Sickness in the body of Christ

I was reading an essay in the National Catholic Reporter about how the repressive nature of the male-dominated Catholic hierarchy has turned this man off from attending mass and active participation in Church. The heavy-handed treatment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was the last straw for him because the Sisters had always been one of his biggest inspirations.

Despite his dislike for the direction of the institutional Church, he still describes himself as Catholic.

This, at least, is how it looks to me -- not a theologian, leader or representative of anyone, but simply a 31-year-old American who loves the Catholic community and tradition, though connects with its formal expressions less and less.

To many, I would not be considered Catholic, primarily because I have shed the institutional Mass as a weekly practice. I’m certainly not Catholic in the way elder generations have been, nor in the way my more conservative young friends are. But I still experience a deep inner bond with Catholicism, I draw on the community and tradition in my prayer life, and I identify as Catholic.

What shocked me about this essay was the not the content, but the reaction. Too many of the responses were so hateful that the editors were forced to remove all comments and provide this comment:

Editor's Note: I was reviewing comments to this article on June 10. I found so many of the comments so vile, so contemptuous of another person's spiritual journey and seeking that I could not permit them to appear on this website. --Dennis Coday, NCR editor

In other words, there was nothing remotely Christ-like in many of the comments to this man's heartfelt essay. Remember what Jesus said about judging religious leaders by their fruit?

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16-20)

This is very rotten fruit, wherever it came from.