As For Me and My House

I believe in one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church. I say those words every Sunday. I still believe them, including that word “holy.”

Yes, she’s full of the rottenness of men. The stink of sin rises to the very top, sometimes further than we’d like to admit. But she’s still the Church.

St. Paul tells the Ephesians that Christ loved the Church and loves her still, despite her flaws and sin (Eph. 5:21-32). He doesn’t just love her. He died for her, to sanctify her, to cleanse her. He loves her enough to become one with her, to fold her into His own mystical body. The prophet Hosea stayed faithful to Gomer, his wife, even though she was a harlot. Christ stays faithful to His Church the same way, even when she’s unfaithful to Him and reeks of sin.

While we’ve been dealing with this current terrible scandal for more than two decades now, in 2018, we hit a new low with more terrible revelations related to the bishops failing to stop predators like Theodore McCarrick. I read it and wept for my Church. It wasn’t the first such reckoning, and it won’t be the last. The Church has been dealing with such things for 2,000 years, some of it worse than what we’ve seen in our lifetimes. But it never crossed my mind to leave. That Sunday in 2018 after the latest news broke, my family sat in our regular pew like always.

We’d just heard Jesus challenge His disciples after they received the hard teaching of the Real Presence in the Eucharist: “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:60-69).

Peter doesn’t say, “Lord, I understand what you’re teaching. I know what you mean about eating your flesh for eternal life. Those other guys just haven’t thought it through.” No. He says, “Master, to whom shall we go?”

To whom, indeed. Peter’s admitting he doesn’t fully understand, maybe that the teaching troubles him too. But he knows, down in his bones, that Jesus is who He says He is. The One who comes from the Father to seek and save the lost. That’s enough for him.

It’s enough for me. I won’t leave, no matter what priests, bishops, or popes do, because the “words of eternal life” don’t come from them. They’re not “the Holy One of God” that Peter proclaims. And sure, Peter doesn’t quite live up to that promise. He denies Christ at the cross. But he comes back, forgiven. So I may be shaken too by revelations of misdeeds and sin. I won’t stray far. I’ll come back to the Way.

Joshua says it too: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). My first loyalty is to the Lord, not to men. We’ll serve Him however He calls us, however that restores His Church and advances the kingdom. The alternative is “non serviam,” I will not serve, and that road leads to hell. Literally.

“Far be it from us to forsake the Lord... therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Josh. 24:16, 18). Whatever comes, my house will serve the Lord. We’ll stay faithful. We’ll cling to the sacraments. And we’ll do our part to support whatever housecleaning the Church still needs.