Preferences

In my 16 years as a protestant pastor, I encountered some fairly unique circumstances with the members of my congregations. I have a wealth of stories that I could tell you, but today I am not thinking of one in particular, but rather a specific kind of situation that repeated itself frequently. I cannot count how many times I would have someone suggest a certain thing for our worship services; "pastor, can we do this?", "pastor, would you mind telling people not to do that?", "pastor, you should be preaching more about this", or, "pastor, why don't you like to sing that?"

Rarely were these requests; no, they were more along the line of firm advice ("since four years of bible college and three years of seminary didn't really teach you anything, let me enlighten you"). Interestingly, this "advice" could all be explained in one specific way: preference. In other words, people wanted me to lead those congregations according to their personal tastes. This should not surprise anyone who knows how protestantism works: it is pretty much all a matter of personal taste. When someone does not like a certain thing about a congregation they either fight to make it happen, or they leave and try to do so elsewhere.

Sadly, this foolhardy way of approaching God has found its way into the Catholic Church in some parishes and dioceses. It is what we call "democracy" (and is being fueled by this "synodality" thing). As an added point of clarity, the first century Church in Laodicea was criticized by our Lord for being too self absorbed, and (not surprisingly) the name "Laodicea" means the same thing as the word "democracy": "the people rule themselves". There is a reason that God has ordained that the Church is to be led by a hierarchy of clergymen. Pure democracy is not a very good system for making major decisions (and it is just short of anarchy).

When Catholics "want" something in their home parish, they must be very careful about what their motives are. It is all too easy for us to pursue something selfishly and thus be blinded to what is truly good. A good boundary for "requests" is whether it is your preference, or whether it is something that is genuinely for the greater good (which is sometimes hard to distinguish). A "good idea" or a "suggestion" of a layman should be approached with the acknowledgement of God's ordained hierarchy; which does not mean only that the Priest is in charge, but also that he is under his Bishop and all of Canon Law (i.e. all the Popes going back to St. Peter).

Something along the lines of "Father, I was thinking about something and I wondered if you would consider it. I know you have to make the decision and I will trust that if you choose not to follow it, then you have good reasons and I will trust God to work through you." Yeah, that is kind of long and technical, so it does not necessarily need to be said every time you have an idea, but that heart behind it definitely needs to be there or you will be heading down the same road as protestantism. Remember, God knows more than you (and more than your Priest and Bishop as well!) and He will always take care of you as long as you approach Him with humility and trust.