A Revolution of Saints

I've been reading a lot--a lot--the past few weeks about the McCarrick scandal in the Church. Of course it goes deeper than this one incident with this one prelate, to a much deeper and darker network within the Church. The abuse and betrayal is both sickening and saddening. But I don't want to pile on to what has already been written and said much more comprehensively by others than I could write. Instead, I just want to bring one thing to light, one thing that is both unnerving and, for me, as distressing as all the hurt and betrayal caused by this scandal.

And that one thing is this: I think many of those in authority--priests, bishops, cardinals--are playing the game, talking the talk, being good administrators, saying the right things.

My fear is that there are many who don't actually believe what they are professing.

I know this shouldn't be surprising to me. After all, Paul calls the followers of Christ "fools" in the best sense of the word (1 Cor 4:10)--those who are completely committed and willing to lose face for the Kingdom. But because we are worldly, feeling like a fool in the eyes of the world can sting a little. It reminds us we have not truly left behind everything to follow Christ, but retain our friendship with the world. Who wants to be a fool anyway?

I learned quickly after becoming Catholic that there were "qualifiers" to the mandates of our faith. We are called to feed the hungry and clothe the naked--but not, like, literally. It is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom, but, you know. We are called to enter into death with Christ. But let's not get carried away now.

When I read the Rod Dreher piece in the American Conservative about the "conservative" prelate who headed up the Napa Institute and the ensuing "call to holiness" to attendees, I could see myself as one of the gullible idiots who "actually believes this stuff." It may be a wake up call that renewal may not necessarily be coming from the Church hierarchy or from more parish programs, and that we would be holding our breath in thinking that. In these situations, anger and impatience is palpable. But if we are going to start a revolution, it will need to be a revolution of the spirit. And it will have to start from the inside-out.

That's why I feel such love and affinity for disciples like the supreme dodo, Mother Angelica. I do hope she is canonized, because we need more witnesses to a faith that puts in on the line. We're past the point of cultural Catholicism for sure. But we're even past the point of doing what's safe and comfortable and expecting a return on our dollar-fifty investment. We need more Mother Angelica's to show us what a "theology of risk" looks like.

"You want to do something for the Lord...do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though you're shaking in your boots, you're scared to death--take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step. Being afraid is not a problem; it's doing nothing when you're afraid."

You might say, "well, not everyone is called to be saints." I don't understand you. I mean, I understand what you've been told, and I've heard the words before, but they do not compute. I was raised very conservatively--not with regards to politics or socially, but to eschew risk, to play it safe, to be careful. Such things have no place in the life of a disciple. We are called to be innocent as doves and wise as serpents, yes. But faith is a great gamble. You gamble with your life. You only have one life. It is a big gamble, but it's not reckless when you trust and have a relationship with the One you are willing to look like a fool for.

"I am convinced God is looking for dodoes. He found one: me! There are a lot of smart people out there who know it can't be done, so they don't do it. But a dodo doesn't know it can't be done. God uses dodoes: people who are willing to look ridiculous so God can do the miraculous."

What made Mother Angelica a "dodo?" I think it consisted of two things: she was herself, and she believed what was saying. Why would anyone profess this religion of ours without believing it? Prayer, mortification, self-sacrifice, poverty--none of it makes sense without belief, and is useless without it. Mother Angelica believed it, believed the words of our Savior, "ask and you will receive," (Mt 7:7) and "I will do anything you ask of me," (Jn 14:13). She BELIEVED! Hers is a high-stakes faith.

"He expects me to operate on a faith level, not a knowledge level. He expects me to operate--if I don't have the money, if I don't have the brains, if I don't have the talent--in faith. You know what faith is? Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach."

Have our prelates forgotten their calling? Do they believe what they preach? I'm not sure. But I wonder how much of that underlies the current mess. If you don't really believe what you're pitching, how can you expect anyone else to? If you don't have faith, what is your career-oriented "religion" worth?

It can feel paralyzing as a member of the laity to exact any institutional change in something so insulated and far removed. I wouldn't know the first thing about "reforming the Curia." But I do know that all throughout history, reform came from bottom up, not top down. It started with an uneducated rabble of twelve. God sent the holy fool, St. Francis of Assisi to rebuild what had fallen into disrepair. During the upheaval of the Reformation, God drew up great saints to renew the Church: St Francis de Sales, St. Philip Neri, St. Thomas More, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola.

You don't get anywhere without risking something. And we don't get anywhere without an army. The power doesn't rest in mighty ability or smarts or talent--it rests in FAITH in the ONE TRUE GOD who has the POWER to accomplish EVERYTHING! I have literally never made a convert in my entire life, and I may never. To devote my life, everything I have and am, to something that may never be accomplished in my lifetime--that is the mark of a pitiable fool.

No matter. We are fools for Christ, are we not? We may not be able to make converts or exact reform, but we can reform ourselves, can we not? And not just me, and not just you, but anyone, by the power of Christ, who gives the grace to those who ask to accomplish the work. It is so simple, so uncomplicated.

Even if our parish priests do not believe that sainthood is possible for your 'average Joe'--we will believe. Even if our bishops do not risk or suffer indignation for the Faith--we will risk, and suffer indignation for the Faith, for our Christ. Even if we live out a "revolution of one" in our own homes, having no examples around us to follow except the Jesus of the Gospels and the saints we read about in books, and never see the fruit, we can die with the assurance that we did not go comfortably or quietly to our graves.

That's a theology worth learning, a risk worth taking. That's belief in action, the ember of which will spark the revolution of saints, the renewal in the Church, and the fortification of final perseverance in the Last Days.

One foot on the ground

One foot in the air

A queasy feeling in the stomach

That's faith...for those who believe "these sorts of things."