There’s a somewhat common belief that our Church is out of touch with ‘the times’ — that our culture is moving forward, but the Church is stagnating.
When we fall into this belief, we forget the truth that the Church is not of this world. We come to Mass and we encounter something unlike anything else, something that we can’t find anywhere else.
It’s our faith that can change the world, not the culture that should shape our faith. It’s not the culture that needs to come through our doors, but the Church that needs to go out into the world.
In that vein, have you ever noticed how Mass ends kind of abruptly? It builds and builds until we reach the summit in the consecration of the Eucharist, we partake in that heavenly sacrifice, and then Mass ends.
Why is that? Precisely for the reasons we’ve already been talking about. We who have come to Christ now carry Him with us. When Christ is alive within us, that is when we are to venture out, bringing Him to the world. But please, wait until after the final blessing, will ya?
I agree that the church needs to go out into the world and the surrounding communities. The reality is that the churches in my area are largely closed gated churches that only minister to the trads and the cons. I would encourage our churches to minister to the entire spectrum of Catholics and to go to those at the margins like LGBTQ Catholics and their families. Our church is no longer fishers of men but maintainers of ever declining aquariums.