Homily

Over the past 40 years there have been a number of guys who have set up shop here in this area claiming that they were priests who belonged to the "something-something Catholic Church." Well no, they were not priests in THE Catholic Church, they belonged to another kind of Catholic Church which differed from THE Catholic Church because they allowed this, and this and this. They were never, ever more strict than THE Catholic Church, always less. They would say things like, "We accept people who are divorced and remarried. We allow everyone to receive Communion.” Or “You don't have to be human to belong to our church." (These guys always got an article in the Eugene Register Guard. There was one of them claiming to be a priest and in the article there was a photo of him with his pet monkey sitting on his shoulder. No kidding. I think the monkey was his altar boy. So I hope no one here thinks they are not replaceable.) These Brand X priests always claimed they were really Catholic, just not "Catholic" Catholic. They were just another kind of Catholic ---MEANING NOT CATHOLIC.

I remember talking to more than a couple of people who attended their services over the years. One woman was surprised when I told her that the man was not a Catholic priest, and she did not attend a Catholic Mass. "But they had Communion and an organ and everything," she told me. The idea was that if it looked Catholic, it must be Catholic. But what makes a parish Catholic is not what the service looks like. An actor can pull of that illusion.

On the other hand, even though we, our parish, has been here for over 40 years, even though we're listed in the Catholic Directory of the Archdiocese of Portland which contains all the Catholic churches in Oregon, there are still a number of Catholics in the area who do not think we are Catholic. Why? Because our church doesn't look "Catholic," and our Liturgy doesn't sound "Catholic," and we don't have an organ (which makes me think, "Maybe if I got a monkey. . ."). It doesn't help when sometimes even my fellow priests in the area don't know exactly how to explain us to their parishioners, as in the comment one pastor made to a woman some time ago that we were “80% Catholic.” I have no idea what he meant by that. Neither did the woman. But of course many Catholics are so tied into the idea that the Catholic Church is only the Latin rite, if you are not using the Latin rite, you can't be Catholic.

Now if you go to Ukraine and you enter a church, you might not be able to tell whether it is a Catholic Church or an Orthodox church. You might even have to attend a service to discover whether or not it was an Orthodox or a Catholic Church. The services would be so similar to each other that maybe only one clue would tip you off as to which Church this particular parish belonged to. It would not be by the doctrine that was being preached because I feel it is safe to say that Orthodoxy teaches 99% the same as the Catholic Church. It would be whether or not at that service they prayed for the Pope of Rome. Because basically the only thing that separates us from Orthodoxy and the other ancient Christian Churches, is what we believe about the office of the Bishop of Rome. That is what separates us from the other ancient Churches.

Many Catholics hold today views of the office of the papacy that are understandable, but incorrect. They see their pastor as the local boss, the bishop as the pastor's boss, and the pope as the bishop's boss, in a kind of hierarchy that resembles a Fortune 500 company more than the Body of Christ. Surprisingly, but maybe understandably, there are many Catholics who think the pope can make up doctrines of belief, or change the teaching of the Church because, after all, he is the top guy. This is the attitude you find in the media many times, where they speculate whether or not a pope will change the Church's teachings. The pope cannot change the teachings of Christ. His job is to teach, preach and proclaim Christ's truth, not to change or alter it, God forbid. It was the Lord Himself Who promised us protection from that ever happening.

Every bishop has the fullness of the priesthood. The pope is no more a bishop than any other bishop. He's not more of a bishop than our own Bishop Benedict. But in his function as pope, in his duties as pope, he is a bishop not only for the people of the Archdiocese of Rome, or the Patriarchate of Rome, but also to serve in the office of Head Bishop for all the Catholic bishops of the world; to help them, to support them, and, if it is necessary, to step in and take action if there is a need to, so that the faith and unity of the Church is protected.

The pope is not in his office to tell everybody what to do and to make up all the rules. His job is to teach, support, guide and pray for not only the people of his own diocese, but all the members of the Church around the world. He represents the unity of the Church because he represents Christ as head of the Church. When you ask a Catholic who is head of the Church they will usually answer—what? But that is wrong. The pope is not the head of the Church. Christ is the head of the Catholic Church, and the pope's job is to be a visible sign of Christ's headship of the Church in the way he carries out his mission to teach, govern and sanctify the faithful.

It is our belief in the special role given to Peter by Christ our Lord that distinguishes us from all other Christian Churches and sects. It is our belief in this special divinely appointed ministry, given also to all the successors of Peter that mark us apart from the rest of the Christian world. Popes have been saints, and some popes have been horrible, terrible sinners, but when people reject the office, not the man, when they reject the office of Peter, then they tear the unity of the Church and divide up the Christian faith. We don't have to look far to see how terribly divided the followers of Christ are today. Just as an example there are today, in Ukraine, two different Orthodox groups that claim to be the true Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Which one is the legitimate Orthodox Church? Which group has the real jurisdiction in Ukraine? There is no mechanism to decide with authority, there are no means in place to make a decision or help them come to an agreement, there is no one voice with special authority to help work it out. So the problem goes on and on with no unity among the Orthodox in Ukraine and no one can absolutely claim that this or that group has genuine authority. So some Orthodox Churches recognize the Russian Orthodox Church there (which calls itself “Ukrainian”) and other Orthodox Churches recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

If we look to the Protestant world, there are tens of thousands of denominations, each one believing it has the proper understanding of Christ’s teaching. But we are blessed by the gift of Christ who gave us this special office of unity founded on the ministry of St. Peter.

In this age of relativity and indifferentism where people often have a hard time distinguishing truth from error and right from wrong, and have trouble seeing human life the way it really is, created by God and meant for God, let us be glad that we stand together on the rock of Peter as one flock, with one shepherd who is Christ our Lord, and He is represented by the pope of Rome. And as we pray for the Holy Father here at Liturgy today, he who stands in place for that one true Shepherd, let us ask Saints Peter and Paul to pray for an increase in our faith and for a growth in holiness for our Church, in Ukraine, around the world, and even in Oregon. And, as our hymn states today, may our end be as righteous as Peter and Paul's.