All true religious communities seek the same - they seek not to convert people by missionary work to their own position but only seek to help individuals to see joy and truth directly and so be able wisely to choose the manner of their own living, loving and worship.
the Church (as institution) is not the point of faith and religion; it is only, at best, a practical aide which can help facilitate a direct experience of the Divine and which can then help us act better and more practically in the world through collective endeavour.
we must not confuse Church as institution with the ‘real work that is to be done.‘
Religion (true Religion) is direct insight into, or intuition of, the universe in which all illusory subject and object relations disappear.
Unless the Church (or for that matter any other religious body of whatever stripe) helps us achieve, or at least help us to position ourselves better to “find the point from which one’s relationship to the infinite can be discovered” - then ditch it right now.
any individual makes a terrible mistake if they try to experience all the mysteries at once. Good churches and spiritual teachers (which includes Welch himself of course) know that their purpose is to guard the mysteries - i.e. to reveal them ‘slant’ and slowly to the genuine seeker of truth so that they don’t go and blow their minds and blind themselves by the truth which they are not yet quite ready to see in all its fullness
A responsible religion, church or teacher must, therefore, guard the mysteries yet, through careful measured exposition, also ensure that they are constantly revealing them.
adopt and practise a particular position that paradoxically enables you to understand God or Nature, the Divine Unity, as NO position; no subject, no object no Christian, no Muslim, no Jew, no Buddhist nor Hindu; no atheist and no theist.
I’m very much with Wienpahl on this, that “the point is not to identify reality with anything except itself” and any religious tradition worth its salt is only ultimately concerned to help its adherents experience this reality itself and not its own transient and wholly incomplete expression of that reality.
take the same long road and to take your time and choose well your companions, that is to say your church and teachers. I am here to help you make sure they are, in fact, helping you encounter truth even though it be slowly and ‘slant.’ Remember, if they are doing their job well, they do this, not to keep you from the truth, but so that you may find it by not being blinded too early in your journey and wandering off lost, into the desert.
References
Brown, Andrew James. “Epiphany - Guard the Mysteries! Constantly Reveal Them!” Caute, 6 Jan. 2008, https://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/2008/01/epiphany-guard-mysteries-constantly.html.