Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

The structure and sacraments of the Church sustain us

Re: "Time to Break out of the Council of Trent Box," (WCR Letters, April 9).

Has Joe Gubbels not seen the scenes of young men and women gathered in stadiums and in fields seeking Christ? These same young people who have followed John Paul II and now Benedict into a deeper relationship with Christ?

It is these young people who, in the words of Pope Benedict, allow themselves to be "surprised by Christ," who come to recognize him in all the sacraments including the one of Holy Orders, without which we'd have unholy chaos.

One simply needs to look to churches with no hierarchy whatsoever, and the painful splits that they have gone through resulting in the multitude of Christian denominations we see today.

Or, we could look to brothers and sisters of a more liturgical tradition who have opened their churches to married clergy and to women priests, and other points with which the Catholic Church would disagree with. Are these churches thriving?

And yet, we see young men like Aaron Roth, Roger Rouleau and their classmates who are willing to be completely counter-cultural, to take a vow of celibacy, and give their whole lives to the service of the Lord and the people of God.

I am curious which document of Vatican II Mr. Gubbels is citing that told Church leaders to get out of a box in which he seems to believe our Church has been disintegrating for the past 500 years.

He says that praying for vocations is a waste of time and effort. He says our Church is disintegrating. He says that Vatican II is a threat to the "professional theologians" in the Vatican, and as a result, our Church is regressing to the Trentian age. I couldn't disagree with him more.

I would encourage him to prayerfully read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and maybe take some time to study the Documents of Vatican II, because I can find none of the things he cites in these wonderful documents.

I am grateful that as I first explored my faith, that there is a rock to which I can turn. I consider it a blessing that our Church, and those that lead it, do not bend to every whim of our world and society.

While it's true people have different roles, the Catholic Church that I have grown up in - and love - has no shortage of women who joyfully and faithfully serve Christ to the best of their ability.

I have been blessed in my ministry by the women, the men and the clergy who have taught and mentored me, who have journeyed alongside me, and who have leadership roles of great importance within our Church. And I, as well as seminarians like Aaron and Roger, do our best to imitate them as they imitate Christ.

Michael Landry
Pastoral Assistant
Holy Trinity Catholic Church
Spruce Grove/Stony Plain

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