John 6 in Our Day

I have been carrying around this thought for over a decade:

As a result of this hard teaching [just pick one], many of the Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans and Evangelicals returned to their former pagan way of life and no longer accompanied him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

Benedict XVI answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans and many Evangelicals have walked away from the hard teachings of Christ on a whole number of issues: WO, abortion, divorce and remarriage, and now gay marriage and gay ordination. To find the Evangelicals walking away from the Gospel teachings on sexuality, just look at the emergents.

The Catholic Church, particularly in the figure of the pope, stands in the place of Peter who answers for the rest of the apostles “Master, to whom shall we turn? You have the words of everlasting life.” The Catholic Church stands fast on the hard teachings through thick and thin, for better or worse, like a bride for her groom.

And who are most of us Catholics? Are we one of the apostles? Many of us are among those also leaving Jesus on some hard teachings. But a growing number of us are like the few disciples emboldened to stay with Jesus by the prophetic words of Peter.