Years ago there were a few practices that were forbidden in the Church, but they were still happening, and in many places. Eventually they got "grandfathered in" because they had become so widespread that it was apparently easier to change the rules than to enforce them. This practice is not only horrible for parents with their children, but it is also horrible when clergymen do it in the Church. The three practices of this sort that I am thinking about right now are altar girls, communion being received in the hand, and extraordinary ministers of holy communion. Anything that starts in disobedience should automatically be suspect.
At my Ordinariate parish, I can be a bit more bold with things like this (when I need to) than I can in a diocesan parish (largely because the others are not my jurisdiction--I am serving "out of bounds"). That said, however, the Ordinariate does not allow altar girls, and I serve communion by intinction at St. George parish (the latter of which makes both communion in the hand and communion ministers impossible). These three "disobediences converted into obediences" are not, however, what I am actually wanting to discuss. Rather, I want us each to think about the fact that "winking" at and ignoring disobedience for so long will eventually create a culture that thinks rule-breaking itself to be no big deal.
If these wrongful practices happened so much that they were eventually more common than the right practice, then that means that many people grew up with disobedience as a norm. They became so used to "letting it slide" that after a time that practice is certain to slip into other areas of life. There are, of course, some areas that we are supposed to be willing to compromise (especially when we are being wrongfully stubborn); outright disobedience, however, is never one of them. Once compromise becomes common in our practice, and we continue to allow it, then we will find it easier and easier to compromise in more and more important areas of life.
The big issue here is not the manner in which the laity are encouraged to compromise. No, instead it is the fact that the clergy have become soft on compromise. Who was it, after all, that was encouraging the practice of having altar girls, communion in the hand, and lay communion ministers years ago when it was forbidden? Although there may have been some laity who sought it out, things like that come from the priests and bishops first. They are the ones who said, "let's try it this way" knowing already that it was against the rules (I am going to presume that they knew it, because the only other presumption is that they were foolishly ignorant of what is right and wrong in the Mass!).
Therefore, if it was the clergy who promoted this compromise in the Mass (the most important thing we do in love of our Lord here on Earth), then should we really be surprised that many of the same clergy are the ones who were "looking the other way" at compromise of sexual ethics? Sodomy does not just happen "ex nihilo". It is the result of earlier compromise in other areas of God's law (and in spite of how grave sexual sin is, between the two, compromise in the liturgy is more grave than compromise in sexuality). So they had already been practicing compromise in how they behave toward God. As a result, it was an easy step to begin compromising in how they behave toward their fellow men (and I do mean "men").
I am sure that there were many more areas of compromise that occurred in the Church in the 20th century, and I am only picking on a few that are still causing problems today. Yet, we all must acknowledge that compromise leads to more compromise; it is the nature of the beast (and the devil loves to encourage it). That is the whole point with the issue of compromise: it is a slippery slope that perpetuates itself, and it can be seen easily in this instance.
So then, you may be asking, what is the solution to this issue? There are many that have been put forward; some good, some hideous (here is a good one). The obvious solution is to stop compromising. This means that we need to make the conscious decision to do things as we are expected to and not seek to improve upon God. The consequence of this decision is to stop disrespecting God, as so often happens in the modernist and casual performance of the Mass. Return to reverence, return to complete obedience. Say the black, do the red; as I like to say.
This is not a "quick fix" because it takes time for hearts to change. It is, however, a genuine solution. I have been saying it for years now, but maybe our current crisis (and it is a crisis) will help everyone to see that things will not change until people change. Reverence for God is the necessary foundational attitude of our hearts that impacts everything we do, and if we do not truly reverence Him (especially in the Mass) then we cannot truly be obedient to Him (in any area of life). It is time to stop compromising; it is time to quit winking at breaking the rules and acknowledge that we are called to genuine faithfulness. Without faithfulness, our crises will just get worse.
