{"id":2535,"date":"2010-06-16T09:45:40","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T14:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2010-12-20T17:08:42","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T23:08:42","slug":"the-gates-of-the-netherworld-shall-not-prevail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/06\/16\/the-gates-of-the-netherworld-shall-not-prevail\/","title":{"rendered":"The gates of the netherworld shall not prevail…?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Catholic Church is Finished<\/a>” by Ross Douthat is Idea #9 in <\/em>The Atlantic’s “14 3\/4 Biggest Ideas of the Year<\/a>.” Douthat is a convert to Catholicism and a self-described conservative. He writes:<\/em><\/p>\n

This was the year when the cover-up of priestly sex abuse, a long-simmering crisis for Catholicism, became something much, much bigger. It was Watergate. It was Waterloo. It was another Reformation. The pope had to apologize. No, the pope had to resign. No, the pope had to be arrested. The Church could be saved only if every bishop stepped down. No, the Church could be saved only if a Third Vatican Council was convened. No, the Church could be saved only if it became as liberal as the Episcopal Church, and quickly. No, nothing could save the Church: it was too corrupt, too compromised, too medieval, too anachronistic. And now, at last, it was finished.<\/p>\n

A little historical perspective suggests otherwise. The Church has been horrifyingly corrupt in previous eras and still survived. It\u2019s been led by ecclesiastics who make Bernard Law\u2019s hands look clean, and still survived. It\u2019s faced fiercer enemies than Richard Dawkins (think Nero, or Attila, or Voltaire) and still survived. Time after time, G. K. Chesterton wrote<\/a>, \u201cthe Faith has to all appearance gone to the dogs.\u201d Each time, \u201cit was the dog that died.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if the Church isn\u2019t finished, period, it can still be finished for certain people, in certain contexts, in certain times. And so it is in this case: for millions in Europe and America, Catholicism is probably permanently associated with sexual scandal, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as in many previous dark chapters in the Church\u2019s history, the leaders entrusted with that gospel have nobody to blame but themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Catholic Church is Finished” by Ross Douthat is Idea #9 in The Atlantic’s “14 3\/4 Biggest Ideas of the Year. 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