Catholic Church, know your history
The Nov. 22 article, “Catholics grieve parish closures,” demands a look at history.
First, the Catholic Church began as a democracy modeled on the Greek citystate of Athens in its glory. Cities all over the Mideast called themselves by the same name the church chose for itself: an ekklesía, a self-governing community, a direct democracy.
Second, the church began with women leading house-churches throughout the Mideast. Acts 16 shows us Paul making Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, the leader of her own house-church. Paul’s letters name many other female church leaders. That all disappeared by the end of the first century with the rise of male domination.
Third, the church began without priests. Its first leaders were apostles and “prophets and teachers” (Acts 13:1). Acts 2 shows the community as meeting every day in the temple to hear God’s word spoken by the Apostles and then going home for “the breaking of the bread,” the Eucharist. Priesthood arose in response to the hostile pagan environment, which would not recognize Christianity as a legitimate religion without priests. By the end of the second century, the prophets and teachers became presbyters, or priests.
Fourth, rabid male domination toward the end of the first century led to false insertions into St. Paul’s letters such as “Women should keep silent in the churches.” (1 Corinthians: 14:34). This laid the groundwork for the pagan philosophy of Manichaeism, which swept the Roman world in the third and fourth centuries. It taught that the struggle between good and evil was between spirit and flesh. Flesh was evil. Therefore sex and marriage were evil; celibacy was the way to holiness. This idea spread like wildfire among the clergy.
Fifth, the first ecumenical council, called by Emperor Constantine at Nicaea in the year 325, for the first time took away the vote of Christians for their leaders. It gave that right to the bishops of the province. It also established the first hierarchy. Bishops were elected with the approval of the chief bishop of the province, the Metropolitan and the emperor as head of the church.
The Catholic Church can begin to renew itself by electing laypeople, married or not, men or women, as bishops. When the people feel they have a vote and the chance of leadership, renewal will come. It will restore democracy and women’s equality, and dispense with priesthood, celibacy and hierarchy. — Joseph P. Marren, Chicago