---

If there is something that might be called, with a certain measure of ironic humor, a Catholic "heresy" - something that can really separate us from the communion of faith in which we are united with God and one another - it is none of the hot-button issues which are typically all over the media, like the recent debate over reception of holy communion by those in civil or "common-law" unions.

Much of the news about Catholic orthodoxy tends to emphasize not what we are for, but what we are against. Typically, it has to do with issues of moral conduct in relational or more intimate matters, such as marriage and discipline of human sexuality. These are very important issues, and so are the ongoing concerns about the role of women in the Church and about the interacting roles of clergy and laity.

None of the above, however, comes closer to separating the faithful from the very source of our salvation than that "heresy" by which we assume that the degree of our welcome as members of the Church somehow depends upon the extent of our own personal worthiness.

This is reflected even in the attitudes of those who may feel at least somewhat seriously inclined to pursue a priestly or religious vocation - which, surveys consistently indicate, range from between 11 to 13 percent of unmarried Catholic men and women. Research such as that done by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) in Washington, D.C., finds that there are two key reasons why such persons say they have not pursued a religious vocation. The first is that no one ever asked or invited them to be a priest or a religious sister or brother. The second reason is that they feel that they would not be worthy anyway.

Is anyone "worthy?" All Christians receive a call to holiness at the time of baptism. A call to the priesthood or religious life is certainly an invitation to grow in holiness in accord with the unique vocation. But every Christian, married or single, and regardless of the state of any other kind of relationship she or he may be in, is called to holiness, as well - even if there is much room for growth and purification.

The history of salvation is not about the success of human beings in saving themselves, of getting to be saints all on their own. On the contrary, it is a continual catalogue of the dismal failure of human beings in trying to find our way back to God.

From the time of Babel, the bigger the towers we raise, the greater the institutional power we amass in whatever forms it takes, the more we try to keep up with any of the ways in which the world around us gauges success, the more we fall into the delusion of the old Pelagian heresy in one or another of its flavors.

At the core of this way of thinking (whether or not history fairly attributes it to the man Pelagius some 16 centuries ago) is the idea that Jesus came just to give us a "good example," and that it was up to us to follow it and be saved, or fall short of it and be damned.

Pelagius may have been trying to preserve the doctrine of free will and to resist the idea of predestination. Unfortunately, if Jesus is reduced to just a good and moral man, a "nice guy," a prophet or a great teacher, our salvation ultimately depends on just the good works that we do, and who of us would stand a chance?

In contrast, if there is anything that comes close to a union card by which we can claim membership in the society of believers that we call the Church, it would probably be not our sanctity, but our common experience of being sinners, of being unworthy.

No doubt many of our young people are very well aware of their personal struggles of living up to all of the moral teachings of the Church, perhaps even questioning in the most well-meaning way whether or not anyone can. They would feel like hypocrites to present themselves for what they believe to be the holy calling that a vocation to priesthood or religious life is.

They may be overlooking the lives of the saints, who spent most of their time on earth as struggling sinners.

We might recall that Pope Francis himself, when asked shortly after his election how he could best describe himself, gave a startling response during an interview. The thing that he knew he could say that most certainly describes himself, the pope replied, is that "I am a sinner."

That should give all a little consolation because, we see, struggling with sin is not a sign that we cannot be headed toward heaven. Do we not, in fact, often say during the penitential rite of the Mass, "He came to call sinners?"

Nor are the Scriptures shy of recording for us the sins, doubts and failures of many of the most important figures in early Christianity: Peter, Paul, Thomas and even Zechariah - all among God's chosen in some way, and all of them vulnerable to temptation and grave weakness, including sin.

Looking further back, all of the prophets had their failings. It seems to be almost a pattern that "God chooses the weak things of the world so that no flesh may glory in His sight," as an old novena prayer goes. The best witnesses to the faith often turn out to be those who have been most impressed not by their own greatness but by their inferiority in God's eyes: Ss. Thérèse, Augustine, Francis and Ignatius and even Mary herself who, though ever sinless, was glorified in her lowliness.

Seeing the Church as a society of sinners on the way to redemption, salvaged by the Blood of Christ, leads us not to a greater tolerance of the sin itself that mocks God's goodness, but to be more forgiving and merciful toward the sinner, the lost sheep whom the Good Shepherd wants to reunite with the flock. That, after all, is the role of any good pastor of souls. The humbler the shepherd, the closer to the lost sheep.

Anyone who senses a call to minister to other sinners needs to be imbued with a true sense of his or her own profound unworthiness, which is exactly the position in which Christ, the only true worthy one, became the servant of all humanity (cf Phil. 2:6-11).

Because you are feeling unworthy, that is no reason to assume that Jesus is not calling you. On the contrary, it may just be the best reason to answer immediately - if not sooner![[In-content Ad]]

---