Not merely saying no

It’s sad to say, but many people think the Church just says no. No, you shouldn’t shack up with your boyfriend. No, you shouldn’t use contraceptives. No, you shouldn’t get drunk or use drugs. And so on. Because they think the Church just says no, little wonder why we’re having a hard time getting our children to stay in the Church. We just sound like a bunch of prudes who don’t want anyone to have fun.

That’s not the message they should be hearing. In today’s Gospel at Mass, Our Lord tells His Apostles, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” He also tells them, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He gives them a message of hope and joy; a message that needs to be heard today.

We need to be telling people, “We have a better way.” We need to bring Christ to them, and allow them to develop a real relationship with Him. Then, when they understand the need to follow Him and desire to be His disciple, we present the moral teachings out of love and a desire to help them as they grow deeper in His love. If people don’t know who Jesus is and why it’s so important and life giving to follow Him, why would they care about following His teachings, especially in the area of morality?

This isn’t to say that we should get rid of the moral teachings of the Church. On the contrary, we need to be striving daily to live in conformity with Her teachings, as they have been given to Her by Christ Himself, and should always seek to grow in our observances of His commandments. This also doesn’t mean we need to stop fighting the moral decay of our world, but it does mean we need to find a track that leads people to Christ and not be pushed away by the “no.”

Our job as Christians is to go out and evangelize the world. We won’t be effective if the world just hears “no” from us. It needs to hear that there’s something better than how they’re living now, and allow Our Lord to guide them to following His teachings.

Podcast Listening: My Stogie Mystagogy

(Podcasting has had kind of an interesting history. It’s been a part of the “new media” for at least 10 years, but seems to be going through a renewal in the past couple years. New podcasts are starting on a regular basis, older podcasts are being refreshed or transitioned into different formats, and more tools are making podcasting – both listening and producing – more readily accessible.

I’ve been making an effort to explore and listen to more podcasts, and I want to share podcasts I find interesting. These may not always be specifically Catholic, but definitely worth checking out.)

What caught my interest about the first podcast is the name: My Stogie Mystagogy. Cigars are not something that I generally find interesting, as I prefer relaxing to a good cocktail or beer over smoking something. However, the title gives a good image of what the podcast is about: two guys relaxing in a “man cave”, smoking cigars, and talking about living the Catholic faith.

Don Gonzalez and Mark Connelly are the hosts of this brand new podcast which currently has 2 episodes (plus a “test” episode). While the show begins with a brief discussion of the cigars they’ve chosen to smoke during the recording, most of the show is spent in conversation about the given topic for the episode – along with the expected tangents and rabbit trails that is part of any good conversation between friends. The quality and depth of topics covered already is quite impressive.

There is a little “new podcast” roughness to the episodes, though I’m sure they’ll work that out as they go. It seems as if they’re using a good quality tabletop recorder, but they’re not always the same distance from it. This causes the sound levels to fluctuate, which can mean the occasional point where one or the other is too far away from the recorder. Also, the bumpers in between the segments is quite a bit louder than the rest of the recording.

Obviously, these are minor concerns that Don and Mark should be able to iron out as they go. This seems like a podcast worth a subscription, and looks to become a very good podcast as they iron out the bugs. I look forward to hearing more, and possibly learning a little about the joys of smoking a good cigar.

No, the sky isn’t falling

It seems like every time Pope Francis so much as sneezes, Internet commentators start sounding like Chicken Little: “The Church is falling! The Church is falling!” Now, I haven’t read any of Amoris Laetitia, and I don’t know when I’ll get around to reading it, so I don’t know if it’s good, bad, or just plain ugly.

What I do know, however, comes from the words of Rabbi Gamaliel in yesterday’s Gospel:

For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.

The fact is, the Church survived Gamaliel and the Sanhedrin, the Roman Empire, Germanic Invasions, and many other empires and rulers that thought they could take Her down. She survived heresy, division, the (sad) schism with the Orthodox, the Protestant Reformation, Secular Humanist movements in Europe, Soviet-style Communism, and many more movements and philosophies. There have been bad popes, worse bishops, terrible priests (some may think I could among this number), and apathetic laity; and the Church still survives today. Some of Her strongholds have gotten weak (Europe, North America), and some of the lands washed by martyrs’ blood have become Her strongest bastions. The Church has survived, and will survive until Christ Himself returns.

