Hmm.

So CNN's headline right now is this, " Catholic faithful face church closures". I saw this and my heart was sad for a moment, and so I clicked on the link to know more about it. There are a lot of Catholic churches in the mid-west and north-east that are having to close and some of them are merging together. CNN stated that 29 churches will close while 41 others will merge. Then, I saw a picture of one of the churches....

my heart is no longer sad. I am appalled. Seeing this, thinking about these elaborate and intricate buildings that man has created to worship our God in makes me sick. I am pretty sure that God does not care where we worship Him, as long as we ARE worshiping Him. One may argue, "But we are supposed to give God our best!" This statement is true, but is developing these million dollar sanctuaries doing what is best for God's kingdom? This reminds me of something I read in Church History last semester.

In 1526, Desiderius Erasmus wrote "A Pilgrimage For Religions Sake". He wrote,

" I wonder sometimes what possible excuse there could be for those who spend so much money on building, decorating, and enriching churches that there's simply no limit to it. Granted that the sacred vestments and vessels of the church must have a dignity appropriate to their liturgical use; and I want the building to have grandeur. But what's the use of so many baptisteries, candelabra, gold statues? What's the good of the vastly expensive organs? What's the good of that costly musical neighing when meanwhile our brothers and sisters, Christ's living temples, waste away from hunger and thirst? "

To Erasmus, I must say, Amen. I am sorry to a world who is dying and struggling while Christians and Catholics alike are worshipping in sanctuaries that could (all together) feed countries for years, not just families in Africa, or Latin America, but the people who sleep on the very doorsteps of these churches because they have no place else to go. I wonder how much it will take before we, as followers of Jesus Christ, begin to understand that God will take us where we are and as we are. We do not need to spend $50,000 putting blacktop on the parking lot, it isn't going to kill you to walk across gravel 1 or 2 times a week. But if we do not use the money God has blessed us with wisely, someone will die. There may be arguments to this, but truly this is what I feel. If you hate it, I cannot apologize to those who are offended. I will only apologize to those who the church has forgotten because our own desires.