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Bill Cork’s leaving the Church
Posted May 9, 2007 , By Joshua LeBlanc
As many know Bill Cork has left the Church to return to his childhood religion of Adventism. I haven’t posted on it for many reasons, but the #1 reason is because since I found out I have been in a state of complete disbelief and true sadness. I have learned in my life there are many things that sadden the human person, but nothing saddens the soul such as when someone leaves the faith. Honestly, this is the one thing that has been on my mind since Sunday and this has forced me to constantly pray and ask for God’s love upon Bill and his family. I know that making such a decision is never easy and it has been my experience that many leave the Church because they have been hurt by those who are to be in her service — whether it be a bishop, a priest, etc. I too have never experienced hurt and disappointment like I have except because of the Church, but my faith remains because I do not place my faith in individuals, but in Christ and the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church He established.
I don’t know the reasons Bill left, but I suspect he was hurt in someway by someone in the Church and since he worked in the chancery, the likelihood of that is double. For some reasons the places you expect to be the most Catholic are often those places that end up hurting you the most.
I too worked at a place where I expected it to be a Catholic wonderland — I expected everyone to be rooted in their Catholic faith and to be filled with the love of Christ. Instead, I got the cross. Never in my life have I been so persecuted by those I considered to be my own. Never have I experienced such revilement and hatred. There are so many reasons I could have left the faith, but there are so many reasons to remain. My emotions were telling me that all these people were hypocrites and if this is the way the real Catholic world is then "to hell with them." But alas, I knew that even though my emotions were experiencing something heavy at that time, the knowledge of the way things should be, the way the Church wants them to be, remains. Emotions may run high and low, but in the end the Truth remains and is unwavering.
Bill, if you happen to be reading this, I’m sure I cannot know the true pain you must have experienced in the Church that would lead you to leave. But I know that pain coupled with the fact that your entire family is basically Adventist made that proposition very attractive. I don’t know if anyone has said this to you, but I am sorry. I am sorry for the hurt and disappointment you experienced while you were here. I think we all too have experienced this hurt and disappointment at some point and I’m truly sorry.
Instead of tearing Bill for leaving the faith, we instead should be intently praying for him and asking ourselves "What led this to happen?" This is not a unique thing to Bill, but many have experienced it as well.
Fr. Mitch Pacwa once told me that he has never met a Protestant who left their faith and become Catholic that has hated the tradition in which they came from but almost every Catholic who has become Protestant hates the Catholic faith with a vengeance. I think we find the reason is because so many have been hurt by members of the Church.
With regard to human suffering, I believe it was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said "If this is how God treats his friends, no wonder he has so many enemies." Human suffering and pain is a mirror of the Cross and it is my opinion that the amount of suffering of the world is directly parallel to the amount of holiness in the world. Redemptive suffering brings about holiness and at the end of the day, when someone spits on me and slaps me on the cheek, I hope that I am often able to turn and give them the other and unite it to the sufferings of Christ. Accepting the hatred and plain meanness of others builds up humility in ourselves and ultimately is something that leads us closer to Christ.
Hat tip to Mark Shea, who I think says everything that needs to be said about Bill and his situation. Bill I’m praying for you and I hope everyone in heaven, purgatory and earth is as well. This is the Communion of Saints.
Topics: Commentary |
May 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for posting this, Josh.
A seminarian at the NAC who is now a priest once told me - before I entered the seminary - something I’ll never forget: “I love the Church, but she can be a real you-know-what to work for.” Of course, it’s ultimately worth it in the end (and where shall we go, anyway?), but there are times when even our faith is tried and tested.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Good post, Josh.
Many of us have experienced disappointment (and worse) within the Church. For some, the more Catholic the workplace, the more intense and bitter the disappointment. God knows, perhaps we ourselves at one time or another (in cyberspace or in the real world) have unknowingly been an occasion for disappointment to some of our fellow believers.
Theologically, we understand these disappointments as a manifestation of the humanity that is intrinsic to the Body of Christ and God’s plan for salvation and some of us half-jokingly point to the Church’s greatest disappointments as the greatest signs of God’s providential role in the Church’s continued flourishing throughout the millennia.
Emotionally, it still hurts and so we turn to God “who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (1 Cor 1:4)
August 27th, 2007 at 3:25 am
I don’t understand why pain is a prerequisite for leaving the Catholic Church.
It was not pain that prompted Bill to leve the Adventist church while he was a college student.
It was a search for truth.
Each of us travels such a personal journey.
As Aslan said to Lucy about Susan, “each has his own story.”
It is not a church, of any name or sort, that offers salvation, but a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I was born a Methodist, married an Adventist, personally came to Christ as a Baptist, and accepted the Sabbath, which led to my becoming an Adventist, about 1978.
My wife and I have five sons. One is Lutheran. Two are Catholic. Two are Adventist. Do you really think I love one more than the other…do you think God loves one more than the other?
I believe God is bigger than denominational differences.
And the church of Jesus Christ is one that transcends the walls men build.
Bob Cork…Bill’s father