Symposium on the Greatest Threats to the Church

Ed. Note: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the NOR hosted a trio of symposia. We relaunched the format, after more than a 30-year absence, with a two-part Symposium on Catholics & American Political Life in our December 2024 and January-February 2025 issues. The relaunch, we are happy to report, was well received — so much so that an expanded version of that symposium (with additional contributors and lengthier contributions) is now available in book form from Arouca Press, titled Catholics and the American Polity: Approaches and Contestations (visit aroucapress.com/catholics-and-the-american-polity for details). In this issue, we revisit the format, which we hope to make an annual feature, with a brand-new topic.

One of the great things about being Catholic — specifically, a Catholic who pays attention to world events — is that throughout the history of the Church, heroism and scandal have both been in high supply. From the brutality of the Roman persecutions (and the incomparable witness of the early martyrs) to the triumphs of the Crusades (and the dark sides of defeat and degeneracy during the same), from the agrarian populism of the Peasants’ Revolt to the wealth and debauchery of the Medici popes, from the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent to the Sexual Revolution and Vatican II — there’s rarely been a dull moment. This rollicking history is the glory and shame of the cradle Catholic and the fascination and delight of the convert.

Neither is the present moment dull. Earlier this year, the Church closed the book on one of the most turbulent papacies in modern times, during which decision-making was erratic, the magisterial teaching voice cacophonic, and public witness inconsistent. It felt at times as though the very Deposit of Faith were at risk. After that 12-year, nausea-inducing rollercoaster ride, the Church would surely welcome a little tranquility — a time to regroup and refocus on her essential mission. Such a welcome respite, if it occurs at all, isn’t likely to last long. There are too many pressing matters at hand.

Inwardly, the Church must address the “mess” the late Pope Francis made: a curial body in disarray, a distinct lack of doctrinal clarity, an intensified Liturgy War, a burgeoning financial scandal, and system-wide uncertainty regarding what’s permissible and even what’s possible. All the while, the Body of Christ continues to hemorrhage believers, an outflow she must figure out how to stanch, and still fails for the most part to form (or re-form, as the case may be) those still willingly under her care.

Outwardly, the Church is beset on all sides by competing interest groups, institutional rivals, and even outright enemies. The world stage on which she must act features wars and other territorial and ideological disputes, religious persecutions, increased disparity between the haves and the have-nots, mass migration and human trafficking, the legacy of a failed Sexual Revolution, rapid technological change, a fracturing of community and a concomitant rise of personal isolation, and the diffusion of lifestyles that contravene her core moral teachings.