Dr Samuel Gregg has a brilliant article over at Catholic World Report which everyone needs to read. Entitled “A Church drowning in Sentimentalism”, it sums up in just a few words what is wrong with the discourse of the modern Church.
I agree with everything that Dr Gregg has to say, but would like to add my own thoughts as well.
Some years ago, every Catholic college in the world was urged to hold a conference on Natural Law. I was then teaching in a Catholic College in Nairobi and I took part in one such conference. I remember speaking about the universality of Natural Law, and contrasting it with the particularity of cultural insights. While cultural insights could lead to truth (as well as its opposite) they needed the challenge of Natural Law as a corrective. All our customs need to be examined from time to time in the light of Natural Law. Then the conversation moved onto Liturgy and the way the Roman Rite transcends mere time and place, but finds a suitably concordant fit with a variety of cultures. I remember making the point that one did not have to adapt the Mass to our own situation; rather we should adapt ourselves to the timeless truths revealed in the Mass.
