The Church: Mere Exclusion, or Inclusion Through Mission? by Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Nov. 01, 2022

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org.

I have written three times recently on the serious problem that the modern preoccupation with “inclusion” is creating for the Catholic Church today. In case you have missed this extended discussion:

• Catholic Exclusion: Drive out the wicked from among you (10/14/2022)

• The case for excommunication today (10/25/2022)

• Inclusive Church, uncertain trumpet (10/28/2022)

Nonetheless, as you might expect, there is much more that can be said about this general topic. And it seems to me that the two most important additional things that need to be brought into focus are the missionary character of the Church and the mercy of God. Because God’s mercy is bestowed above all through the missionary character of His Church, my focus here will be on mission. In other words, it must be understood that there is nothing in a necessary and healthy Catholic exclusivity which ought to even remotely suggest a smug membership which happily washes its hands of all those “outside”. In fact, the reality must be quite the contrary: The very exclusion which indicates a seriousness about what Catholics must believe in order to be part of the Church overflows by the very nature of the Gospel into a serious mission to bring others to an acceptance of this Faith.

Every Catholic, precisely by being baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, takes on a sacred responsibility to extend Christ’s fundamental call to all those who have not yet heard or accepted it:  ….

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