To those who fear that Pope Francis will destroy the Church, I say, “Have hope! The Church will survive him.” There may be confusion right now. Certain movements within the Church may be celebrating and promoting their misunderstanding of what Pope Francis has taught and said, but it won’t last. Even during the most corrupt and decedent popes, great saints have arisen to call the Faithful back to Christ’s teaching and to evangelize the world.

The call for us as Catholic Christians is not to seek cover, crying “The Church is falling! The Church is falling!” It’s not for us to criticize every little word and action of Pope Francis. Our call is to be the great saints in our time by first living lives of virtue and hope, then proclaiming the Good News of Christ. Yes, the great saints in the past would occasionally “call out” popes, bishops, priests, and so on, but they recognized that their primary mission was to live according to the teachings of Jesus and proclaim those teachings to the world. That is our mission as well. If we wish to reform the Church, we must reform our lives first of all.

Should we seek the name of our Guardian Angels?

Just a thought that came from this morning’s Office of Readings for the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael:

Some angels are given proper names to denote the service they are empowered to perform. In that holy city, where perfect knowledge flows from the vision of almighty God, those who have no names may easily be known. But personal names are assigned to some, not because they could not be known without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they came among us. Thus, Michael means “Who is like God”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and Raphael is “God’s Remedy.” (St. Gregory the Great)

There is a movement that has become popular among Catholics to seek the name of their Guardian Angels. This is a movement that I think is misguided, and could even be dangerous, as it comes more from the New Age mysticism than from Catholic Tradition. New Age mysticism is contrary to the Catholic Faith, and could lead followers to demonic spirits rather than the Holy Spirit. (See Catholics and the New Age by Fr. Mitch Pacwa and New Age Deception by Sharon Lee Giganti for more information on the dangers of New Age).

My opinion, as a Catholic priest, is that asking a Guardian Angel for its name is dangerous because it is contrary to the nature of an angel. The nature of an angel is to serve God as messenger of God (what the name “angel” translates into). The few names we know of particular angels describe not the angel itself, but how it serves God. As Pope St. Gregory the Great points out, “personal names are assigned to some, not because they could not be known without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they came among us.”

Those who ask their Guardian Angels for names do so not to better understand how the angels serve God, but in an attempt to know the angel as an individual. Our Guardian Angels serve God by guarding us, that is why their name is Guardian Angel. They do not need another name, especially one pronounceable by human speech. When we are in Heaven, God willing, we will know our Guardian Angel perfectly without need for a name to identify it (and I will be very grateful for mine who has had its work cut out for it!). Here on Earth, however, the identifier “My Guardian Angel” is more than sufficient to identify exactly each individual Guardian Angel. It is the ultimate in humility to be known not by individual identifier (a name), but rather with how we serve God. (As an aside, this is why titles in the Church are so important, and why we should call priests and religious by titles of Bishop, Father, Brother, and Sister – even our friends and family in those positions.)

A deeper concern with seeking the name of our Guardian Angels is discerning which spirits are actually responding. Demonic forces can use seemingly innocuous ideas, like names of Guardian Angels, to throw us off track from following God. While seeking the name of a Guardian Angel won’t immediately drag us down with the Devil, it can and does open us to further suggestions that eventually lead away from salvation. There is no way on earth to ensure that the name received is actually the name of a Guardian Angel versus something used by demonic spirits.

So, to answer the question in the title, “Should we seek the name of our Guardian Angels?” I would say no. Instead, just regularly say the great old rhyming prayer:

Angel of God, my Guardian Dear, to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this (day/night) be at my side to light and guard; to rule and guide. Amen.

A rant about the US political situation

This morning, I got on a bit of a rant on Google+ after seeing repeated partisan and pro-abortion posts by one individual. While this individual is not Catholic (so far as I know), it still struck a nerve over how divided we are as Catholics in the United States. Unlike some rants, I still stand behind it, and want to give it further distribution. So, here it is:

Today I uncircled someone who had bought into the liberal talking points completely. “Republicans are evil, greedy”, etc. “Her body, her choice”. (Yes, he actually used that tired, ridiculous slogan.)

