Being Catholic AND Quaker

Well, I don't know how this is going to work, but I've decided to put the Bible Study on a separate blog that is linked to this page, but not on this page. This is partly so I can continue having a blog that is completely dedicated to the reading and study of the Bible, but also have space to have posts on other things. So Catholic-Quaker will be a place I can post my ideas about other things.

How is it possible to consider oneself a Roman Catholic AND and Friend/Quaker? I consider the Catholic Church to be the original home of the gospel of Christ at least in the west. The Eastern Orthodox Churches go back to the beginning too, but I am from the western world. The separation of church and secular state is something achieved by the church in the west and I think that was a good thing. There is a lot of history and a lot of religious diversity within the Catholic Church that a lot of people don't appreciate. There is a deep tradition of mysticism and many stories of individuals feeling "called" by God to live out their faith in different ways. As my husband once said, I am drawn by the history and the mystery of the church.

Then how can I be a Quaker as well? Quakers arose in 17th c. England in a landscape of religious ferment brought on by the Protestant Reformation. With the rebellion of Martin Luther and the crumbling of church unity that came as a result of his prophetic call, the political ferment of the times, the revolutionary role of the printing press and people's access to the Scriptures and the church's inability or unwillingness to respond constructively, a whole array of new voices emerged and many groups that believed that they had recovered a vision of the gospel that was truer, more faithful than what the church was teaching. I think that many if not most of these voices were authentically prophetic and should have been listened to better. George Fox was one of these voices, and his vision of Christ's gospel - the new covenant and "gate" or portal into the Kingdom of God - as a way we could truly enter into Life as God meant us to live it. The difference between Fox's message and the messages of St. Francis or probably many other holy people was the this was a way not just for those who committed to "religious life" as the Catholic Church understood it - it was for all lay people who wished to live the consecrated life.