The Birth of Jesus, Part X: Matthew Sources and the Hebrew Scriptures

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 21 February 2013 3 Comments
Please login with your account to read this essay.
 

Question

I am an avid reader of your columns and books and I feel much the same way you do regarding faith, theology and church. I have studied theology at both undergraduate and graduate levels at a Catholic university and earned an MA degree in Liturgical Studies. I currently worship as a Catholic and work full-time as music and worship director for a large Catholic parish but, in the climate of the Catholic Church, as a progressive I no longer feel welcome or comfortable as a Catholic anymore. Obviously, to keep my job, I have to at least act like I toe the line, even if I disagree with teachings on contraception and ordination for example I was raised in an ecumenical household; my father’s side of the family is mostly Catholic while my mother’s side is Lutheran-ELCA. I feel very comfortable worshiping with the ELCA, but I also enjoy Episcopal liturgy (the Anglo-Catholic variety anyway) and find both denominations’ liturgies more spiritually fulfilling than the Catholic liturgy, especially with our new text changes. Of course, to convert I would also have to find a new job, but that is a discussion for another day.

I have long felt a desire or “calling” to be in ordained ministry, a priest, a pastor or a minister, not a deacon) but being married that is not an option for me in the Catholic Church. I realize that questions regarding vocation are best discussed with a spiritual director, but, more generally, I do value your opinion on this. With what you say about Christianity, that it must change or die, would it be advisable to become a minister of a mainline Protestant church such as Lutheran-ELCA or EC-USA? I would love to “bring a new church into being” (to paraphrase S. Delores Dufner) as a pastor and challenge people to move beyond outdated beliefs and bad theology to a new wholeness. I’m curious what you think the Church requires more now: well-educated lay people pushing for change or well-educated pastors and ministers being and doing that change. Neither seems welcome in the Catholic Church by the hierarchy so again I speak in the context of main line Protestant and Episcopal Churches. I realize this might not fit the subject matter of the weekly Q&A column but I hope you will answer it anyway.

Answer

Dear Nelson,

Thank you for your letter. Much of it, as you suggest, needs to be discussed in depth with someone whose judgment and insight you trust. You are at the point of making both a career change and a faith transition and such steps should never be made hastily or without seeking competent counsel.

So, to the question you ask, as to whether the church needs well-educated lay people to push for change or well-educated pastors being and doing the change, sets up what I believe is a false dichotomy. The church obviously needs both and the way life works out both are essential if any change is to be effective. Lay people will work with and support clergy leadership. Indeed, they will even call that clergyperson as a change-agent into being. Rare, however, is the lay person who will remain in an unresponsive church with an unresponsive pastor too long. Frustrated, they will vote with their feet, seeking another congregation or exiting the life of organized religion altogether. On the other hand, clergy, who have no lay leadership supporting transformation, get discouraged quickly. I think you can play a role in either capacity, but if you are debating between the two you should remain a layperson. No one should ever seek ordination unless that person is compelled to do so out of a driving sense that this is something that he or she must do. That is what vocation is all about. It is not a “higher calling” as we once said, but it is a compelling calling. I think it is always better to work for change within the context of the church in which you were raised. If, however, that church is not open to change, you have to decide the best way for you to go.

My best,

John Shelby Spong

 

 

Comments

 

3 thoughts on “The Birth of Jesus, Part X: Matthew Sources and the Hebrew Scriptures

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.