Four Urban Legends of Catholicism.

A few years back, the Archdiocese of Boston announced that every parish was going to be secretly visited by Chancery cronies (hostile to moral theology) to be scored on the culture of 'welcoming'. Banal conduct guidelines were circulated and the faithful experienced a six month period of insufferable behavior from a plethora of priests competing to be profiled in the Pilot as the best religious entertainment performers and freshest donuts in the Archdiocese.

Monsignor Pope's article on the 4 errors to avoid in Proclamation of the Faith sheds light on the follies of creating a culture where the tenets of the Catholic religion is the enemy of 'welcome'.

As in a doctor’s office, welcoming people with warm greetings has its place, but eventually, it’s time to get down to the business of speaking the truth, of warning against sin and summoning to virtue, of calling for repentance and warning of consequences. This is what love does. It speaks the truth and warns of error and the many rabbit holes of half-truths and compromise. Love warns that embracing such things makes salvation difficult—even doubtful.

Monsignor Pope debunks four common excuses given for marginalizing and silencing Church teaching.

1. It isn't welcoming
2. Jesus was welcoming
3. Exhaustive theological dissertations are necessary for people to understand.
4. Not offending people is of utmost importance.
Monsignor Pope brilliantly observes:

Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion that holds that mere feelings reveal reality and truth; most often this is a fallacy.

Best thing I ever did for myself was refuse to settle for a parish serving Chicken Soup for the Soul instead of Sanctifying Grace. Don't settle!