Anne Rice, Recooked

Many have been the blogs in recent days that have posted about Anne Rice's once again leaving the Catholic church (although this time not leaving her faith behind). Given the amount of discussion that has run around the blogosphere, I don't know if yet another post is in order, but, at risk of boring readers, I think I shall say a word or two on the topic. Rather than commenting on whether it is truly possible to follow Christ outside the church when He told us that we are His church (it does not seem possible, but God follows neither man's rules nor man's logic), whether Anne Rice is being used by evil forces to undermine the church, or whether this is a matter of stubborn unwillingness to accept that with which she disagrees, I would point out that this is not just her loss (aspects of which I am sure we could all quickly, or too quickly, point out), it is also our loss. Any member of our church is a member of our body. Losing a member of our body is a personal loss.

Losing a member of our body would indicate that we did not take good enough care of our body. Before conversion, I would take the high horse (I called it the high road), insisting that the rather frequent immoral and unkind behavior of those who called themselves God's people, regardless of their Abrahamic religious brand, evidenced for me the lack of a God and, if I were to be wrong, then this was not any kind of a god that I would care to know. I have since learned many things: (1) I was pretty ignorant and way too self-assured in my atheism, (2) we cannot judge God by those who claim to be His people, (3) there is no moral high road but only a meandering, thorny, narrow path that entrances and delights as well as pains and sorrows, a path so filled with wonder that I could never choose any other and regret not noticing earlier, and (4) as God's people, we have an obligation to take care of our personal physical and spiritual bodies as well as our greater Body. From my observation, we do better at the former than the latter.

Anne Rice's departure from our midst, i.e. the loss of a member of our Body, is a wake-up call. My beloved Fr. Terry always asks, "If someone knew you, would they want to know your God?" I think that is a question for us to reflect upon frequently.

Equally important is another question. Are we letting God direct our behavior and thoughts? It would seem Anne Rice is not, but the minute I would say that, I would be making one of those judgments that Jesus warned us against. I would also be presuming to know the will of God, which I do not and cannot know. God does move in mysterious ways. Perhaps Anne Rice is being used to catalyze us into taking better care of our Body, into humility, which requires us to put others first.

I cannot presume to know anything more than the fact that Anne Rice left the church again, at least for the moment. I do know one thing very clearly, though. Whether she is a prodigal daughter who will come home again, a straying sheep (oh, yes!, I was one of those for decades), an instrument of God, a tool of evil, or simply a confused soul does not matter. Present or absent, she is a member of our Body. We are not called to judge her, criticize her decision, or consider ourselves superior to her in our faith and obedience. We are called only to love her.