"I love the Church and honor what it has given the world — the comfort and strength it brought to countless struggling souls. But I have to ask: if a modern believer were transported back to the early Church, would their faith grow or shrink?

Today we see God as the Father of all humanity. Back then, His favor seemed reserved for church members only. Today we feel hope for all people. Back then, that hope stopped at the institution's walls.

Today we find God's glory in nature, in history, in the whole sweep of human experience. The old Church didn't deny this exactly — but it kept pushing you toward God in special places, special moments, and one narrow thread of sacred history.

In short, modern faith has gained a certain freedom and largeness. Carried back into the old Church, it would feel bound and artificial."