Church-goers Who Do Harm

Perhaps I can best show what I mean by Church-goers who do harm by relating an occurrence I met with while a chaplain in a hospital. A man was dying. The nurse asked him if he was a Catholic. He replied he was once.

"Do you want to see a priest?" she said.

"No," he snapped.

The nurse, thinking he did not realize his condi­tion, continued: "If you were very ill, in fact, if you thought you might possibly die, would you care to have a priest?"

"No."

The next time I was passing through the ward, the nurse said to me: "Father, there is a man dying in bed No. 17 and he is a Catholic, but I guess you will find him a pretty tough customer."

I was used to tough customers, so I approached the bed. "Good day, my man," I began, very kindly. Just a nod for a reply. "I am a priest and I have come to see you," I added, gently.

"I don’t want to see you," he said, and turned his head aside. Now I knew I had a tough customer.

"My child," I persisted quietly, "do you realize that you are a very sick man; in fact, you are dan­gerously ill ? You are put on the list of those whom the priest should see before it may be too late."

"If I want you, I will send for you," he replied.

Thinking that he was disturbed over something and that he did not realize his nearness to death, I said to him plainly: "My child, you are dangerously ill, you may not have long to live. Now begin your confession."

So saying, I put on my stole, and gave him the blessing prior to confession. To my amazement, he said: "Now, Father, I know you mean well, but I don't want any of this stuff. I have seen enough of religion, and I don't want any of it. I have seen people who go to Church and come home to quarrel and backbite and cheat and behave worse than those who stay at home. I am willing to take my chance without your services. Good-bye, and let me alone."

I took out my crucifix and held it before him and said: "It is our Lord who is coming to you; I am merely His messenger. Do you want to turn away the Lord?"

For an answer, he made a gesture with his hand for me to go. I was sorry to leave him, but I realized that our Lord Himself had to leave some people. The Son of God Himself let the Scribes and Pharisees go their way after He had done His part.

Before I take up the subject on which this man based his rejection of religion, I may as well nar­rate how the matter ended. At four o'clock the next morning, a man was brought into the hos­pital who had been struck and badly injured by an automobile. He was too terribly cut and broken to be operated on, his life being a matter of hours only. He was a Catholic and was placed in a bed adjoining my friend above. Although awfully injured, the man was conscious, and as he asked for the priest, they sent for me at that un­reasonable hour. I knew that a call at such an hour was urgent, so I got to the patient with all haste. When he saw me, he groaned out these words: ­ "0 Father, I have been praying to live until I should see you; now I don't care when I go."

I heard his confession and administered the last rites. He died half an hour later. Meanwhile, my tough customer in bed No. 17 was keenly ob­serving. As I was leaving the ward, I stopped at his bed, and said: "The Lord has come to you again; do you wish to turn Him away this time?"

Tears came to his eyes, and he said: "Forgive me, Father, and may God forgive me!" I stayed with him until I had administered all the sacraments of the dying. The next day he was dead.

That man was repelled from religion by Church­goers who do harm. I do not say that he was justified, indeed he was not, but I am stating his own justification. He himself realized at the end that the example of bad Catholics was no reflection on their religion, but only on themselves. But he realized all that only under extraordinary conditions. The fact remains that for many years he abandoned religion because of the bad example of some Church-goers.

Now, of course, no educated or reasonable per­son will condemn an organization for the defects of an individual. But we must remember that everybody is not educated or reasonable. And these people must be taken into account, for in every community you will find them. ­

Our Lord Himself seems to have had such per­sons in mind when He distinctly warned His fol­lowers that scandals must come, but woe to them who cause them. For the present we leave to themselves those who take it out on God for what one of His creatures has done amiss. God is their judge.

Now to turn to those who go to Church and yet live as though there were no Church. In con­sidering this matter, we must bear in mind several things. The first is this, that because a person who goes to Church does not do right, it is no reason why he should not go. If in spite of the good influence exerted by the Church he lives on carelessly and with certain faults, he would be worse without religion.

Some people doctor a good deal without get­ting better, but that does not mean that the doctor is at fault. Perhaps without the doctor they would be on their last legs or in the grave. Of course some doctors may not understand their pa­tients, and may in consequence do them harm in­stead of good.

But the religion of Jesus Christ is that of the divine Physician who never gives wrong prescrip­tions. If then the Catholic Church-goer returns home and cuts up, it is his own perverse nature that is to blame, and not the Church. What he should do is not to discontinue going to Church, but to realize that to profit by a physician's treat­ment he must take his medicine and follow his directions.

Now the next thing to observe about these Church-goers who do harm is that the things we complain of in them are not so much matters of sin as defects of disposition, which, though annoy­ing and at times devilish, are nevertheless not serious moral transgressions. It may sound strange to say that they can behave in a devilish way and yet not seriously transgress.

