It’s time to begin a new series of ti morceaux. I’m in a little quandary as to the subject-matter, however. What a few people have asked about is some treatment of Church history. On the one hand, that appeals to me: I was a history major back at St. Joseph Seminary College (Class of 1975!), and have always loved learning about the past. I’m very convinced we learn from the past how to better live in and cope with the present.
Yet on the other hand, small vignettes of the Church’s history could turn out to be a long and tedious subject! It’s been more than 2,000 years since Jesus Christ was conceived and born, and a lot has happened in the 20-plus centuries since then! We don’t want to get “bogged down” in minutiae, like dates and wars and kings and saints!
But I think I can provide – in six to eight morceaux – a general overview of Church history, and then perhaps we can spend some time mentioning some particular characters and characteristics of the Church down through the centuries. Usually there are individuals – saints and sinners! – and issues which provide a good focus to what was going on more generally down through the years. This will let us not only deal with historical facts, but also the more interesting individuals who “have gone before us marked with the sign of faith” (Eucharistic Prayer I).
You’re probably thinking “OMG! How can this be done? You can’t compress 20-plus centuries into just a few morceaux!” Well, for years now I’ve offered an hour-long presentation to RCIA classes across the diocese on Church history, doing just that. I’ve got my notes and handouts from that mini-course. I think it can be done!
What makes it possible is that professional historians of the Church down through the years have categorized Church history into five main eras. If you get a good idea of the principal events and concerns of each era – including a few characteristic persons, sort-of the “movers and shakers” of each period of time – what seems like a complicated thing becomes much more manageable. Sure, it’s possible to go almost year-by-year, or place-by-place, trying to study each and every little thing that happened. But I never was much good with dates, and I find too many facts confusing. I’d rather have a broad understanding than try to memorize details! After the next few morceaux, you’ll be able to tell me if this is a good approach or not!
