The One "True" Church

After reading the Vatican's statement on Tuesday, I was both angered and troubled.

"Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches."

"....It (the document) restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."

"...The document said Orthodox churches were indeed "churches" because they have apostolic succession and that they enjoyed "many elements of sanctification and of truth." But it said they lack something because they do not recognize the primacy of the pope - a defect, or a "wound" that harmed them, it said."

(provided by The Associated Press)

As long as I can remember, I have always struggled with this idea of "one truth, one church, one way of believing, and one way to salvation." To hear the Catholic Church reiterate its position on its superiority in the realm of Christianity, I once again feel the need to dialogue my confusion. As my husband says, I am always asking the "why" question to which there is no satisfactory answer. I suppose in many ways I am like a child always asking "why" when most could care less, let alone find a question to be asked.

My first question is why would the church make such a declaration during a time which by doing so will only lead to more divisions amongst humanity? I could come up with no real answer except that it is the Catholic church's position (and the position of other churches as well) that there can only be one authentic Christian church. Since they (Catholic Church) have apostolic lines going back to Apostle Peter, they must be the real deal, and the rest of us are just pretending to be Christians.

Next, I need to break down the Christian religion down to the man that bears its name, Christ. I make no pretense that I am a scholar of Religion let alone the Bible. I have made it a goal in life to not get caught up in Religion as it pertains to human interests. What does that mean? My own philosophy is that I believe Religion, being made of man but inspired from above, is not without faults. It has divided people and caused much war and bloodshed. It has been consumed with the legalism and politics of the Bible (or Koran, etc...), not with the love and peace that I was taught in my youth. Religion is for man, I agree, but it comes with man's attachments thus it is not immune from man's weaknesses (i.e. power, control, etc..). It is imperfect. As Christians, it is why God gave his only son, who died for our sins and imperfections.

As I write this I take pause, and out of habit take the cross that is around my neck and slide it through my fingers. My cross is now rough around the edges, scratched up, and has loss its luster, but yet I wear it everyday. I have no membership to any church, but yet I wear this cross. Why? Do I wear it to make a statement, to separate myself from those around me? Or do I wear it to fit in? Neither. I wear to remind myself of that day when I was 16 and knelt down in front on my family and congregation, my head down, and my Pastor who, with a handful of water, laid his hands on me and baptized me. I knew at that moment that God's love was with me always. I don't think I am humanly able to use words that could depict an accurate picture of what overcame me, but it was real, and it is transcendent and eternal. I wear this cross for me, and only for me. Does that mean by wearing such an item I should join a church and study the scriptures, become legalistic and dogmatic? Does that mean I must attend Church every Sunday to be a Christian? Does it now mean I must become Catholic in order for my baptism and its meaning to be real? I have to say no. No one, not the Pope, nor any Prophet, could tell me that my experiences that day are meaningless and have no real value, or that because I wear a cross around my neck, but don't attend a church, that I am not a "real" Christian.

My last question(s) is what is with this need to be right, to be exceptional, to be the one and only? Where does this get us as humans? Is it just much too much to ask people to just be people, to learn from one another, and appreciate the differences rather than make the differences into a class structure? If you spend anytime around children, you see this tug of war going on where they are expending a lot of time trying to stand out, trying to separate themselves from the rest of the pack (and at times going to excessive lengths to do so). Part of this is just finding out who they are, and what kind of person they will be, but when you see that same mentality in an adult, the first thing that comes to mind is "egocentric." Is that what Religion is, egocentric? Is everyone trying to lay claim to God, to salvation, to the life after this life all because of their egos? I don't know. All I know is that what I believe is only important to me and not anyone else. I am no better than anyone else, and I would never presume that my way is the right way. I believe that everyone has their own path to take, and where it leads them is not for me to say. I want to learn from people that want to educate me. I crave dialogue and open discussion without judgement and presumption.

In the end, I can only take what the Vatican said this week and try an make some sense of it, put it in its rightful place. My search to understand will continue until I die. But until then (hopefully when I am really, really old), I will know Christ and what he taught about love, God's love. It is my belief that this is what this life is for, at least it is for me.

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God ... Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."

~1 John 4:7, 11-12