Recently I had lunch at the hospital with a local radio personality and a friend of his, a Roman Catholic priest (from Ireland, no less, though he's lived in Florida for years now - he was probably in his 60's). When we sat down a big, burly black construction worker who was there doing work recognized the radio host and began to chat with him, so the host invited him to sit with us, and there we were: a radio talk show host, a construction worker, an Anglican priest, and a Roman priest, eating lunch together in hospital cafeteria.
Here's where it gets interesting. I asked the construction worker where he went to church, and he said nowhere. The Catholic priest, trying to play it cool, says, "Oh, well, the Church is within you." (in other words, it's fine if you don't go to church) But I looked at the man, gave him my card, and said, "Come to St. Mark's. Our services are at 8:00 and 10:00 on Sunday mornings. We'd love to have you. And you need to go to church." He thanked me, ate some more, and then got up to go back to work. Then the Catholic priest turns to me and says, "Ahh, so you're trying to get more members, are you?" I thought to myself, "No, not necessarily; I am trying to save souls, which is what I thought priests were supposed to try to do."
We talked some more about a variety of things - one of which was the Motu Proprio - this guy thought it was the stupidest thing in the world to allow priests to say the old mass... somehow I was not surprised. Then he asked if I ever read Newman, which of course, I have. But beneath his question, and in his eyes was the suggestion that I should "read Newman", and then do what he did: become Roman Catholic. But why do that, or why read Newman at all, or the Bible at all, or do anything if "the Church is within you"?
To me, this catholic priest typified everything that is wrong with the church today: no missionary sense; heretical theology; no interest in souls; etc. He was just a corporate guy collecting a paycheck. Who knows how many people he is leading astray, or not even taking care of pastorally, at his parish?
For the record, the Church is not "within us", and we do have to go to church to be saved.
