An Imperfectly Run Church

From Elizabeth Scalia, who blogs as The Anchoress:

And if you’re a Catholic and you believe in the One, Holy, Apostolic church — the Eucharistic church and that whole bit about Jesus and Peter and the Keys to the Kingdom, and the gates of hell not prevailing, then just look at history — understand with clarity that the church has never been perfect, not from day one, when its Keymaster lied three times and all its priests but one ran away. Remember that in 2000 years, unrest and reform, scandal and more unrest have been the norm, and that those cozy nostalgic glory days of the mid-20th century were quite the aberration.

And then have a little charity for your imperfectly-administered church; she is hobbled by that humanity in which we all have a share — broken, faulty and sinful — but she is divinely ordained, and chugs along by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And we know that with certainty, thanks to how imperfectly-run she is. Without the Holy Spirit, we’d never have lasted this long.