The Stones That We Must Carry & The Churches That We Must Build: (Part 1/2)
We as Catholic Christians are called to spread the faith; we are called to build the Kingdom of God here on earth to the best of our ability. Of course, spreading the faith can be accomplished in a variety of ways. St. Benedict prayed. St. Dominic preached. St. Therese of Lisieux did little things with great love. St. Thomas More was beheaded for refusing to acknowledge his boss, the king of England, as head of the Church. St. Theresa of Calcutta cared for the poorest among us. Dante wrote and Michelangelo sculpted and painted.
Speaking of Michelangelo, one such avenue of spreading the faith that many Catholics have taken over the course of human history has involved building beautiful, enduring Churches. From St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Westminster Cathedral in London, to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Catholics have built some of the most incredible buildings ever erected. If one is blessed with the opportunity to walk through the streets of Rome, Florence, or Venice today, they will see a remarkable Catholic church on nearly every corner. And when Catholics began crossing the Atlantic in droves throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, they continued to build churches here in the New World, especially in what would become Catholic havens like the City of St. Louis. However, similar to a business that builds and hires based on only the most optimistic financial projections, these 19th and 20th century American Catholics built churches with only the prosperous times in mind. Sadly, the prosperity did not last. Child rates declined. Hedonism and the sexual revolution reigned. And many of the remaining Catholics simply fell away from the faith. Fast forward to 2024, in St. Louis, and in many cities throughout America, there are simply too many churches. They cannot be financially and spiritually maintained and they cannot be filled. We find ourselves in the middle of an extreme supply and demand issue. Too many churches, too few practicing Catholics. In many cases, these churches will likely be torn down and the land sold to developers. In other cases, the churches may simply age, decay, and rot for the next several decades until they are no longer recognizable. Certainly a sad reality, but reality nonetheless. And we as 21st century Catholics are faced with the question of “what now?” The churches have been built. Now, the churches are crumbling or, at the very least, no longer needed. What are we to do with the ashes? It seems to me that our call as Catholics in the 21st century is to build the most beautiful, secure, and enduring church that could ever be built in this life: the domestic church.
As our physical churches have emptied out and gone awry, so too have our domestic churches. Family life is a mess. Divorce rates, even among Catholics, are alarmingly high. Children grow up without a mother and father in the home; even when both parents are physically present, that does not mean both are spiritually and mentally there. Prayer and church are an afterthought. Even among so many well-meaning Catholic families, the snares of the demonic secular culture grab their children from a young age and never relent. Pornography, depression, suicide, cell phone addictions, and gender confusion - just to name a few – are all symptoms of a decaying society that has fled from God. However, amidst this chaos and disorder, we are still called to spread the Good News and build the Kingdom of God; indeed, like Michelangelo and other great sculptors and architects, we are still called to build grand churches. At least for now, though, it must be the domestic church that we build.
Liam
09/14/2024
Coming Soon: Part II – regarding what exactly the domestic church is and how to build it.
