We were called, by the Second Vatican Council, to be "alert to the signs of the times;" but the difficult question is always, 'how does one interpret those signs?' One man's interpretation is another man's prejudice. St. Vincent of Lerins would tell us a "sure and certain way:" - the "teaching of Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Catholic Church." I have been struck, in recent weeks, how a whole series of "signs" seem to be converging; some distinctly local, some national and some international. On the local stage is the news of the latest Gallup poll which designates Vermont the "least religious State in the Union." For many, that is hardly news. What is interesting is that all the other "least religious States" are in New England. What we are observing, as a "sign of the times," is the rapid secularization of the North-East. The story that is not really being faced by the Church is that this decline is principally because of Catholics leaving the Church. No interpretation so far..... Link this with the number of Catholics - Mass-going and 'former,' - who voted for Obama - the most pro-abortion candidate who has ever stood for the office of President in US history. No interpretation so far.....Link this with the increasingly hostile and vicious attacks on the Holy Father as he tries to reconcile those groups who have been out of communion with the Church for some considerable time. Link this with priests, "prominent Catholics," and even bishops who are openly hostile to the whole papacy of Benedict XVI.......No interpretation so far.......
No interpretation, but some questions: 'ad intra' - are we actually experiencing the long predicted and long gestating schism - which is actually not a schism, because the heretics do not break away, but try and take over the Church - cf: 3rd Century and Arius? 'Ad intra' - in the North-East: while we try and entice people back to Mass (one deanery in a North-Eastern diocese even suggested "more guitar music" - like, far-out, man - circa 1971 - that really worked!) have we any sense of the urgent need to re-evangelize those already IN the pews, long before we bring anyone back. Not only that - but will we bring them all Benedict is really trying to bring - the "reform of the reform" - quality in EVERYTHING - music, preaching, beauty, transcendence? - or do they come back to everything they left in 1996 - or '83, or '77? 'Ad intra' - the Obama vote? -Preaching and teaching office of Bishop, Priest and Deacon - enough said!
'Ad extra' - the growing secular hostility : some words from my friend Hilaire Belloc, in one of his letters to Mrs Raymond Asquith, December 17th, 1927:
"They of the Faith are not supported. We are rare, few and alone. It adds immensely to the difficulty of the defence. For, to have a society about one is to breathe an air. From that air we are cut off, and we lack its sustenance. The more glory. Remember that this holding of the outposts is not only a great task but also by far the most fruitful one."
7 comments:
Father,
To start your evangelization of the pews through quality in everything, you could've started tonight with a full out mass of the Purification/Presentation, candlelit procession and all, proclaiming Christ as a light to the revelation of the gentiles, at the time you were writing this post! :P Just a thought.
And why is this beautiful and ancient feast often overlooked in the novus ordo realm???
Next year! And you can come and do the music!
Sure thing Father! :P
You know I would if I could, and it made me sad this year that I didn't get to go to a mass for this feast myself. I had two choir rehearsals that night. For some reason St John's didn't have an evening mass with the candle procession this year. I somewhat associate this feast and the feast of st blaise with my birthday, since they are so close together, and there really isn't any saint on my birthday, at least in the new calendar. As a singer, what better saint to adopt than st. Blaise? :)
"while we try and entice people back to Mass (one deanery in a North-Eastern diocese even suggested "more guitar music" - like, far-out, man - circa 1971 - that really worked!)" Hope it wasn't my Deanery!! LOL....
"have we any sense of the urgent need to re-evangelize those already IN the pews, long before we bring anyone back."
This statement says it all!
I would also like to thank you for your article on Bl. von Galen in the last Tribune, if only all Catholics lived by his motto! :-)
Yes Father, it’s really difficult to read the ‘signs of the times’. I suspect that throughout the history of the Church there have been many ‘signs’ that people tried to interpret – the destruction of Jerusalem, assorted heresies, the Great Schism – not to mention the ‘Spirit of Vat II’…:)
I’ve lost track of the number of times the Jehovah’s Witnesses have ‘predicted’ the end of the world! Even the Apostles seem to have thought that the End was Near in their day…
While we should take note of what is happening around us, I’m also conscious of Our Lord’s warning about “an evil generation seeking a sign…”
But regardless of whether the Final Conflict is imminent or not, we know that our own end will come (and some of us are closer to it than others…). And, contra Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way”, we pray that we will be found to have lived our lives…His way!
Father, it actually isn't just Catholics leaving the Church. Protestants, particularly of the mainline variety are experiencing the same phenomenon. Even within the fundamentalist evangelical world it is happening as well. I spent my children's growing up years involved with a group of Christian homeschoolers and despite careful parenting, intense Christian education, and faithful Christian parents there are a number of the kids who are not at present practicing Christians. Interestingly, in that group the Catholic kids have stayed the most faithful.
There are all kinds of forces pulling people away from God and we live in one of the more difficult parts of the country to be sure. What I have observed, however, is that it is important for parents to continually model for their children a lifestyle that is counter to the culture, while not being so counter that the kids feel ostracized. If we have Christianity plus materialism as our way of life we will appear to our kids to be not all that different from the non-Christian materialists. We don't all have to look like the Duggers, but we do need to take seriously the call to not be conformed to the world.
Habitual Christians (the ones whose faith consists primarily of attending church on Sunday) may have raised more habitual Christians in previous generations. The current generation of young adults is more all or nothing than that. If they are Christian they are devoutly so, they aren't simply habitual Christians. We may be facing a smaller Church, but it may well be a stronger Church. In the past pastors have counted on young people drifting away and then returning as they began to raise their own children. That may still be happening in some places, but in mainline Protestantism to a large extent it is not. The kids who left have not raised their kids Christian at all (save for Christmas presents).
Catholic parishes seem to be one generation back, in that there are still parents who send their kids for First Communion and Confirmation prep even though their faith is not a routine part of their lives. If what happened in the Protestant world is any example, these kids who've simply been run through the system will be the ones who in 10 years are so are refusing to get married in the Church or raise their own kids Catholic. We need to teach, not just the kids during these times of preparation, but the parents as well. Kids who come to confirmation classes with no real understanding of why their parents even want them there (since they don't even attend Mass) are far less ready to truly be open to reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. I know that I've encountered a number of adult baptized Catholics who have said that they don't care whether their kids go to Church after being confirmed, they just want them to "get all their sacraments in". It seems like a cultural attitude that is the result of not understanding what the sacrament is about. I'm not sure how pastors can deal with that, but requiring RCIA type instruction for all parents who are having their first child go through the Confirmation or First Communion process might be a beginning. Guitar Masses won't do it.
Let me just say that Liz, I agree whole heartedly that we need to teach the parents while we are teaching the children. Up here in the northeast that generation was given the shaft largely when it came to catechism classes atleast in my neck of the woods. Today's parents had the experimental catechism classes frought out of desperation and lack of help. There are no easy answers that's for sure. Just the remembrance that if we spend our lives trying to do his work, that in his time, hopefully this trend will be reversed.
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