Why stay in this infuriating Church? Some 600 conference-goers were standing room only to hear Bob McClory tell them “Why I Stay and Why You Should Too.” In a word, despite the hierarchy's current views on homosexuality, remarriage after divorce, and a priesthood closed to women and married men, Bob stays because the Holy Spirit is in the whole Church, in the faithful. Thus, leaders must consult the faithful because the bishops cannot teach what the people don’t believe. The doctrine of reception means that the leaders cannot settle a dispute by arguing only one side of the argument, cannot ignore an idea whose time has come, cannot expect unquestioning acceptance of a doctrine when they have erred in the past, and cannot issue a definitive doctrine while ignoring the experience of the people.
McClory stays partly for emotional reasons. He loves his parish, St. Nicholas
in Evanston, Ill. And he’s not ready to abandon the church of his ancestors
and friends, the church of giants like Thomas Aquinas and Dorothy Day. But above
all, there’s always been room for dissent. Drawing on his popular book,
Faithful Dissenters, he said being a dissenter puts us in good company with
people like Peter Abelard, Cardinal Newman and Yves Congar. Even in the early
Church, Paul dissented massively, confronting Peter to his face. “How
did Paul have the nerve? Paul felt he had a right.” So do we. Eventually
Peter changed to Paul's way of accepting Gentiles without holding them to Jewish
law.
Purchase Robert McClory's talk
When in doubt, try humor
Co-founder of CTA News in 1978, Bob McClory over the years has often registered
his dissent from wrong-headed church doctrines by writing spoofs, poking fun,
making his point with humor in these pages. He's still doing so. Last summer
the Trenton, N.J., diocese declared invalid the first communion of a little
girl because the host lacked gluten. While the church is losing members and
credibility worldwide, Cardinal Ratzinger's doctrinal office in Rome has actually
spent time and effort defending a rule about gluten. McClory wrote the following
“solution”:
by Bob McClory
The discovery of fragments from the ancient Gospel of Pseudo-Barnabas has thrown
important light on the controversy regarding the recent denial of communion
to an eight-year-old girl who has celiac disease. She cannot digest the protein
gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, barley and other grains.
The fragment states: As the apostles were clearing off the table after the
Last Supper (because no women had been invited), Philip said to Jesus, “Master,
when we celebrate this supper in memory of you, may we use foods made from rice
or oats as well as wheat bread?”
Jesus answered immediately, “No, whatever form of food you use at the
sacred meal, it must contain gluten.”
“But Master,” said Philip, “what is gluten?”
“You do not understand now,” said Jesus, “but in the time
to come, it will be revealed that gluten is absolutely necessary for any solid
food to become my body.”
“This is a hard saying,” commented Thomas. “How are we and
our successors to know if gluten is in the food we use at the sacred meal?”
“Just stick to wheat bread,” said Jesus, “and you can’t
go wrong.”
“Of course in an emergency, when no wheat bread is available, I suppose
we can use rice cakes,” said James the Less.
“Read my lips.” replied Jesus. “Rice doesn’t have gluten,
so you can’t use it.”
Peter spoke up. “Master, just what is so special about gluten?”
“It’s a mystery,” said Jesus, “ and I don’t want
to talk about it any more. So get busy washing the dishes. This is going to
be a hard night for all of us.”
Sources at the Vatican said the gospel fragment, though apocryphal, may help
explain the Holy See’s insistence that communion bread must always and
everywhere have gluten. Meanwhile, the papal baker is experimenting with low-gluten
breads but is unsure just how much gluten is required for transubstantiation
to occur.
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