scandal and division before, and God has sent defenders of the
faith to guide it through tumultuous times.
We can only pray that He will do so once again as we face the issues of
today.
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