Twelve issues, uncomfortable truths, and a Catholic way forward
I have good news for you and bad news. The bad news is that the Catholic Church is in a crisis. The good news is that it has done this before. In fact, anyone who knows a little about church history sometimes gets the impression that crisis is one of the few truly enduring Catholic traditions. We have had corrupt popes, worldly bishops, heresies, schism.revolutions , persecutions, and liturgical commissions. And yet we still exist.
The latter seems to me primarily proof of the divine origin of the Church. A purely human organization governed in the way the Church has been governed at times would probably have gone bankrupt around the fourth century. And yet, the situation is serious. Not because the Church is unpopular. Not because its market share is declining. Not because it does not sufficiently connect with the modern consumer.
The crisis is serious because there is uncertainty within the Church regarding precisely those matters about which it ought to offer certainty: What is true? What is sin? What is marriage? What is priesthood? What is liturgy? What is obedience? What does mercy mean? What has Christ actually entrusted to his Church? And perhaps even more fundamentally: Do we truly still believe that the Church has received something from Christ that it itself may not change? That is where the core lies.
- The first necessary reform: stop acting as if everything needs to be reformed
We live in a culture where change is almost automatically regarded as improvement. A phone from 2019 is old. A computer from 2012 is antique. And that is why we sometimes unconsciously think that a doctrine from the year 325 urgently needs a software update. But revelation is not an iPhone. Christianity is not a product of which a new model must appear every year. The task of the Church is not to constantly produce a new religion. Its task is: to receive, preserve, deepen, and proclaim what it has received from Christ.
That does not mean that nothing may change. Pastoral methods can change. Canonical disciplines can change. Forms of governance can change. Liturgical disciplines can change. But truth cannot be true today and false tomorrow.
A bishop should ask himself one simple question with every ecclesiastical renewal : Does this help my people become holier? Not:“ Is this innovative?” No:“ Is this formulated inclusively?” No:“ Could we set up a working group for it?” But: Does this bring people closer to Christ, the sacraments, and eternal life? That could shorten quite a few meetings. And that might in itself be a small ecclesiastical reform.
- Synodality: useful instrument, poor direction
There is nothing un-Catholic about synods. The Church has known them for centuries. What does become risky, however, is when synodality transforms from a method into an almost independent theological ideal. After all, Christianity did not begin with:“ Where two or three are gathered in a circle, truth arises of its own accord.” The apostles were entrusted with a faith. Afterward, they were allowed to gather about it. That order is important.
Listening is excellent, but Catholics must sometimes dare to ask the impolite question: Listening to whom? To the culture? To opinion polls? To interest groups? To ourselves? Or to Christ? For when the outcome of an ecclesiastical listening process becomes predictably identical to the wishes of modern secular culture, one may at least ask whether we have truly listened to the Holy Spirit, or perhaps primarily to the spirit of the times.
The Holy Spirit has, in fact, one remarkable characteristic: He speaks surprisingly often in continuity with what He has said over the previous twenty centuries. Just a tip for my brother bishops: Use synodality, but be a bishop. A bishop is not elected to be a permanent facilitator of group processes. He is a successor of the apostles. That means: teaching, sanctifying, governing, and sometimes also saying: “ No. We cannot change this.” That word“ No” has a bad reputation these days. But parents know: whoever never says no doesn’t love their children any more .
- Restore the distinction between mercy and affirmation
No one needs a hard-hearted Church. But neither does anyone need a Church that only dares to name sin in historical documents. Christ was infinitely merciful. But his mercy never consisted of pretending that repentance was superfluous. To the sinner Christ says:“ Come.” But also:“ Follow Me.” And following necessarily means that we do not stay exactly where we were.
That seems simple. But it is revolutionary nowadays. The pastoral temptation sometimes reads: We do not want to hurt anyone, so we prefer not to speak about sin anymore. The problem is that forgiveness then also becomes meaningless. He who is never sick needs no doctor. He who never sins needs no Savior. And suddenly we discover why Christ in soa theological system has less and less to do.
Just a tip for my priest brothers. Preach again about: sin, grace, heaven, hell, confession, virtue, chastity, prayer, sacrifice, conversion. Not all at once every Sunday. The faithful still need to get to the soup on time. But let people know that Christianity really is about something.
