Wanted: More Joyful Noise

Catholics nowadays are big on social media. They’re on Facebook, they’re on Instagram, they’re on Twitter...making a lot of noise.

Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of it is.

And not a good kind of “noise,” either.

What do I mean by this?

Repeating rumors.

Spreading sensationalism.

Infighting.

Setting up camps of “us” vs. “them”...within the Catholic faith.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of “them” within the Catholic faith right now who may be baptized, confirmed, and even faithful Mass-goers, but who have no concept of what the real Church teaches or what she believes and wants her members to believe. They practice a watered-down, “woke” version of Catholicism that would make the Church Fathers blanch and probably earn a whole epistle of remonstration from St. Paul. Worse, some of them are in charge of teaching others, and thus errors perpetuate.

Bad as all this is, however, we’re not going to change it by arguing about it on social media.

Or by hand-wringing. Or by mud-slinging. Or by bewailing.

What can change this situation?

A little more “joyful noise.”

By that, no, I don’t mean “contemporary” music in church. Or rock Masses. Or any of the innumerable strange happy-clappy liturgical “improvisations” that some clergy seem to find irresistible.

By that, I do mean more happiness in the pews...and beyond.

It’s a sad fact that I know a lot of very, very good Catholics who have all the good intentions in the world, all the piety one could ask for, and all the sincerity of a saint—but whose everyday life and projected demeanor wouldn’t make anyone want the faith they have.

They worry.

They fret.

They decry.

They denounce.

They are angry, and indignant, and in some cases, vitriolic.

All of which are not only unattractive...but are in fact violations of faith.

In other words, they’re sinful.

Of course, we can have legitimate anger or action or indignation at abuses, at defiance of Church teaching by public figures, or a thousand other things that we could, and should, take steps against. But when anger, and worry, and fretfulness, and vitriol become a way of life...?

That’s a danger zone.

Frankly, it’s a contradiction in terms to proclaim that Jesus is Lord of your life if you then worry incessantly about the “new world order,” or spread end-of-the-world rumors, or the like—with a furrowed brow, or a clenched jaw, or tension fairly radiating from your body.

Because that tells an onlooker that, in fact, for you...Jesus isn’t really Lord.

That, in some deep-seated way, you really don’t trust Him to fix any of this. And that the only way to change it, then, is to rail against it...

...all the time proclaiming you’re a weak, deplorable sinner who’s darned lucky He likes you.

To me, this is not the faith of the saints. Even the humblest and most intense ones.

And it shouldn’t be the way our faith “looks” to others, either.

Certainly, faith is more than appearances. But outward appearances that are glum, despairing, resigned, or cynical don’t bespeak faith. They bespeak the lack of same.

If we’re truly “more than conquerors,” shouldn’t we claim victories once in awhile?

If we truly do “know the end, and God wins,” shouldn’t we be happy about that?

If we truly believe that a heaven awaits us that is beyond anything we can ask or think, shouldn’t we talk about it as if we’re really looking forward to it?

And if we’re truly only “on our way home” during this earthly stay, shouldn’t that color our outlooks and give us a little bit of a larger and more positive perspective?

One thing that makes evangelical “faith” so attractive is that, by and large, evangelicals do all of the above. They proclaim that they’ve already won the battle. They declare that God is victorious, not just in the future, but today, in every second of every life. And they gleefully look forward to heaven. Yeah, some of them look forward to other things that aren’t Biblical—but no one can fault their manifestations of joy.

Inwardly, they might be just as sad, as angry, as scared, and as frustrated as we are. But outwardly? They keep claiming Christ’s victory. Because they surrender all that stuff, as best they can, and try to truly make Him Lord of all of it.

And that attitude—that “joyful noise”—draws people like whoa. While Catholics leave the Church...disappointed, disgruntled, dismayed. And, unfortunately, it’s because some of us are helping push them out.

An old adage says that the best advertisement for vocations is “a happy priest.”

Seems to me that—especially in this age of so much trial and trouble—the same ought to be able to be said for Catholics.

Belonging to the Church founded by Jesus Christ is supposed to be a joyful thing. So, please...let’s start at least acting like it is.

Eventually, maybe we’ll even believe it again.

And that kind of “joyful noise” can, and will, overcome the darkness.