A CAFETERIA CATHOLIC

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

There’s quite a controversy going on between Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy (son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy) and Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin. According to Associated Press Writer Ray Henry, several days ago, Bishop Tobin “acknowledged asking Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights.” Ray Henry also added this quote from Bishop Tobin: "The point is, because of his obstinate ... public support of abortion, which is clearly contrary to an essential teaching of the church of a matter of critical morality ... he is then not properly prepared to receive Holy Communion," ..."No one has a right to receive Holy Communion."

I caught snippets of both Michael Graham’s program and Jay Severin’s program on “Boston Talks 96.9 FM” on Monday. Each was talking about the Patrick Kennedy/Bishop Tobin controversy. Both Graham and Severin expressed perplexity about why so many Americans profess to be “Catholics” but choose to reject large chunks of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice. On Monday night’s “Greater Boston” program on WGBH Channel 2, host Emily Rooney asked all four candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate what they thought about Bishop Tobin’s asking Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion. The only one of the four who was not Catholic was Pagliuca who is Episcopalian so he sidestepped the question, but the other three all professed to be “Catholics” and yet all expressed strong disapproval with the Roman Catholic Church’s practices and hierarchy.

Yes, it DOES get confusing.

The whole Roman Catholic thing in America is VERY complicated. I do understand it, because although I’ve been an Assemblies of God minister for over 25 years, I was raised Roman Catholic. In my home, as in most American Roman Catholic homes of 30 or 40 years ago, we were taught that the WORST thing you could EVER do was to leave the Catholic Church. It was worse than rape or murder or anything. Probably the 2nd worst thing you could do was marrying a Protestant (unless that Protestant was strong-armed into raising any kids that the marriage produced as Catholics). Prior to the Second Vatican Council (which I think took place in 1962) the Catholic Church taught that it was “the one true church” and that it “did not change”. (If there WAS an organized church that was the “one true Church” it would absolutely be the Eastern Orthodox Churches and not the Roman Catholic Church, but the fact is, God’s true Church is made up of born-again Believers, be they Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Messianic Jews, or whatever!) After Vatican 2, the Catholic Church CHANGED. The mass was put into the language of the people rather than Latin. The priest faced the people while saying mass, instead of facing away from them. The Catholic congregations began singing hymns, something like their Protestant neighbors did. AND, beliefs changed. “St. Christopher” who was supposed to keep you safe when you traveled was declared to NO LONGER EXIST! “Limbo” the place where unbaptized babies went if they died, was downplayed and eventually scrapped. Purgatory is still believed in, but greatly downplayed.

My devout Catholic mother used to lament that the Catholic Church had “turned Protestant”. Many of the World War 2 Generation also expressed similar concerns. Baby boomers began to believe the Catholic Church was full of all kinds of hokum which may not be true at all. Many questioned whether Jesus was really the Son of God. Many questioned whether Jesus really rose from the dead. Many no longer REALLY believed in “the Holy Eucharist” but received Holy Communion anyway, because it was the thing to do when you went to mass. Many stopped “going to the confessional” and believed they could directly ask God to forgive their sins! Even my devout Catholic mother stopped going to Confession. At the time of her death in 2000 I don’t think she’d been to Confession in at least ten years.

This helps to explain why so many that are my age and younger are “cafeteria Catholics”. They kind of believe whatever they want to believe, and do whatever they want to do, but still go to mass 2 or 3 times a month and call themselves “Catholic”. It’s ironic that many of my personal beliefs are MUCH closer to the official beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church than are the beliefs of many of my Catholic relatives and friends, but I’m considered “non-Catholic” and they’re considered “Catholic”.

A lot of it is cultural. I don’t think most modern Catholic parents would tell their kids that the worst thing they could ever do is to leave the Catholic Church. But there’s quite a vestige of that kind of thinking still around. If you’re Italian or Irish or Polish or French Canadian, you’re CATHOLIC. It’s your culture, your family, your heritage, and you don’t change it. Or, if you DO as I did, you’re often thought of as out of sync at best, or weird and sinful at worst.

Let’s just say hypothetically that my parents had a kid who professed to be gay. One of the first things they’d have told that kid when he or she “came out of the closet” is, “But you’re still going to be Catholic, RIGHT?!” If the answer was, “Yes”, they’d breathe a big sigh of relief.

I suspect Mike Capuano, Martha Coakley, and Patrick Kennedy came from families like that, and that’s why they may barely believe a thing the Catholic Church teaches, but call themselves “Catholic”, go to mass, etc.

I don’t know if this piece clears anything up or muddies the waters? Oh well, If you’re confused, say 3 Hail Marys and make a Good Act of Contrition. (You’d have to have grown up Catholic 30-plus years ago to understand that!)