- Save the liturgy from both experiment and ideology
The liturgy is one of the most sensitive issues within the Church. That is understandable. Lex orandi, lex credendi. As we pray, so we learn to believe. Therefore, the struggle over the liturgy is never merely aesthetics. Ultimately, it is about God.
A Catholic Mass is not primarily a gathering in which the community celebrates its connectedness. It is the sacrifice of Christ made sacramentally present. It is not a meal celebration in the form of a sacrifice, but a sacrifice in the form of a meal. That changes everything. When that is truly believed, what follows naturally is: reverence, kneeling, silence, beauty, meticulousness, sacred music, and a priest who does not think that the liturgy improves when he spontaneously tells a funny story. The Holy Spirit has many talents. Improvisational theater at the altar is, as far as I know, not one of the seven gifts.
Just a tip for my brother bishops. Do not automatically regard attachment to the traditional liturgy as a psychiatric problem. Not every young Catholic who loves Latin is a secret agent from 1957. When young people are drawn to: Gregorian chant, silence, incense, kneeling, ad orientem, classical spirituality, do not immediately ask:“ What went wrong here?” You might ask:What are they looking for here that they miss elsewhere?
For traditional Catholics. And they, too, must let us tell them something. The traditional liturgy can sanctify someone. But an old rite does not automatically make someone a saint. One can attend the most reverent Mass and then curse the three bishops and the entire Vatican in the parking lot. That may be liturgically traditional, but spiritually less advisable. Tradition without love becomes archaeology with temperament.
- Stop treating young believers as if they were religious porcelain
According to some pastoral models, young people primarily need: low barriers, few demands, short services, understandable texts, ample opportunity for input, and above all, nothing that sounds like an obligation. However, there is one problem. That model does not seem to work very well. Many young people discovering the faith are actually looking for something else: truth, order, asceticism, identity, confession, adoration, sacraments, intellectual depth, and a community that expects something from them.
We underestimated young people. We offered them lemonade while they were looking for wine. We gave them slogans while they wanted to read Thomas Aquinas. We thought Gregorian chant would drive them away. Meanwhile, some of them are voluntarily downloading it on Spotify.
A tip for my priest brothers: Dare to treat young people as adults. Teach them the Catechism. Teach them to pray. Teach them to fast. Teach them why the Church teaches what it teaches. Do not offer diluted Christianity. No one has ever been tortured for a vague sense of belonging.
- Callings: who still asks for a sacrifice?
We talk a lot about the shortage of priests. Understandable. But the discussion then shifts remarkably quickly to: mergers, administrative models, lay preachers, restructuring, and, of course, celibacy. All open to discussion. But perhaps we should first ask something simpler: Why would a young man want to become a priest?
When he hears: you are becoming the administrator of eight parishes, your agenda is packed with meetings, you must above all not offend anyone, and after twenty years you might receive a policy plan on sustainable real estate, then it is astonishing that anyone shows up at all. But say to him: Give your life to Christ. Celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass daily. Forgive sins. Baptize children. Stand by the dying. Proclaim the Gospel. Become a spiritual father. Lead souls to eternity. That suddenly sounds different.
Just a list of recommendations for my brother bishops. Do not look for candidates who are primarily good at management. Look for men who pray. A mediocre administrator can be helped by a good economist. A priest who does not pray cannot be saved by any management course.
- The bishop must become a father again.
A modern bishop can easily turn into a sort of director-general of religious services. He has: meetings, lawyers, communications advisors, real estate issues, press inquiries, personnel matters, protocols, committees. All necessary. But when his priests barely know him and his faithful only see him on a Christmas card, something is wrong.
A bishop is primarily a father and a shepherd. He must therefore know his priests. Know his seminarians. Visit parishes. Oversee religious education. Protect the liturgy. Combat abuse. Proclaim the doctrine of faith. And every now and then say something publicly that everyone immediately understands: Oh yes. This man truly believes that the Catholic faith is true. That would be refreshing.
I take the liberty of offering a concrete suggestion . Every bishop could set aside a substantial number of days each year during which he does not attend meetings, but instead: visits the seminary, speaks with priests individually, meets catechumens, visits schools, hears confessions, meets young people, and visits parishes. That provides insight into what his diocese truly needs.
