The Temptation
There is always a temptation to focus on what leaders of the Church are doing. When they say something or do something scandalous, we allow this to color our perception of the Church herself. This temptation is powerful because it fixes our attention on what is superficial rather than on what is essential.
This was also the error of many who observed Jesus. They complained about this or that teaching, this or that practice. They were scandalized that He associated with sinners (cf. Matthew 9:11; Luke 15:1–2). They saw His actions, but missed something far deeper.
So the question that presents itself to every Christian is unavoidable: what do you do when you are scandalized? Do you remain, or do you leave?
In the end, these are the only two real options. Even though some attempt to occupy a strange middle position—remaining outwardly while living in a perpetual state of protest, like standing by the door refusing either to enter fully or to walk away—the reality remains the same. There is no true third option. One either remains or leaves.
If one chooses to leave, then one must eventually answer a serious question: when Christ asks why, what answer will suffice?
A Question That Must Be Faced
This reflection is not written to point fingers or to mock struggling consciences. Judgment and death come once to every man (cf. Hebrews 9:27), which is why questions of eternal destiny deserve honesty and sobriety. None of us can afford to treat them lightly.
To answer this question rightly, we must return to a moment in the Gospel where many faithful disciples faced a similar crisis.
The Error of Human Judgment
The common error in moments of scandal is not simply emotional weakness, but the quiet elevation of human judgment above divine authority. Many who encountered Christ verified His words and actions according to their own reasoning. As long as what He said fit within their expectations, they followed. When He spoke or acted in a way they could not accept, they concluded that they had sufficient grounds to leave.
Others trusted their understanding in a subtler way. They believed in Jesus, but only on their own terms—sorting through His actions, weighing His words, approving some and rejecting others—rather than asking the one decisive question that mattered above all: Who is this Man?
When personal judgment becomes the final court of appeal, obedience is always postponed, and faith is reduced to agreement.
The Crisis of John 6
In John chapter 6, Christ delivers what is perhaps His most difficult and scandalous teaching: that His followers must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood (cf. John 6:53–56). To Jewish ears, this was not merely hard, but shocking. The Mosaic Law strictly forbade the consumption of blood as a ritual matter, since life was believed to reside in the blood (cf. Leviticus 17:10–14). Christ’s words therefore sounded offensive and even unlawful to those who heard Him.
As a result, many of His disciples withdrew.
“After this many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him.” — John 6:66
It is important to note that many who left were not hardened sinners. They loved Jesus. They wanted to follow Him. They believed, however, that He was leading them away from God, and so they left Him for the sake of what they thought was fidelity. They trusted their own understanding more than His identity.
Peter’s Answer and the Logic of Faith
After many had departed, Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked the most decisive question of all:
“Do you also wish to go away?” — John 6:67
Peter’s response reveals the true logic of faith:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” — John 6:68–69
Peter does not say, “We understand You.” He does not say, “This makes sense now.” He does not say, “We agree with everything.”
His faith rests on one foundation alone: who Jesus is.
For Peter, the decisive question is not whether the teaching is immediately intelligible, but whether Jesus is who He claims to be. If He is, then there is nowhere else to go. Understanding may come later, or it may never come, but obedience must come immediately. This same logic must govern our relationship to the Church.
Applying This Logic to the Church
When someone says, “The Church did this,” or “The Church taught that,” or “The Church failed here,” the deeper question must always be asked: is the Church what she claims to be?
If the Catholic Church is founded by Christ, sustained by Him, and protected by His promises—including His promise that He will never leave her (cf. Matthew 28:20)—then leaving her can never be justified. But if she is not what she claims to be, then no one should be Catholic at all.
There is no middle ground.
Either Christ is God and demands absolute obedience, or He should be avoided entirely. Either the Catholic Church is His Church and all should enter her, or she is a fraud and no one should join her. It is all or nothing.
Patterns That Must Be Resisted
Certain recurring patterns emerge whenever scandal becomes an excuse for separation.
First, failing to ask the right question. Do not get lost in secondary details. Ask the fundamental question of identity. If Christ is God, worship must begin immediately. Saying Jesus is God while rejecting His words is a contradiction. The same logic applies to the Church.
Second, Christian agnosticism. This is the belief that all churches are equally acceptable. Christ willed one Church and founded one (cf. Matthew 16:18; John 17:21).
Third, treating Christ’s promises as conditional. Christ never said He would remain with His Church only if certain people behaved well. His promise was absolute:
“And behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” — Matthew 28:20
This promise was not made only to the Apostles as individuals, but to the Church they represent, which will endure until the end of the age.
Fourth, placing personal judgment above God’s. Peter sank amid the waves because he yielded to fear. Saul placed his own reasoning above obedience to God because he believed he could honor God better in his own way. In the end, obedience to God and faith in His word proved far more valuable than personal judgment, because God sees all things before issuing His command. Nothing can take Him by surprise.
If I Died in the Church
But what if there truly were grave problems in the Church, and I died within her?
Then I could stand before the tribunal of God in humility, acknowledging my own sins and failures, and say without presumption:
“Lord, I was confused by the many options before me. But I strove to obey Your word rather than my own. I remained where You told me to remain instead of choosing something new. I trusted those whom You appointed rather than self-proclaimed teachers. I believed Your prayer for unity rather than attaching conditions to it. I trusted that You would not abandon Your Church. Do not let my trust in You fail me.”
And this trust would make perfect sense.
If I Leave
But if I left, I would be saying that I believed the Catholic Church to be true, yet judged her unworthy of my trust; that I accepted Christ’s divinity, yet doubted the endurance of His promises; that “I am with you always” did not really mean always, but only under conditions I personally approved.
If Christ is truly God, then His promises cannot fail. And if He founded the Catholic Church, then no rival body can claim equal authority.
What About Sin in the Church
God does not abandon His people because of sin. He comes to rescue them from it. Israel was repeatedly unfaithful, yet God remained faithful (cf. Hosea 11:8–9).
Christ entered a genealogy marked by adulterers, murderers, and grave sinners (cf. Matthew 1). Sin did not nullify God’s covenant; it occasioned redemption. This is why the Church dares to sing at the Easter Vigil:
“O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” — Exsultet
This does not praise sin. It praises the mercy of God. Sin does not drive Christ away from where He has promised to remain; it draws Him nearer.
The Church can fail pastorally. She can govern poorly. Her members can sin grievously. But she cannot formally teach error in matters that lead souls to salvation, because this protection rests not on human virtue but on Christ Himself, who is Truth (cf. John 14:6).
As Pope Pius XII taught:
“Christ loves the Church as His Bride, and He wills that she remain holy and undefiled.” — Mystici Corporis Christi
Conclusion
Concern for the Church can be virtuous. But concern must never become separation. A troubled heart before hard teachings is natural. Yet the decisive question remains the same, whether of Christ or of His Church: Is He who He says He is? Is she who she says she is?
If Christ is God, He must be trusted above all things. And if the Church is His, fidelity demands that we remain.
In the end, everyone makes a leap of faith. It is either faith in the word of God and His promises, even when they seem unlikely, or trust in our own judgments because they feel easier. But our judgments cannot ultimately support themselves. God, however, has the power to back up His promises and to keep them, even when everything appears to stand against them.
Faith is not required when obedience is easy. Faith is demanded when obedience is not merely hard, but impossible. God does not utter meaningless words. His word is power. You exist because of His word and are sustained by it. Where else could you possibly place your faith?
May we never be found absent from the place where He promised to remain.
“Come, Lord Jesus!” — Revelation 22:20
