Recently, on more than one occasion, I have heard people refer to the different viewpoints of the Catholic church of which I will refer to as the interior and the exterior (see: Ken Wilber; Integral Theory ). The first view is the one I am most familiar with as I grew up in the Catholic faith: going to church on Sunday morning or Saturday evening, catechism Saturday morning, Lent in the spring, praying to the rosaries, and generally feeling guilty about anything that felt good. This view represents the collective grassroots view of social justice, strengthening our communities, care for God's planet, and tenacious regard for the poor. More than anything, this view is guided by the seven key themes of Catholic social teaching. This is the interior view.
The other view is based on the hierarchical structure of the Catholic church: the pope, bishops, clergy, Vatican I, Vatican II, the Council of Trent, priestly pedophilia, and Dan Brown novels. This is the view I came to become aware of when I came to live among a myriad of Protestants. This is the exterior view. Of the many laughable misconceptions I heard about Catholics, the one overarching theme was the lack of dissension among parishioners. The prevailing assumption seems to be that if one disagrees with the pope on any one issue, they would simply abandon their religion for a more convenient one. Therefore, any Catholic they meet stands behind every decision of the Pope 100 percent.
Working in a Baptist organization and attending several Protestant worship services gave me the opportunity to have both interior and exterior views of this branch of Christianity. I observed that many Protestants will often change churches solely based on proximity, even switching to a different branch of Protestantism without batting an eye. In reality, there is often little difference between the services of many Protestant churches. I think this explains their reluctance to accept a dissenting Catholic willing to stick by their church when there are other options.
In actuality, I know very few Catholics who will stand behind every decision of the pope, and they're fine with that. They are more interested in applying the themes of social teaching into their daily lives or acting as an agent of change to the churches' positions with which they disagree.
As with most cases of conflict, both parties' unwillingness to subject themselves to both interior and exterior views creates a lack of understanding. One view is not complete without the other.
