Screwtape Continued

Jan. 16, 2008
As promised, more excerpts from The Screwtape Letters and why they matter:
"You mentioned casually in your last letter that the patient has continued to attend one church, and one only, since he was converted, and that he is not wholly pleased with it. May I ask what you are about? ....Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhoood looking for the church that 'suits' him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches. The reasons are obvious. In the first place, the parochial organisation should always be attacked, because being a unity of place and not of likings, it brings people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity the Enemy desires (Enemy meaning God). The congregational principle on the other hand, makes each church into a kind of club, and finally if all goes well, into a coterie or faction.. In the second place, the search for a 'suitable' church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil."
In my first eight years as a Catholic (until we moved to VA), I attended only one parish except for the occasional visit to a friend's church. It was a little, un-lovely, cement-block parish in a Navy town full of regular people. It was not overwhelmingly friendly at first. But it was the closest Catholic church. We persisted in going, finally meeting people, getting involved in various ministries. The priest was sort of grouchy and we had several unwed mothers in the congregation. I learned a lot there, became a devout Catholic there, made wonderful friends and truly became part of a community that loved and forgave one another and tolerated each other's imperfections.
Unfortunately, the parish model does not exist where I live now. Not every town or neighborhood has a Catholic church. My husband and I alternate between the cathedral and the "ethnic" Catholic church around the corner which traditionally served African-Americans. Both churches have their good points. But neither seems to be a true community because both draw from all over the county. The point CS Lewis makes is one that I needed to hear again, however. I am not in the church to be a connoisseur. I am there as a student and a servant. No matter where I find myself, I can learn more and love the people I find there.
Thanks be to God.