In the course of a half century, I have seen more Christian corruption than
you have read of. I have tasted it. I have been reasonably corrupt myself.
And yet, I love this church, this living, pulsing, sinning people of
God with a crucifying passion. Why?
For all the Christian hate, I experience here a community of love.
For all the institutional idiocy, I find here a tradition of
reason.
For all the individual repressions, I breathe here an air
of freedom.
For all the fear of sex, I discover here the redemption of my body.
In an age so inhuman, I touch here tears of compassion.
In a world so grim and humorless, I share here rich joy and earthy
laughter.
In the midst of death, I hear an incomparable stress on life.
For all the apparent absence of God, I sense here the real presence of
Christ.
Walter Burghardt, S.J.