I removed him from my circles because I got very tired of hearing his political BS, and it’s not because he’s politically liberal. I get just as annoyed when I hear someone on the Republican side trashing out the Democrats instead of explaining what the Republicans can do to solve the problems they claim are the Democrats fault.

Catholics, this is tiresome. I’m sick of the partisan sniping. I’m sick of the left-right, Republican-Democrat divide in the United States. Both sides are responsible for the mess this country is in, and both sides point to the other as responsible. “It’s Bush’s fault we’re in a recession.” “No, it’s Obama’s fault.” You know what? The problems may have started under President Bush, if not directly his fault, but they’ve gotten worse under President Obama’s watch.

Right now, here in Montana, one of our Senate seats is up for vote between the Democrat incumbent and the sole Representative (yes, Montana only has one Representative in the House), who happens to be Republican. The other night, as I was watching the Olympics, commercials for both candidates came on the TV. The commercials were identical. Each candidate accused the other of causing the financial crisis and “being out of touch with Montana values.” The colors and the fonts were identical, I think even some of the video clips of “typical Montanans” were identical. There was nothing in either commercial of any ideas beyond the United States and the State of Montana going down in flames if you vote for the other guy. It’s sickening.

Catholics, we need to get past this stuff. We need to get over our “I’ve always voted [Republican/Democrat].” We need to be united under the banner of Christ and His Church. No more of this “I disagree with the Church on X.” To put it bluntly: get over it. You can disagree, but make sure you’re not disagreeing because you want your way instead of Christ’s. If you don’t understand why the Church teaches as She does, seek understanding! Disobedience, dissent, and pride are not virtues. Obedience, respect for authority of the Church, and humility are powerful virtues that free us instead of tie us down.

As Catholics, we need to Catholic first, American second. I love our country and want to see it be prosperous and successful, but I desire salvation more. No more “I’m an American who happens to be Catholic.” Instead, it should be “I’m a Catholic who happens to be American.” When we ignore or fight against the teachings of the Church to promote the values of our culture, we’re saying the former. When we fight against our Culture of Death (and make no mistake, we are in one) to promote the Truth of Christ passed down through 2000 years of Church teachings, we are saying the latter.

OK. Rant over. Go and be good, faithful Catholics in union with the Pope and Bishops first!

Passing on the Catholic Faith – what we’re doing isn’t working

If you have any interest in Religious Education and passing on the Catholic Faith to the next generation, you need to read this post. Fr. Simon nails the problem with current RE programs and Catholic schools: they’re not working. The Catholic Faith is not being passed on to the children and grandchildren of our parishioners. Sure, they’re being taught the teachings of the Church, and they’re receiving the Sacraments, at least First Confession, First Communion, and Confirmation.

The problem is: they’re not receiving the Faith. We’re not evangelizing them. How many have made it a habit to regularly (by regularly, I mean at least once a month) receive the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confession after their First Holy Communion and Confirmation? How many develop a great love for the Mass and the Eucharist, and wouldn’t miss Sunday Mass for anything (even High School sports)? How many truly desire a relationship with Christ, and seek opportunities for prayer and reflection on the Scriptures? How many joyfully desire to follow the Church’s teachings, both easy and difficult, out of love for Christ and His Church? Finally, how many are boldly proclaiming their love for Christ and desire for the salvation He promises to their family and friends?

In most communities I’ve seen, the answer to all those questions is essentially none. There might be a handful of kids in any parish that truly develop any excitement for the Catholic Faith and seek to follow Christ with their lives, but that group is an extremely small percentage of kids who go through religious education programs. Worse, it seems that percentage is growing smaller. In this parish, the majority of kids who attend Wednesday Religious Education classes do not attend Sunday Mass. The kids receive their one hour of “church class”, and that’s all they get.

This is not good. This is not healthy. This is not passing the Catholic faith on to the next generation. We are not evangelizing the children in our parishes and communities, because we are not showing them what it means to be Catholic, and the importance of Christ in our lives.

