Why Are Liberal Catholics Still Catholic?

The other night we watched Conclave, a movie about the selection of a new Pope. The basic story line is that a liberal Pope, much like Francis, has died and there is a struggle between liberal and conservative Cardinals to replace him.

My wife is a Lutheran. She found it entertaining. But I was raised in the Church and so this felt like a missed opportunity for what could have been a fascinating meditation on what it means to be a Catholic. Instead, the producers went total Hollywood on us. The conservative papal candidate is portrayed as pure racist, toxically male evil. He even smokes a cigar during the conclave and he’s mean to the help. And the ending is just goofy, aiming to win an Oscar by appealing to the latest Hollywood PC fashions.

A better film would have given the conservatives their due. The conservative argument goes something like this. The Church should not try to be something it’s not, which is modern and liberal. What makes the Church unique and what inspires its believers is its very unchangeability, its continuity over centuries. In a rapidly changing world, some people are looking for a safe port in the storm. The Church provides that.

For me this is an interesting academic debate. I’m no longer a Catholic, not just because I think the Church’s politics are ludicrous, but because I don’t accept the Church’s dogma and teachings. I just don’t buy any of it. I mean, I’m supposed to be drinking the blood and eating the body of a guy who died 2000 years ago? If any new sect made that claim there’d be dire warnings from parents and other responsible adults to stay away from that cult. Public health officials would be taking samples just to make sure none of this was too literal.

Here’s what I don’t entirely get, though. I have friends who are both liberal Democrats and devout Catholics. I keep wondering why they just don’t join the church that fits their beliefs. Episcopalians, for example, are essentially liberal Catholics. Some Lutheran sects would also fit the bill. And there’s always those Unitarians. Why stick with a church that goes out of its way to offend so many of your most dearly held values, like the right to reproductive choice and the equality of women and gays?

I suppose the answer is that this stuff is cultural as much as it is theological. It’s as much about fish fries and church festivals as it is about transubstantiation.

Still, in thinking about this I find myself reaching an unexpected conclusion. I’m kind of with the conservatives within the Catholic Church. They’re essentially saying, “Look, this is what we are. Take us or leave us.” I was more than happy to leave them, which I was free to do, and which every Catholic is free to do.

But I have no desire to change the Church any more than I desire to change Black Baptists or Orthodox Jews. It’s just not my fight. And, given the many options in faith or beyond faith, it’s not clear to me why liberal Catholics insist on being a living oxymoron. The Episcopalians could do well if they’d just start having some festivals.

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