Cary Grant was five times married and four times divorce. When asked why, he said his ex-wives thought they married Cary Grant. They were in for a rude surprise.
They married the image, not the man. They wed Cary Grant, but woke up to Archie Leach.
Catholics, especially converts to Rome, reflect this mentality. They don't convert to the church of Rome; rather, rather, they convert to an idea. They don't convert to the Roman Catholic church; rather, they convert to Roman Catholic theology.
They begin and end with an idea. And they stay inside their idea. That's why Catholicism is appealing to philosophically-minded types like Bryan Cross, Philip Blosser, and Michael Liccione.
By the same token, that's why they're impervious to factual disconfirmation. Philosophy is all about ideas. Abstract ideas. They superimpose their idea on the institution.
It makes no difference how great the mismatch between the ideal and the real, for the idea always matches the ideal, and it's the idea of Catholicism that's etched on their spectacles. They don't go to church; they go to their concept of church. They attend their mental construct.
This might be a bit tangent but for some reason I mentally picture Steve looking like Cary Grant.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you must know, I'm his love child by Grace Kelly. Hence: the family resemblance.
DeleteHow befitting that you are a child of Grace Steve.
ReplyDeleteProvidential.
DeleteI'm not sure the RC's or EO's have a monopoly on this behavior, as the same can be said of cage-stage Lutherans and Calvinists as well. Isn't this behavior just human nature, and if not, what is the alternative? One can become a fan boy of a particular pastor, or of a particular congreagation at a particular time, but these will eventually disappoint as well. ISTM one should fully embrace a theology but take the church teaching it for what it really s rather than what you wish it to be.
ReplyDelete