Hold Open the Doors of the Church

Occasionally I send the current "Light One Candle" column to people on my email list. "Light One Candle" is the title of a  series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events. Here is this week's column, written by Gerald M. Costello, of The Christophers:

Hold Open the Doors of the Church

by Gerald M. Costello, The Christophers
March 22, 2010

Every time I come across a column written by Father Peter Daly I know I’m going to find something worthwhile. Father Daly is an old acquaintance of mine, a priest of the Washington (D.C.) Archdiocese who’s a full-time (and then some) pastor in Prince Frederick, Md., and who moonlights as a columnist for Catholic News Service.  He also spent a few years as a lawyer before entering the seminary, and his legal background has come in handy more than once in his active parish – and in his reflections as well.

Not long ago I saw one of his columns with this eye-catching headline: “What have I learned in 24 years of priesthood?”  Here was one column, I thought, that might require a little extra attention.  And so it did.

When he was newly-ordained, Father Daly wrote, he was much more “severe.”  When people came to him for the sacraments, he wanted to be sure they were church members in very good standing.  Examples:

“If they wanted their baby baptized, I wanted to see them married.  If they wanted to get married, I wanted to see them not living together.  If they wanted confirmation or reception into the church, I wanted to see some knowledge of the faith and some evidence of practice.”

That was then – and now is now, when, as Father Daly writes, he’s become more accepting and more compassionate.  “I take them as God sends them,” he says.  “We are all works in progress.”  Again, a fuller explanation:

“I realize that the sacraments are not trophies conferred on those already victorious over sin, but rather they are food for the hungry and strength for the weak.  People seek the sacraments because they want help on the path to perfection, not because they are already perfect.  I take them as they come.”

This was the same lesson reflected in a homily by Pope Benedict XVI, Father Daly says, a sermon delivered in 2008 to diocesan priests in Italy (and reprinted in the August 2009 issue of 30DAYS, an international Catholic magazine based in Italy).  In that homily, the pope, too, described himself as having been “rather severe” in his attitudes as a younger priest, but said he changed as more and more he followed the example set down by Jesus.

“He was a Lord of mercy,” Pope Benedict said, “too open – according to many official authorities – with sinners, welcoming them or letting them invite him to their dinner, drawing him to them in his communion.”

And, no surprise, there’s a lesson here for all of us, a Christopher lesson.  We have to learn to get along with other people as they are, not as we’d like them to be – or, in fact, as we often demand them to be.  That doesn’t mean we’re bound to accept everything about everyone else.  We can even encourage them with “sacraments” of our own – a kind word, perhaps, or the example we set.  Living a good life can lead others to do the same.  A closing thought from Father Daly:

“People often come to me in some type of crisis: they have committed a sin or are in pain.  Frequently they have been away from the church for a long time.  My job is to hold the church door open for them, not put barriers in their way.”

Nicely put, I think.  And words to live by.