Very random:

1) On the “have perspective” issue: I do think there is a tendency for all of us, no matter what end we stand on, to make mountains out of molehills. Those of us who have attended Mass regularly for the past 30 years have seen it frequently: congregations browbeaten and scolded over how loudly they sing or respond (I’ve seen priests demand the congregation repeat a response more loudly, etc), whether or not they use the missalettes to follow the readings….all sorts of small things that people who feel powerless enjoy expounding upon. It has very much a “missing the forest because of the trees” quality about it.

2) However, there are certain things that are weighted with symbolism, and, as a result, they evoke intense responses. These changes, or clarifications of the GIRM regulations over the past year are like that. They seem minor, but people experience them, not as discrete events, but as part of something greater. Here, they experience them as part and parcel of thirty years or so of the episcopal game called Selective Enforcement. We won’t demand that Catholic colleges reaffirm their Catholic identity or just declare themselves to be who they really are, but we will impose uniquely-interpreted liturgical norms on unwilling congregations. We won’t publicly and forcefully challenge the Catholic politicians’ culture that props up abortion on demand, but we will be hostile to Traditionalist Catholics.

And, of course, the big one: We won’t fraternally correct each other for protecting abusing clerics or even being an abusing cleric ourselves, but we will correct you for questioning the diocesan liturgists’ wisdom.

As I said, it’s of a piece.

3) That said, I have a difficult time dredging up loads sympathy for the faith-crises these matters seem to produce. The “reader” (whom I assure you was not me) suggests we get a grip by understanding what true suffering is. I suggest (as I often do) that we get a grip by studying our history, beginning with Paul’s epistles. I think everyone should read 1 Corinthians today. Really. Has anything changed? No.

Further, I honestly do not get this question of preserving our kids’ faith by leaving the Church. Huh? You know, if you believe the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus, I can’t fathom why you would even ask this question, or what it is you are looking for in a church. To me, saying that the questionable actions of Fr. X – or even the systemic corruption of the episcopacy – are a reason to reconsider one’s identity as a Catholic makes as much sense to me as – saying that the hijinks of some Renaissance Popes or the blatant ignorance of some doddering 13th century curate who didn’t even understand the Latin he was mumbling or the confessional cruelty of some hard-hearted, insensitive pastor in 1953 or any of the other off-kilter (and worse) attempts to be Church in the world that have occurred daily and even, at times, systemically through the last 2000 years – yeah, makes as much sense as saying that any of these things make me question the wisdom of me remaining Catholic.

(And for some they do….)

We are human beings, and our experience is mediated, and the nature of that mediation affects us and forms our faith. Our faith is bound up in the beauty and folly of human experience. It is our call to continually evaluate what we do and how we do it in terms of the Gospel. Sometimes we can be very hurt and even shattered. Sometimes what we encounter at the local, everyday level really challenges us, especially when those who seem to be acting counter to the faith are acting on behalf of the faith, with its authority. Of course.

But I have to tell you – there are plenty of happy Catholics out here. Some of those happy Catholics even worship in parishes with bad music and uninspiring homilies. This is not to minimize problems, but to simply ask – what is the core of our faith? Is it Jesus? Really? Are you sure?