Well, if you know poor old human nature, you will understand what I mean. You know that some people have a bad streak in them. Some people have several bad streaks. Of course, these are not the best people in the world, nor are they the worst. These difficult and touchy and trouble­some people who sometimes make a hell for those around them would nevertheless die rather than deliberately violate one of God's grave command­ments.

But is it not violating God's law to create dis­turbance and cut up the way some of these so-called religious people do? These disturbances are dreadful things. They do a lot of harm, I am not extenuating them a bit. But some people in their tantrums are not accountable. They get carried away by their nerves. For the time be­ing they are like runaway horses. I have seen a horse in a runaway plunge right through a large plate-glass window of a store and get all cut to pieces.

Some people's nerves are that way. Nervous people, and nowadays there are many such, say and do things which cause pain to themselves and others. But it is not because they are morally bad. A person may cause a lot of trouble, and yet not be deliberately guilty of wrong-doing.

Now before God it is only culpable wrong that is an offense. And wrong-doing is culpable only when it is deliberate, more or less. Some people have characteristic defects which will be theirs as long as they live. Yet they may not be sinners. The just man falls frequently during the day, yet he is just. And why? These falls are virtually unavoidable and constitute a cross for self and others.

I do not wish to excuse these unfortunate per­sons. My purpose is to show that they may be sincerely trying to be good, and yet, by reason of their disposition, fail. A man who does not take account of this trait in human nature may mistake the failure for sinfulness and conclude that re­ligion has failed. Of course, only a narrow-minded and illogical man would so conclude. But we must remember that there are lots of that class.

It is the duty, therefore, of Church-goers to real­ize that they hold the good reputation of the Church in their keeping. By their disedifying con­duct they may do religion harm. There are many weak Catholics who are looking for an excuse to give up the Church, and the bad example of some Church-goers furnishes them with a pretext. I said above, that, in itself, their conduct might not be sinful, but it may readily become so if they do not do their very best to avoid those faults and defects which alienate people from religion.

It is a strange thing, but true, that some people who wink at great transgressions take offense at little infractions of the home virtues. A violation of the conventionalities of society repels certain persons more than a violation of God's law. We cannot overlook this fact, and consequently, while doing all in our power to observe God's law, we should not be unmindful of the code of man.

Charity is the soul of religion. Charity implies kindness and consideration for others. If you go to Church and then, on returning home, behave as you like, regardless of others, you show plainly either that you have a bad streak in you, or that religion in your case is only nominal.

The sensible man will look at it in that way. He will understand that the individual is not the Church. He will go on and faithfully attend to his religious duties, and, perhaps, say a prayer for the poor misguided soul who in reality needs prayers and pity more than anything else. For the Church-goer who does not profit by the Mass and the Gospel and the general help which the Catholic service gives, is impervious to the best influences that can affect humanity.

There is nothing in this world higher or nobler than the standard held up to Catholics by their faith and practice. If they fail to approach that standard, it is their own fault and their own responsibility. To whom much is given, of him much is required. God will judge Catholics se­verely who harm His religion by making caricatures of it by their conduct.

There is no doubt about it, if Catholics half lived up to the holiness of their religion, very many outside the Church could not hold out against con­version. But when non-Catholics see some people return from Mass and carry on as though they had come from the theater or from shopping, they judge religion accordingly. They are not justified for so judging, but that does not excuse those who, by their conduct, occasion contempt for their Church.

And so, to the Church-goer who does harm I say, do not leave off going, but start right in and I do what is right. Be patient, considerate, careful of truth, polite and faithful to every little duty. You are all right on the big things. I know you do not steal nor tell injurious lies nor commit sins of impurity. You avoid the sins which corrode the individual and society. Your faults are minor ones. But an elephant can be more damaged by a few mice than by a pack of hyenas.

Bear that in mind. People do not see your heart, but only your person. And if you commit a lot of small faults they judge you by them only; at least, some people do. And in a way they are right, for they expect much from those who pro­fess and practice the Catholic religion.

What I wish to insist on is that, while practicing the great virtues, we should not neglect the small. While doing the heroic things of super­natural virtue, we should not neglect the ordinary things of natural virtue. And some people are inclined to do just that. They think that because they feel all right before God they do not need to care for man. That is wrong, very wrong, and it does religion great harm.

In conclusion, I might say that I do not know whom to pity more, the Church-goer who does harm or the man who stops going to Church be­cause of the bad example of some Church-goers. God is not going to judge you for what another does, but for what you yourself do or fail to do. It will do you little good before a court of justice to say you failed to keep the law because John Smith broke it. Every man must one day stand judgment on his own observance of the law of God. The eternal Judge will attend to others. You must answer for yourself.
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Adapted from The Hand of God, A Theology for the People (1918)
By Martin J. Scott, S.J., Litt.D.