The members of the Catholic Church can take one of three Positions in response to the crisis of today’s Church, which may be one of the most profound in her history. Two of these are very easily adopted, but the third entails difficulties and problems for those who assume it. We will refer to these here, for simplicity, as Positions A, B, and C.

            Position A is easy to understand and relatively simple to take up. Proponents of this position are Catholics who think that there are a number of Christian principles and Magisterial teachings which are immutable and untouchable. They believe that the present Hierarchy of the Church has forgotten, hidden or falsified those principles and teachings, and that, by doing so, it has attempted directly against the Faith. These premises established, and confronted with the impossibility of reaching an understanding, supporters of Position A have chosen to sever the ties that united them to the Hierarchy. Although rooted in a desire to maintain Christian principles, this behavior is schismatic according to Canon Law.

            In all honesty, we must acknowledge the credibility of those who defend this Position, for it seems that most of their arguments are true. Surely, one also ought to praise their honesty and integrity, assuming, of course, their good intentions.

            However this Position, to my understanding, has an important shortcoming which directly concerns one of the principles it pretends to defend: one’s fidelity and submission to the legitimate Hierarchy, no matter how inoperative or mundane that Hierarchy may seem, at best, or even how corrupt it is, at worst. The truth is that a faithful Catholic can never abandon this fundamental principle: nothing without the bishop, nothing without the Church. Besides, corruption in the Hierarchy, even at the Highest Levels, is not foreign to the difficult history of the Church; but, even then, the true faithful have never before felt justified in abandoning her: Where Peter is, there the Church is present.

             The problem is profound and delicate, befitting the difficult times in which we live. Submitting to a mundane Hierarchy with questionable faithfulness to the sound Tradition and principles of the true Faith seems to be one of the trials which the Lord will permit His disciples to suffer, which will only worsen as the final times approach (Mt. 24:15). Since participation in the sufferings of the Lord has always been a characteristic of the truly faithful, it will surely become more so at the time of the final confrontation. True disciples do not forget that participation in the Cross of Our Lord, because it has to be  carried by tired shoulders and contemplated with tearful eyes, is truly glorious and a foretaste of the final Crown.

(To be continued)