The Church Museum or Hospital?

Protestants are fond of the saying: "The Church is not a Museum for Saints but a Hospital for Sinners. "

However they analogy misses the point and in fact is a reflection of misunderstanding, which is of course what Protestantism is.


The Catholic Church is neither museum nor hospital.  It is the Kingdom of God on earth. It is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It is it's own entity, thus there is no analogy. Saints heal and a statue or painting of their image helps us to remember and reflect on them. Indeed it also helps us to honor them. It is the kingdom of God on earth saying "well done good and faithful servant."  As the kingdom of God on earth "You are Peter and upon this rock I shall build my church I give to you the keys to the Kingdom, whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven to thus honor those who have transcended from God's earth bound kingdom to His heavenly Kingdom is perfectly appropriate and necessary. Thus the Kingdom of God/heaven on earth was founded by Jesus Himself and represents a junction a mystical union between the two Kingdoms -- the kingdom of God/Heaven on earth and the Kingdom of God/heaven in Heaven. This is how Our Lord fashioned it. To call the Church a museum or a hospital is to render it strictly earthly which is to miss the meaning of the word Church and what Jesus did -- what in fact his mission was that is to found his Kingdom on earth -- the Church. There are museums and there are hospitals and there is The Catholic Church there is no appropriate analogy.