So, what’s the answer? I don’t know, but I think Fr. Simon is on the right track. Instead of worrying about cramming the teachings of the Church into kids’ heads, we need to be showing them by our lives how those teachings are important to us and how they help us to draw closer to Christ. Example: instead of being satisfied by telling kids about the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, we need to restore a reverence for the Blessed Sacrament in our actions — especially in front of the Tabernacle — and share how important receiving Our Lord is in our daily lives. In other words, we need to walk the walk before they’ll listen when we talk the talk.

To make one thing clear: this will fail if we try to water down the teachings of the Church to make them more palatable. The teachings of the Church are exciting, powerful, challenging, and life-giving, but become dull, powerless, simplistic, and lifeless if we minimize them or try to explain them away. The Catholic faith is attractive if it is first lived in its fullness, then taught in its fullness without excuses or compromises. We trust in God’s mercy, but we don’t demand it by flaunting what He revealed through His Son.

So, what do you say? How do we truly pass on the Catholic faith, and make disciples of the children in our parishes?

Technology and the Spiritual Life

Technology is a wonderful thing, and the human ability to create and use new technologies is a gift from God. However, I have become increasingly concerned about my own use of technology, especially computers and Internet-based technologies. It struck me that it is far too easy to get absorbed in things like social networking and games, which then allows our spiritual life to be neglected.

Turns out I’m not the only one who feels this way. In fact, I’m in good company. As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, said in his Urbi et Orbi message on Christmas 2005: “men and women in our technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technological achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart.” This quote is in the book The Environment, which is a compilation of quotes and documents from Pope Benedict dealing with environment issues.

If you’re like me, it’s easy to find hours to spend on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc., but struggle to find even a few minutes to set aside for prayer. When we don’t pray, our spiritual life suffers. The challenge for us is to turn off the computer, the TV, video games and smartphones so that we can make time for prayer. Technology is good, prayer is better.

Why I refuse to bless children at Communion

I’ve been thinking more and more about my concerns around giving special blessings to children at Mass. There are a number of people here who are continuing to express concern because of my stance on not blessing children in the communion line. To be clear, this is a position taken not out of spite, but out of a respect for the liturgy and for the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In paragraph 22, Sacrosanctum Concilium states, “Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.” A priest does not have the authority to add a blessing to the liturgy for anyone, because a priest does not have the authority to add anything to the liturgy. It doesn’t matter if other priests go beyond their authority and do it in disobedience. In my mind, it is inappropriate, and I will not. Period.

Of course, people don’t like to hear that. They think it makes the kids feel “special” that they receive this blessing. (As an aside, I think the parents and grandparents get the warm-fuzzies more than the kids do.) Of course, they can’t be blamed. For 30+ years, they’ve been fed a mindset that the liturgy is malleable to whatever we want to do with it. Blessing for kids? Sure, we can add that right during Communion. Having kids come up for the homily and sit with the priest on the sanctuary steps? Sure, we can do that. Holding hands during the Our Father and running around the nave greeting people during the Sign of Peace? Absolutely! Whatever makes you feel good!

As I’ve studied more about the theology of the liturgy, I’ve come to the realization that this “feel good” approach is sending the wrong message about the liturgy. I’ve also become concerned that this has dangerously damaged their relationship with God, and they are blissfully unaware that any damage has been done. Instead of liturgy being the community focusing their minds and hearts on worship of God, it has become a social activity, focusing on ourselves. Now, we don’t come to liturgy to turn to God, but to ourselves. For this reason alone, I despise blessing children in the Communion line (and yes, I chose that strong language very carefully), and encourage other priests to stop immediately.

There’s another reason, more cultural, that should be of concern to these same parents and grandparents: the culture of entitlement. One of the arguments frequently given in defense of blessing children is, “They feel like they get something.” Yes, because we wouldn’t want our children to learn how to do something without getting something in return.

