Does the Church Ask Too Little of Us?

The Anchoress looks at something I’ve thought about for a while now: does Catholicism ask too little of us?

It is striking to consider that while some in the church are suggesting that we need to require less of people, we are losing members to religions that are perceived to require “more” of them — particularly as pertains to prayer and fasting, and even to what people wear. …

So, what are the failings of Catholicism, here? Why are Latino men and women moving toward Mormonism and Islam, and away from the church?

Is the big failing that the Church doesn’t really “require” prayer of anyone, as long as they’re attending Sunday Mass, and that its fasting is not challenging enough to seem meaningful because it misses a real element of sacrifice borne out of love?

I’ve personally found that as you get deeper and deeper into the tradition and teaching of the Church, you find that there is more and more asked of you, but the fact remains that there is very little required of you.

The Liturgy of the Hours​ are not seriously proposed for the laity. When we resurrected Sunday Vespers in our parish – just for Lent, mind you – it was practically revolutionary.

The requirements of the Lenten fast have been diluted over the centuries, to the point that it isn’t really “fasting” at all.

The Eucharistic fast (fast before receiving Communion) has been whittled down to irrelevancy – from fasting from midnight to fasting for three hours to now just one hour. Given commuting time to your parish, the “fast” means you can still have breakfast before you leave for Sunday Mass. How is that a fast?

And don’t get me started on meatless Fridays.

The Second Vatican Council had an idea that Catholics needed and wanted to be treated as adults, able to make their own way, decide on their own “more meaningful” sacrifices than those proscribed by the church. That was part of the thinking behind the end of “meatless Fridays.”

But those Fridays already were meaningful; the fast was an offering and connection to the Crucifixion. It was also a cultural and community marker; a sign of unity.

When I was in RCIA ten years ago and more, we were taught the minimum requirements. This seems to be a disease in the Church; there are an awful lot of people who are only interested in doing the minimum required.

But if we are truly in love with Christ and His Church, won’t we want to do more than the minimum? Won’t we want to do everything we can to draw closer to the beloved?

How would your spouse feel if you were doing the absolute minimum for him or her? And what would that say about your relationship?