Weird Ideas: Catholic ChurchSýnishorn

What does living catholic mean practically day-to-day? Put another way, what does living catholic look like in the life of the Church? Here’s where I think CS Lewis in Mere Christianity has a lot of helpful things to say.

When Lewis refers to “mere” Christianity, he is referring to the same thing as “catholic” Christianity, or the Rule of Faith. That general, binding commonality of teaching threading through all believers of every stripe and variety that unite us together in Christ as one.

Lewis talks about Christianity as a house in which there are many rooms. The entry, or hall, to the house is catholic Christianity. Read this succession of quotes:

“It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, not a place to live in.”

“The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable. It is true that some people may find they have to wait in the hall for a considerable time, while others feel certain almost at once which door they must knock at. I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do get into your room you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light; and, of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house.”

“And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling. In plain language, the question should never be: 'Do I like that kind of service?' but 'Are these doctrines true: is holiness here? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to knock at this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike of this particular door-keeper?’”

“When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if there are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.”

Living catholic does not mean minimizing differences. It does not mean flattening our local expressions of the Christian faith. It does not mean only teaching a lowest common denominator of doctrines or seeking to conform everyone into one experience of the Christian faith. “Catholic” embraces the opposite. It rejoices in the full and complex flavors of robust Christianity while driving us into deeper expressions within a local church community. Separate rooms, but the same house.

This is what it means when the creeds call the church “catholic.”

What rooms do you know a little or a lot about? How will you go about making the most of your room while benefiting from others living in the same house?

If this plan helped you better understand God’s Church, we encourage you to subscribe to the other “Weird Ideas” plans.