We live in a culture of entitlement, where a large percentage of the population expects to get something for nothing. There is a large population in the United States and other countries who believe that they are entitled to anything and everything their hearts desire without any commitment or work on their part. They should “get something” for just being there. Is that the message we want to give our children in the Church? I don’t, and firmly hope that parents and grandparents don’t want to send that message either. Unfortunately, this mindset that children need to “get something” at Communion time only enforces this idea.

Now, will stopping the blessings of children at Communion cure that? No, not on its own, but it’s a first step. It’s an opportunity for parents to teach children that there are some things you just have to wait for. Some things are so important that you have to get ready for them. Some things you may even have to work for. Receiving Holy Communion is one of those things. You have to wait until you’re old enough. You have to prepare to receive. It’s not something that is just given to you. One day you will be able to receive, and I hope that will be a joyful day, but you’ll need to wait until then.

Parents and grandparents, I beg you: work with me on this! Please don’t continue to argue about it. My decision is made, the issue is done. This is truly done in the best interest of your children and grandchildren, as well as for you. Use this opportunity to help the children to see how special and important receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament truly is. Help them to see that the liturgy is about worship of God, and not us getting something and feeling good. Then, when they can come forward to receive Holy Communion for the first time, they will truly understand what it means to be special enough to receive Our Lord.

Are we being good stewards with the Catholic Faith?

The word “stewardship” seems to have become the new buzzword in the Catholic Church. You almost can’t do anything in the Church without hearing about the need to be good stewards, and what Catholic hasn’t had the “Three T’s” drilled into their head (in case you’ve never heard of the Three T’s, they’re Time, Talent, and Treasure).
I don’t want to denigrate the stewardship work being done in the Church. it is necessary for us to be good stewards of he Church, to use our time and talent to build up the Church physically and spiritually, and to use our treasure to fund the temporal needs of the Church. In the discussion of stewardship, I think one aspect is missing: being stewards of the Catholic Faith that has been passed on to us.
Today’s Gospel reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21, the parable of the wicked tenants. Focusing on the Gospel, the reflection in the Magnificat Lenten Companion says that “we must be the kind of disciples who are careful stewards of creation and careful stewards of our lives.” As part of being stewards of our lives, are we doing everything we can to be careful stewards of the Catholic Faith? The chief priests and elders were not good stewards of the Jewish Faith, and thus were being criticized by Our Lord.
As Christians, we can fall into the same trap, and I would argue that we have over the past 50 years or so. I’m not going to point fingers and put blame on this person or that idea, but I will say that we haven’t been good stewards of the Catholic Faith. Look at the state of the Church today: a great many Catholics don’t know the basic elements of the Faith, and many don’t even bother to go to Church once a week. At least two generations of Catholics have basically no understanding of what it means to be Catholic. A large number of priests, religious, and laity have erroneous and contrary beliefs to the Truths revealed by Christ, and a number of prominent Catholic laity and religious cause public scandal by repeatedly opposing the bishops and the teachings of the Church. We must seek to do better.
If we wish to be good stewards of the Catholic Faith, we must not focus on how things went wrong and start assigning blame. Understanding what happened in the past is good for the purposes of avoiding the same errors in the future, but it’s all too easy to fall into the “blame game” while trying to justify our actions (or lack thereof). Instead, we need to dedicate ourselves to the task of stewardship. We need to make every effort to learn the Catholic Faith, and to allow the teachings of Christ to influence all areas of our lives. We also need to make every effort to spread the teachings to the next generations of Catholics who don’t know the Faith, to those who are weak in their practice of the Faith, and to those who have not heard the Gospel.
Being a good steward of the Catholic Faith is not an easy task. There will be pushback and arguments. Friendships may be broken, and families divided. We live in a culture that has all but abandoned its Christian roots. If we’re to recover our Faith and bring the world to Christ, we have to be willing to go through that suffering, offering it up in union with the suffering of Our Lord on the Cross. After all, Our Lord didn’t say being a steward would be easy, just that those who are faithful would be rewarded.

“They were loved out of the Church”

Strange quote for a title, no? It was said by a parishioner here during a phone conversation regarding people who have fallen away from the practice of the Catholic Faith. At first glance, it might seem strange, but makes logical sense once you think about it.