- Priests: be a priest, not a presenter
A priest does not have to be the most popular man in the parish. Fortunately. Otherwise, the Catholic Church would face serious staffing problems. Nor does he have to constantlyto be “ relevant ”. His relevance does not stem from his personality. It comes from Christ. When a priest anoints the sick, he is relevant. When he absolves, he is relevant. When he celebrates the Eucharist, he is relevant. When he attends to a dying person, he is more relevant than all the talk shows broadcast that evening.
Concrete priorities for priests are easy to come up with. Pray the breviary faithfully every day. Set aside time for silent prayer daily. Celebrate Mass with dignity. Offer ample opportunity for confession. Be available to the sick. Provide genuine catechesis. Preach substantively. Avoid liturgical creativity. Read theology regularly. Live simply. And be fatherly. The latter is important. The priest is not merely an administrator of the sacraments. He is a spiritual father.
- Laypeople: stop waiting for Rome to solve everything
Catholics sometimes have a curious habit. We complain that the hierarchy has too much power. And then we expect the hierarchy to solve everything. That does not go together. When culture needs to be re-evangelized, it is largely done by lay people. In families, schools , universities, businesses, media, arts, politics, science, and neighborhood communities. At least, that would be the ideal scenario. The first Christians did not have a bishops’ conference with a professional communications agency. Yet they evangelized the Roman Empire. That puts our excuses somewhat in perspective.
The most important catechesis program remains the family. Hence, a few tips for parents. Pray with your children. Go to Mass with them. Go to confession yourself. Talk about faith at home. Introduce them to saints. Teach them that Sunday is truly Sunday. And do not be surprised if a child does not become Catholic after having seen for eighteen years that being Catholic made hardly any difference to their parents.
I would like to leave this message to Catholic intellectuals: Write. Teach. Debate. Found. Organize. Be present in the culture. Catholic orthodoxy must not become a hobby for intellectuals who speak exclusively with one another. Thomas Aquinas did not write for a closed WhatsApp group.
- Combat the culture war without becoming a culture warrior yourself
Real conflicts exist between Catholic morality and modern culture. We must not deny that. But traditional Catholics sometimes run a danger of their own: that the fight against error slowly becomes more important than love for the truth. That difference is subtle but crucial. One can ultimately spend so much time combating modernism that Christ becomes almost an afterthought. One can read everything daily about what is going wrong in Rome and barely open the Gospel. One can receive the latest disaster in a dicastery on Facebook within ten minutes and not know which saint is on the calendar today.
That is not a victory of tradition. That is a spiritual distraction. A practical rule Read more Augustine than ecclesiastical Twitter. Read more Benedict XVI than angry blogs. Pray longer for your bishop than you complain about him. The latter is particularly difficult. That is why it is probably good for the soul.
- Abuse: zero romanticism regarding the church’s reputation
There is little room for humor here. Abuse and the culture of cover-ups surrounding it have caused enormous damage. The traditional Catholic must never think that defending the Church means that institutional reputation takes precedence over truth and justice. Catholic orthodoxy, in particular, requires: justice, love of truth, protection of the vulnerable, and responsibility on the part of those in authority. A bishop who protects an abuser to“ To prevent scandal” actually causes scandal. The Church is not defended by hiding sin. The Church is defended by fighting sin.
In other words, protect victims first. Investigate thoroughly. Cooperate lawfully with civil authorities. Be transparent where justifiable. And realize: the reputation of the Church ultimately belongs to Christ. He can tolerate the truth better than a lie.
- Stop the eternal inferiority complex towards the modern world
For several decades, part of the church establishment has sometimes seemed terrified that the modern world considers us old-fashioned. But we can relax about that. The modern world does indeed consider us old-fashioned. After all, Christianity teaches: that chastity is a virtue, that marriage has objective meaning, that children are gifts, that truth exists, that suffering can acquire meaning, that possessions create obligations, that forgiveness is more important than revenge, that humility is good, that man is not his own creator, and that God is ultimately more important than autonomy. And yes, also more important than the economy.
That will never become fully fashionable. And it doesn’t have to. Christianity did not survive two thousand years because it rewrote its message every twenty years. It survived because the message proved greater than any fashion.
What specifically needs to happen? Let me conclude with a simple program. Not with yet another new committee, but for ourselves.
To bishops.
