Apr
24
The Holy See’s First Decision
April 24, 2008 |
Anyone who thinks the Church is rife with dissension in modern times should really contemplate today’s first reading (Acts 15).
During the early days of the Church, there was a great debate whether the Gentile converts would have to become circumsized like the Jewish converts. There were folks on both sides of the debate. There were apostles on both sides of the debate. Paul and Barrabas even returned from their missionary journeys to discuss the matter with the church leaders in Jerusalem.
And St. Peter, the first Holy Father, listened to all sides, then he decided and spoke. For the sake of this discussion, it doesn’t matter what he decided, what matters is that he in fact decided and did so in what he thought was in the best interests of the faithful.
There are too many in the Church that forget that the Pope has to make decisions that are in the best interests of the Church - not just in the best interests of today’s faithful, but for tomorrow’s as well. While he may do Christ (and us) a disservice if he makes decisions without following the Holy Spirit and without gathering input from those who have something to add to his deliberations, the truth is that he must ultimately make a decision.
Unfortunately, the Church’s history is rife with those who couldn’t accept that they might be wrong or that they might just be on the losing end of a debate.
One of the Holy Father’s themes last week was that we must have unity in the Church. We can still disagree on issues - we can debate - we can argue - but when it comes to a high-level decision, it’s ultimately up to the Holy Father - and it’s up to us to discern why he made the decision he made.
The alternative is for us to be weighed down by bickering and lose sight of what is important - Christ our Lord and bringing ourselves and others to him.
