If You're Waiting for the Catholic Church to Become "Church Me," You're Wasting Your Time

"The Church needs to get with the times. The Church needs to allow women's ordination (wymyn priests!) and contraception. The Church needs to change the nature of the sacraments [which is impossible], etc. etc."

Shut your mouth.

The only thing the Church NEEDS to do is guide you on the path to holiness. She is not going to do this by indulging your every fleeting desire like an overly permissive, push-over parent. The Church has rules because She knows what is good for you. Whining that the Catholic Church needs to welcome trendy changes is like a child begging to touch a hot stove. Mother will never say, "Yes, touch the stove because it is good for you." She says, "No. I know what will happen and am protecting you." Even if you do not know and understand every doctrine and discipline of the Church, you are expected to be obedient to it because God the Father, Who Himself first loved us, and Jesus Christ, Who Himself established it, and the Holy Spirit, Who Himself preserves it, give us the Church to raise ourselves to sainthood.

I know that this post is not going to convince the masses that the Catholic Church has good reasons about its beliefs and practices and that, no, it does not need to "get with the times" or "be realistic about contraception." But, my goodness!--this is a frustrating subject because it is often the case that many people who make such statements (1) do not actually know what the Church teaches and (2) would not even follow the Church if it did do things like support impossible marriages and ordinations.

This is how this subject makes me feel. Minus the glasses.

Faith is not a salad bar. "Those greens are looking good, but I'm totally not feeling like black olives today." (By the way, you should be, because black olives are delicious.) Your faith then becomes as ever-changing as a picky five-year-old's palate. You cannot simply pick and choose which doctrines you will follow and still be Catholic. You cannot be interested in finding the one true church and the love of God if you want a Church tailored to your specific whims and fancies. You are instead looking for "Church Me," with yourself as the God and authority of that Church.

So don't pretend, "If the Church only did such-and-such, I would join it." You wouldn't, because you would find another thing the Church does that makes you uncomfortable. Living the Faith shouldn't make you comfortable. It challenges you to find the truth. Living the Faith shouldn't be easy. It asks you to deny yourself constantly, to suffer and to live for God. Is it hard to shed selfishness and focus your efforts on glorifying God and edifying others? Yes, it is. Is it worth it? Yes, beyond measure.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me." Matthew 16:24