Symposium on the Greatest Threats to the Church
I was delighted to be asked to contribute to New Oxford Review’s symposium on the greatest threats facing the Catholic Church. My answer, in a word, is ecumenism. The essay was published today and may be read there freely (for now). Please note that it will be behind a paywall soon, so read it while you can. My contribution is first after the intro, though the others are fascinating reads as well.
According to a 2025 Pew Research study, for every 100 Catholics who join the Church, 840 leave. This should not surprise us, because for decades the mission of the Church has been articulated in such a way that Catholics have little reason to stay. Under the auspices of ecumenism and “interfaith dialogue,” clergy and Church leadership have taught a religious indifference that amounts to self-erasure.
The mission of the Church was once clear: the salvation of souls within the Church as the “sacrament of salvation.” Over time, teaching of that foundational maxim has become tepid and convoluted such that even though the dogma has not changed, Catholic laymen believe altogether different things about salvation than they would have in 1925 or 1425 or 925…
Keep reading at New Oxford Review (scroll past the intro and my contribution is first in the list).
Nicely articulated, Sarah. Clear, precise, and well reasoned. Thank you so much!
A great article, an important part of the conversation, but it covers too much ground to be chewed in one bite. If we assume that Pope Francis was a sincere voice in an impossible role we could understand him having a close relationship with The Holy Spirit while attempting to influence an unyielding Curia, an irrelevant press, and a secular influenced Laity. The Church of St. Peter was significantly different from what occurred three hundred years later when Church hierarchy became civic Lords, donned regal garments and began to live in palaces. This in comparison to our God becoming a human baby of a peasant Palestinian, in a smelly barn in the middle of winter. This was easy to accept in a hostile world that was illiterate and an evangelical Church that pointed in one direction for salvation. The Catholic Church practiced the gospel while developing schools, hospitals and universities, by enticing the brightest to serve God and Man in the relevant comfort of warm, dry buildings, light work, and ample meals, an environment that worked well into the 20th century and remains in some parts of Africa. But It is unable to compete in an enlightened secular society. The message of Christ is deeply personal, very spiritual, and totally paradoxical in a secular world, which requires a hands on community based church which provides an understandable and realistic pathway to conversion. This is why Pope Francis included the Laity in the new Synod and probably why Poe Leo is attracted towards the same. But how is he supposed to make progress in a world that prefers confusion, where he is unable to make a single comment without it being misunderstood and misinterpreted. He badly needs a brave Clergy and a humble Laity. This is an opportune time to re-consider the meaning of the journey to Bethlehem, where the Glory of God was first revealed to Shepherds.