- Clearly proclaim the doctrine of faith. Not only when there is no controversy. Especially when it is unpopular. 2. Train good priests. Intellectually orthodox. Spiritually profound. Humanly mature. Liturgically formed. 3. Prioritize orthodox seminaries. A diocese without vocations must not only ask why young people do not come. It must also ask what young people find when they *do* come . 4. Restore liturgical peace. Do not treat faithful believers who long for traditional liturgy as problem cases. 5. Promote confession and adoration. The renewal of the Church does not begin with management. 6. Protect Catholic education. A school that calls itself Catholic but no longer dares to teach the Catholic view of humanity primarily has a historical logo. 7. Be visible as a shepherd. Go to your people.
To priests
- Pray. That sounds almost insultingly simple. But many crises begin precisely there. 2. Celebrate the Eucharist daily. Celebrate reverently. At Mass, the faithful do not need to encounter the personality of the priest. He comes to meet Christ. 3. Preach the full truth. With love. With intelligence. With humor where appropriate, but without shame. 4. Hear confession. Provide ample opportunity for confession. No, ringing the rectory doorbell does not count as such. 5. Seek out young people. Not to be hip with them. That is futile. A sixty-year-old priest trying to talk like a sixteen-year-old is one of the strongest arguments for a monastic vow of silence. Be a father. That is enough. 6. Maintain priestly brotherhood. An isolated priest becomes vulnerable. 7. Love your people. Even when they are difficult. Especially then.
For laypeople
- Become holy yourself. That is harder than getting angry at Rome, but ultimately much more effective. 2. Build Catholic families. 3. Give your children genuine catechesis. 4. Support good priests. Not by putting them on a pedestal, but by helping them remain priests. 5. Establish Catholic initiatives, schools , publishing houses, student groups, prayer groups, cultural institutions, and good media. 6. Know your faith. A Catholic who does not know the Catechism but discusses church politics daily is a bit like a football analyst who doesn’t know whether there is air or sand in a ball. 7. Be joyful. This is perhaps more important than we think. Bitterness converts no one.
Let me also say something that might be less pleasant for a traditional audience. Tradition can itself become an ideology. One can become so convinced that one is defending the truth that one forgets that truth is a Person. We can be: right and loveless, orthodox and arrogant, liturgically correct and spiritually cold, theologically sharp and humanly unbearable. That would be a rather remarkable victory.
The traditional movement will be truly fruitful when it becomes recognizable by: holiness, large families, vocations, intellectual life, beauty, charity, joy, and missionary power. Not exclusively by criticism. A tree is ultimately recognized by its fruit, not by the sharpness of its tweets.
Where does real reform begin?
Perhaps not in Rome. Perhaps not at a synod. Perhaps not at a bishops’ conference. Perhaps it begins tomorrow morning. When a priest prays for half an hour longer before breakfast. When a father prays the rosary with his children. When a young person goes to confession again after ten years. When a bishop decides to calmly explain an unpopular truth. When a seminarian chooses holiness over career . When a parish begins Eucharistic adoration anew. When a Catholic teacher refuses to reduce his faith to vague humanism. When a couple truly lives their marriage as a vocation. This is how the Church has always renewed itself. Not primarily through program’ s, but by saints.
And so: no panic. We may take the crisis seriously. We do not need to make it more dramatic than it is. For the future of the Church ultimately does not depend on the competence of its bureaucracy. Thank God. That is perhaps the most comforting doctrine of this Peper.
Christ did not say:“ You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my strategic multi-year plan.” He said:“ I will build my Church.” That does not take away our responsibility. It puts it in its place. We do not need to reinvent the Church. Nor do we need to save it as if Christ, after his Ascension, had forgotten how his own Church works. We must do something simpler: Preserve the faith. Speak the truth. Receive the sacraments. Raise our children. Serve the poor. Form priests. Foster vocations. Celebrate the liturgy worthily. Love our enemies. And love Christ more than our own ecclesial party. That last part can be the hardest. For ultimately, there are no traditional saints and progressive saints. There are only saints.
And perhaps that is precisely the reform the Church needs now. Not another new Catholic program. But once again Catholics who take the Gospel so seriously that other people begin to wonder:“ What have they found that we lack?” When that question is asked again, the new evangelization truly begins. And perhaps the Church will then discover something she always knew in her best moments: that the world is not converted because we become more like it, but because she sees something of Christ in us.
Translated and reposted from Vitaminexp