Gatekeeping and Contemplation: Is the Church Its Own Worst Enemy?

A friend of mine posted the following fascinating observation recently on Facebook:

I am easing out of parish ministry because there are too many gatekeepers and not much interest in contemplative prayer.

The writer is a Catholic lay minister — but I have heard or read similar words from Protestants as well as Catholics, from clergy as well as laypersons.

I think this points to a serious problem within the institutional form of Christianity. The church gets so wrapped up in gatekeeping — in deciding who’s in and who’s...