Fr. McBrien sows seeds of doubt

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“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.”

All around us we can see that the enemy is busy sowing his weed seeds, especially in attacking the Catholic Church and her teachings. Nowhere is this more distressing to see than when he is sowing his seed from within the Church itself, sometimes hidden behind the cover of the word “opinion.” 

Many parishes in our diocese received the book “Rediscover Catholicism” by Matthew Kelly this year. Mr. Kelly addresses this topic on pages 294-296: “In modern society, the Church’s position on any matter is now habitually questioned, doubted, and belittled as being out of touch and unreasonable.” 

Father Richard McBrien does this on a weekly basis in his column on the opinion page. He does an excellent job of sowing seeds of doubt, questioning Church teachings in a great number of areas, as well as those Church leaders who are teaching them. 

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To this, Mr. Kelly has words of great wisdom: “If we take the time to study the teachings of the Church, we will discover in them a rare beauty and a profound wisdom …. Instead of questioning the Church’s teachings with no effort to understand her point of view, or simply dismissing the Church’s view as outdated and old-fashioned, perhaps we should try to understand her position.”

I know this to be true, because I was one of those fallen-away Catholics that Fr. McBrien has been talking about recently. When I sought the Truth, read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I came to understand and love the Church.

Michelle Snyder

Richland


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