Fix a Leak?

20230922 I’m back again. I Can’t shake the feeling that I’m supposed to keep trying to explain where I’m coming from. My current dilemma is Bishop Barron’s comment that six people are leaving the church for every one coming in. The tone is that this is a problem. Well, if it is a problem (I think so) then what to do about it? What I see are approaches that I don’t believe will work. Let’s analyze. Consider the following. I have had a number of friends and acquaintances that have come home and discovered a lot water on the floor (or carpet). What did they do. They called a plumber who investigated and determined that there was a leak in a pipe under or in the slab. This was serious so they got estimates on repairing it. Generally, it involves a lot of work tearing things out and rebuilding or rerouting the pipes. And usually   requires shutting off water to the house. I will skip the details, but focus on what are the issues for the homeowner? First water on the floor. Second the sinks/shower had greatly reduced flow. What transpired was a costly project to put the house back in normal condition. That was a solution. But what about thinking out-of-the-box? There could be another way to approach this which would probably be quicker and less costly. Namely, just dig a quick trench to drain the water to the outside, cover the trench with tiles, and attach a bigger input pipe to the house with increased pressure. That would make the house usable again. The water that drained outside could be used for gardening, the showers would work again, and a lot of money would be saved! Let’s overlook any observations about water conservation etc. They are not relevant to the point I’m trying to make. We have a problem and a couple of solutions. We can have a debate about which solution is best etc. I can make an educated guess as to which solution most people would agree is the best one. Now a parable:

There was a King who owned a very large vineyard. The King had a son who was away on a journey and the King planned to have a great celebration when the son returned to claim his inheritance. Since the King was far away from the vineyard, he needed workers to tend the vineyard. So, he commissioned a group of workers to tend and manage the vineyard and store the wine being produced in a huge barrel. Then he went on a journey himself. The workers began a project to plant vines, harvest grapes, and produce choice wines. Because the vineyard was so big, they had to recruit many laborers for the vineyard as well as all the support structures needed to maintain such an organization. There were many difficulties to overcome, but as time passed they began to be successful. As the organization grew, they began to experience common human problems. Not everyone agreed on the best way to organize or who was responsible for what parts of the vineyard, or who should oversee what. One should recognize all the human issues involved. Suffice it to say there were ruptures in the organization, splinter groups formed, and there was infighting between and within the factions. Nevertheless, there was good wine being produced and stored in the huge barrel. There were many efforts to try and bring the factions together since they all agreed that producing the wine for the King’s celebration was their prime aim. Gradually progress was being made, and the tensions began to ease. The parts of the organization that oversaw the barrel were seeing the wine in it increasing. Then one day, it appeared that the level of wine in the barrel was dropping! What could be the cause? Was it evaporation, wine being absorbed by the wood, or just an error in measuring? With such a huge barrel and so much wine it took time to verify and there was so much work to be done that it didn’t receive much attention. Then one day several workers reported that they had discovered that some worms were eating holes in the barrel. At first it seemed like only small drops were coming out. But then it turned into a stream. What to do? If something wasn’t done there might not be enough wine for the King’s celebration. A solution was proposed. If they diverted some of the workers who were helping maintain the various functions of the organization to go in the fields and plant more vines, crush more grapes, and putt more wine in the barrel they could keep the level from falling too much. So that was the solution they embarked on! 

For the readers of this, there could be much to discuss about the issues and approaches. I’d like to focus a little attention on comparing the house leak with the barrel leak and their respective solutions.

I’m not a philosopher, but I can recognize several approaches from Deus-ex-machina to scientific methodology. I’m more comfortable with the latter. So, let us look. First we have a problem. Next we try and determine what caused the problem. Then we explore how to mitigate the cause. We analyze the resources that would be required in solving the problem. We choose the best solution using the available resources and then implement the solution to restore the structure. Hopefully this makes sense.

So, what about the problem of people leaving the church? Is it really a problem? Both the clergy and laity believe it is. So, what causes the problem? Have there been any studies, surveys, discussions to try and find out? Almost every business that I’ve used in the past number of years tries to find out from its customers how they are doing and what could be improved. In the past 30 years the church has made no effort to engage its members in determining how it is doing or what could be improved. Yes, I know that the Catholic church is not a democracy. But it is a business. As the pope has said it is a hospital for souls. But that seems to be more of a slogan than a reality. (At this point I’m trying not to go off on my personal rant.) At one point we (the laity) talked about parish councils. That’s now a non-starter. They are Pastoral Councils with little or no input from parishioners. So, how do you fix a problem if you don’t try and find out what causes the problem? It is a case of institutional arrogance that keeps us from determining why there is a problem. For an institution that is over 2000 years old one would like to believe that it cares about the situation. My perception is that the church has concentrated so much on the world’s issues that it has neglected the “widows” in its own ranks. For centuries the church has worked to educate the world and try to instill the highest moral principles in the world that it has ignored and abused its own members. The last people to get shoes are the shoemaker’s children. Harsh words but spoken from a broken heart. Why?