by Jane Carol Redmont, author of Generous Lives: American Catholic Women Today, professor of religious studies and women’s studies at Guilford College. Read it at The Daily Episcopalian.
An open letter to Anne Rice
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3 responses to “An open letter to Anne Rice”
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Redmont states: “The thing is, the only way any of us knows about Jesus and those words of life, the way that we know about Jesus’ actions, the way that we know about the life Jesus breathed into those whom he encountered and continues to encounter, is from Christian communities. “”
What if our church community is no longer Christian? What if it is Christian in name only, not in actions? If our community no longer follows Jesus’ actions/examples, then there is no reason for us to stay…we can butt our heads only so long at the brick wall of insensitivity, of hate (yes, outright hate!), of exacting language without that language leading us to act as Christ…
If our community leads us away from Christ, it is not truly a Christian community, no matter what it calls itself. We Christians need to be countercultural, but not by remaining in a community which does not reflect Christ-life. Orthodoxy needs to be companioned by orthopraxy or it is worthless…and, more than “right beliefs” we need to plunge into the pool of faith, i.e., trust in the providence of God.
Too often Christians think they are the ones “doing” and thus don’t let Christ into their own lives let alone other lives.
Rice makes good points…too many of us have been hurt and alienated by “Christian” communities, including the Catholic Church, hierarchical or local…we need to leave to preserve our own lives and our own faith in Christ.
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+JMJ+
“What if our church community is no longer Christian?”
Then you should seek one which you determine is Christian, not leave church communities altogether. Rice says in her letter she does not wish to belong to any association (official or otherwise) of Christians, she just wants to belong to Christ. But such a conception of belonging to Christ is without roots.
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Fr. Robert Barron has a video on this topic.
http://www.wordonfire.org/#yt_video
After reading “Called Out of Darkness” I had two thoughts:
1. She should meet with her pastor weekly for coffee.
2. Her faith seems founded more on childhood reminiscences rather than deeper roots of the faith.And so I wasn’t shocked or surprised when she decided to “resign from the Church”. I was, however, saddened.
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