Following the Second Vatican Council, there was a renewed emphasis on the love of God for humanity and His desire that all be saved. This, of course, is true and should be a focus by the Church at all times. The problem arises when any truth is taken to an extreme that reduces or denies another truth. It became popular to preach universal salvation, a heresy that denies the existence of Hell and states that all humanity will be saved. Universal salvation states that regardless of how we’ve lived our lives and how well we followed (or how strongly we’ve avoided) the teachings of Christ, we’ll be saved.

The problem with universal salvation is that it denies our free will to accept or reject Our Lord’s invitation to follow Him. It has always been held by the Church, based off Our Lord’s own words, that He died that we all might be saved but we have to accept that salvation by receiving the sacraments and following Our Lord’s commands. If we disobey those commands – in other words, fall into sin – we put that salvation at risk. The existence of Hell and the very real danger of ending up there by rejecting God and embracing sin is a dogma of Church. All dogmas are revealed divine Truth that must be held by all the faithful. Universal salvation denies this dogma, and thus meets St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of heresy: “a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas”.

As part of the preaching on universal salvation, there was a denial of the need for the Sacraments. Confession was discouraged or flat out refused. General absolution for those things in our lives that “bother us” became the rule instead of the rare exception. People were told not to worry about missing Mass, as it was considered to no longer be a necessity. Baptism became hyper-focused on bringing the child into the Christian community instead of having any salvific role in the child’s life. And so on through all the Sacraments.

On top of the popularity of universal salvation, there was a renewed overemphasis on the meal aspect of the Mass. To be clear the Mass has always been held as a meal: the sacrificial meal through which we participate in both the Sacrifice of Calvary and the Heavenly Banquet. The focus became more on making the Mass into an earthly meal, with symbolism more common to a picnic or potluck. This led to innovations like gathering around the altar, using a coffee table for the altar and having everyone sit on the floor (including the priest!), and an overemphasis on socialization and community involvement. The focus of the Mass was no longer the Sacrifice of Christ, but rather the community that gathers to break the bread and share the cup.

This strong focus on the community led to such ideas as having the cantor begin Mass by inviting everyone to stand and “greet their neighbor”, allowing 5 minutes of socialization before the opening hymn; the priest having those visiting introduce themselves and say where they’re visiting from (which I always found embarrassing as a visitor, by the way); and the Sign of Peace going from a ritual in which ” the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament” with “those who are nearest and in a sober manner” (GIRM 82) to a 15 minute (yes, I’ve seen that) time of visiting and gladhanding throughout the Church.

As people heard the preaching of universal salvation and the overemphasis on community, people started to make a logical conclusion: “I don’t need to have anything to do with the Church and will still get to Heaven. At best, I just need to be a “good person”, and I’ll be fine. Doesn’t matter what I do otherwise.” Don’t have to go to Mass every Sunday? Great! I can sleep in on Sunday or go golfing when every one else is at Mass. Don’t have to go to Confession? Great! I hate having to confront the fact that I’ve done things wrong. Because they got the impression that Jesus loves us so much at we don’t have to worry about Hell, they decided they had better things to do than worry about this Church “thing”.

The overemphasis on community didn’t help matters much. Sorry to those who like the “stand and greet your neighbor”, but there are many people who would much rather socialize during late Saturday night at the local bar or pub than Sunday morning at the Church. In fact, there are many who don’t like these “forced socialization” practices (myself included – if I’m in a group and want to be quiet, don’t force me to do otherwise!) and want to avoid them whenever and however possible. If it’s the choice of spending my Sunday morning how I want or being forced into greeting my neighbor, I’ll take the selfish route, thanks.

Many Catholics have taken the selfish route, and this is what the parishioner meant by someone being “loved out of the Church”. If Jesus loves us so much that there’s no consequences to missing Mass, and it’s uncomfortable to go to Mass, then why go? The problem, of course, that this all based on misunderstanding of the Truth revealed by Christ. Yes, Jesus loves us unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean we can’t reject that love. Yes, community involvement within the parish is important, but the focus of the Mass is in worship of God and sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ, not in our communal gathering and sharing.

People were “loved out of the Church”. Now, the question is, do we love them enough to love them back in to the Truth?