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« HOMILY FOR THE 6TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME--2/13/11--FIDELITY | Main | HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME--2/20/11--LENT APPROACHES; BREAK THE CHAINS OF SIN »

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When I was in seminary, one of my jobs was to drive the president of the seminary, the late Rev. Dr. Timothy Lull, to and from the airport as needed. Given that it was the Bay Area, he and I had many conversations. This was back in the 1990's when we, much like today, seemed obsessed by the implosion of Lutheran faith in America and in Europe. With the bleak future before us, I said during one of these trips and discussions, off-handedly, "There probably won't be a Lutheran denomination left in the Church, at least in America, in fifty years." He scoffed, and said with all the confidence in the world, "Of course their will be. There will always be Lutherans."

What I did not pick-up on at the time was they he did not say there would always be an ELCA, or even a functioning denominational Lutheran body; rather, he was reminding me that faith in Christ will be sustained, his Church will continue and that the core essence of Lutheran doctrine, faith in Christ and Christ alone, would never be forsaken.

Probably the greatest fundamental difference between Lutherans and Roman Catholics that I feel leads to all the other secondary differences is the different understanding of ecclesiology. I think this is the point of contention where there is the least common ground. Still, when I read your blog it reminded me about that conversation I had with Dr. Lull.

Of course the Church is going to survive in Ireland and in America because it is Christ's Church. It may not be what we want or think it should be, and we may disagree about where it can be found, but it has the very presence of Christ itself through the Holy Spirit to sustain it. How can it fail, even if we do?

Thanks for the good read.

Lee

It has always been my impression that the evangelical vigor of the golden age of the Celtic Saints was kept alive by their perseverance through centuries of being conquered and persecuted for their faith and culture. I thought of this last weekend when we visited a Vietnamese Catholic center in Carthage, MO. The stories of the Vietnamese martyrs had an impact on us. A faith rooted in martyrdom, white or red, is a beautiful and enduring faith.

I sometimes worry that the secularization of culture tends to paint Christianity as the persecutor or oppressor, and the recent crisis fits the story well and that Catholics will be led astray by this impression. In fact they are led astray. Here is where Robert Lee's words ring true. We need to accept the cross that comes from our sins, and that of the leaders, as well as outside attacks upon her. Perhaps then Christ in his Mystical Body will become evident in ways perhaps hidden by the recent Catholic culture that heed been partly secularized.

I'll pray that a resurgence of interest in the Celtic saints become a seed for true renewal.

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