In his recent posting* Richard Rohr has been discussing the failure of religion in dealing with the stages of life particularly the later years .
However what I really think is happening here is Rohr is using this as a metaphor for Roman Catholicism.
He writes, “Religion in the second half of life is finally not a moral matter; it’s a mystical matter. While most of us begin focused on moral proficiency and perfection, we can’t spend our whole lives this way. Paul calls the first-half-of-life approach “the Law”; I call it the performance principle: ‘I’m good because I obey this commandment, because I do this kind of work, or because I belong to this group.’ That’s the calculus the ego understands. The human psyche, all organizations, and governments need this kind of common sense structure at some level.
But that game has to fall apart or it will kill you. Paul says the law leads to death (e.g., Romans 7:5, Galatians 3:10). Yet many Catholics I meet—religious, laity, and clergy—are still trapped inside the law, believing that by doing good things or going to church, they’re going to somehow attain worthiness or acceptance from God. This was Luther’s authentic critique of much of the Roman Catholic church as he knew it.”
But that game has to fall apart or it will kill you. Paul says the law leads to death (e.g., Romans 7:5, Galatians 3:10). Yet many Catholics I meet—religious, laity, and clergy—are still trapped inside the law, believing that by doing good things or going to church, they’re going to somehow attain worthiness or acceptance from God. This was Luther’s authentic critique of much of the Roman Catholic church as he knew it.”
Having to acknowledge anything good about Martin Luther must have given Fr Rohr heartburn, yet his honesty in this situation allows us an insight into just how dire the situation is. Slipping from his pastoral role to the role of a critic is a perilous action for any official in the Catholic organization. But this is the way of a wise old cleric, using related topic to make a point without getting yourself in too much trouble; plausible deniability in political terms.
Rohr is a reformer make no mistake about that but he exists in a dangerous environment . The Catholic Church is a wounded animal. As it trashes around from one scandal to another people can get caught and crushed as it rolls about.
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