And Speaking of Ships
Diane sent me a recent post from Fr. Dwight Longnecker regarding the ship analogy for the Catholic Church. I believe this could properly be called a Biblical type or allegory; the fathers made the Noah's Ark/Church connection fairly early in the history of Christian biblical study. Noah's Ark no doubt smelled pretty badly long before the fortieth day. But if you can't stand the smell, the alternative was to jump out and drown.
Of course, you could also have opted to steal some of the material on board the ark and fashion a makeshift ark of your own, I suppose. I think there were a few famous guys who did that with some success.
Diane also included a poem inspired by Father's observation. I think it's very good.
It's Easy to be Pure by Diane
It's easy to be pure
When your church consists of four,
And one of them's your priest,
And two others are deceased.
It's easy to be pure
When your church is quite obscure
And minuscule and clannish –
And nobody speaks Spanish.
It's easy to be pure
When your church has closed the door
On the wandering and the weak
And all those who don't speak Greek.
It's easy to be pure
When your group splits more and more,
And each tiny splinter church
Won't show up in Google Search.
It's easy to be pure...
But you'd best make extra sure,
So, here's what you should do:
Start a church confined to YOU!