Beyone the dysfunctional church: Reflection by John McCabe

The institutional Church is dysfunctional in that it has lost its real goal, its real message: bringing Christ into the world! Instead it is busy propagating and preseving itself. A "front" has been created starting in the middle ages and further refined in the renaissance especially in Italy - much of the pomp and pagentry is still preseved: the vestments, the titles, the phony deference - kissing of rings, bowing, genuflecting. To be a member of the clergy is not only to be different than but also better than. Right now all this is being preserved as a defense mechanism.

The real solution is found in the Gospels. Right now, I am reading the Gospel of Mark and watching people like Francis of Assisi and attempting to filter out all the obstructive debris in "my Church". Perhaps I can become a servant of the servants of God.