From Deirdre Lewis, Cape Town
Your editorial “Lure of other churches” (August 5) refers. Many years ago, while living in England, I attended services and prayer meetings held by an independent church. I found their simple ability to talk to God, as opposed to reciting prayers, refreshing.
However, I found that I could not walk away from my Catholic heritage.
I am an unconventional Catholic, in that there is much in the Church I cannot agree with. I don’t see blind acceptance as necessary.
As I see it, the main issues are these:
- The Catholic Church is very good at teaching about God but useless at teaching people to actually know him and form a relationship with him. This I learned from my evangelical friends.
- We had a wonderful English liturgy, almost identical to the Anglican liturgy. We’ve replaced it with a 19th-century translation, pretty much incomprehensible to anyone under the age of 60 and not that comprehensible to those of us over 60 either.
- There is little fellowship in the Catholic Church. Most parishioners know each other only by sight.
- The ongoing in-fighting between progressive and conservative Catholics does nothing to endear us to anyone!
- Yes, we have access to the riches of history and tradition, but many see the past as just that: the past! It is no longer relevant.
We, as a Church, need to find a way to become relevant again. If we don’t, despite the influence of our current pope, we risk becoming what Pope Benedict foresaw: a small remnant, outdated and largely discarded.
The Southern Cross Team
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