Posted on 04/07/2015 3:13:37 PM PDT by Legatus
Despite the fact the New Evangelization has been an ongoing emphasis by the Catholic Church for over forty years, it has failed to stem the disastrous losses of the faithful in the U.S. Since 2000, 14 million Catholics have left the faith, parish religious education participation of children has dropped by 24%, Catholic school attendance has dropped by 19%, baptisms of infants has dropped by 28%, baptism of adults has dropped by 31% and sacramental Catholic marriages have dropped by 41%. Something is desperately wrong with the Church’s approach to the New Evangelization.
Of Mass and Men
One reason the New Evangelization is faltering is because it is missing men. The New Emangelization Project has documented the serious Catholic “man-crisis” in the United States. 1 in 3 baptized Catholic men have left the faith and of those who remain, 50-60% of them are “Casual Catholics”, men who don’t know and don’t practice the faith. Of those who practice the faith, many are lukewarm, not converted to the point of conviction, a conviction in which they are prepared to make disciples for Christ and His Catholic Church. The New Evangelization has largely ignored men, with no substantial or sustained efforts to directly confront the Catholic “man-crisis”.
The Catholic “man-crisis” matters. The souls of men matter and many are being lost; for example, two thirds of Christian men are looking at porn at least monthly and the numbers are much higher for younger men. The faith of the children matter and huge numbers of young people are leaving the faith because they have followed their fathers out of the Church. Without a New Emangelization in which millions of Catholic men become newly committed to Christ and His Church, there can be no New Evangelization.
While a complex set of forces have driven the Catholic “man-crisis”, including both massive cultural changes outside the Church and serious missteps within the Church, the lack of engagement of men in the Mass is a major contributing factor: men don’t understand the Mass and well-meaning, but misinformed priests in many parishes have de-sacralized the Mass causing many men to simply “drift away.”
Why is the Mass a key driver of the Catholic “man-crisis”? Research shows that almost 9 out of 10 Catholic men don’t participate in a Catholic activity outside of attending Mass; if men aren’t being reached in the Mass, they aren’t being reached. Only about 1/3 of Catholic men are attending Mass on a weekly basis. Only 1 in 50 Catholic men have a monthly practice of Confession, underscoring the fact that many are attending Mass without a proper preparation to receive the Eucharist. 48% of Catholic men are “bored” in the Mass and 55% of Catholic men don’t feel they “get anything out of the Mass.” These statistics confirm what dozens of the New Emangelization Project interviews with top Catholic men’s evangelists know: men don’t understand the Mass. No man can truly understand the Mass and be bored.
A Mass Conversion of Men is Needed
The word “conversion” comes from the Latin convertere, meaning to “turn around” and is related to the Greek word, metanoia, meaning “change of mind” (translated as “repentance” in the New Testament). Catholic men are in serious need of conversion.
A Mass Conversion of Men is needed. Millions of men (masses of men) need to have a conversion (change of mind/repentance) about the Sacrament of the Eucharist (the Mass). When there is a Mass Conversion of Men, a dramatic regeneration of the Church will occur. Men will approach the Mass with a new Grace-hungry mindset that recognizes Christ’s miraculous gift of the Eucharist and their desperate need for it. Men will begin to experience a conversion of heart and sacramentally prepare themselves for meeting Christ by going first to Confession. Men will have a deep understanding of the parts of the Mass and the profound significance of the words and gestures that are made during the Mass. Men will begin to accept a growing fullness of Grace available in the Eucharist and they will increasingly aspire to sainthood. Men will pass along their newfound reverence for Eucharist to their children through their awe, regular acceptance of the Eucharist and fervor to catechize their children.
A man-specific approach is needed. Rather than a gender-neutral catechetical approach, men will be renewed when men are gathered together by their priests and the Mass is presented to them in a masculine way. For example, the Church has a long history of speaking of the Church Militant and spiritual combat; if men have a renewed sense of the life and death spiritual battle, they will see their desperate need for the Mass. Men need to be challenged to fulfill their duty to lead their wives and children to Christ in the Mass. Rather than approaching the Mass as entertainment or self-gratification, men can be convinced about leaving the battlefield to gather with other men to give thanks and get guidance from the Eternal King. Men can recall the powerful men whose words are spoken in the Mass (e.g. John the Baptist, the Centurion, etc.). Men can reconnect with the powerful and manly history in the Liturgy of the Word. Men can be re-taught about the heroic and bloody sacrifice of Christ and the fearsome power of the miraculous transubstantiation of the bread and wine. The Mass is full of powerful elements that can resonate within a man’s heart.
Cardinal Burke and others have spoken about the de-sacralization of the Mass that has occurred in many places; this includes Masses which are priest-focused and not Christ-focused, the horizontal nature of “community” is over-emphasized while the vertical nature of the Divine Presence is de-emphasized, music which is syrupy and sentimental, a general lack of awe for the Eucharist by the priest and lay helpers, parish cultures which accept “going to the grocery store” attire and grabbing the Eucharist like a potato chip, a feminization of the Mass due to an over-representation of women and altar girls in the sanctuary, etc.
Priests are men and large numbers of priests need to have a “conversion” about the Mass. When the Mass becomes “casual”, men become casual about the Mass. The recent New Emangelization Project Helping Priests Become More Effective in Evangelizing Men Survey demonstrates that men hunger and are moved by the Mass when priests offer the Mass with reverence. Many priests need to be re-evangelized about how to infuse the Mass with greater awe and reverence and about the need to specifically evangelize and catechize men about the Mass.
Bishops and Priests need to lead the Mass Conversion of Men
The Mass Conversion of Men will require a sustained large-scale evangelization and catechesis of men about the Mass and a great movement of the Holy Spirit. This will be a major effort, but not a complex one. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the “source and summit of Christian life” in which the Savior gives men the bread of life. The Mass has transformed the lives of men since the Last Supper and will always transform the lives of men. The Mass is the central focus of daily life in every parish and not an extraneous “evangelization program.” There is no greater diocese or parish priority than to ensure men can engage in the Mass. Now is the time for bishops and priests to ensure that every single man can access the eternal graces of the Eucharist.
After forty years, the New Evangelization has so far failed to reverse the growing losses of Catholics in the West. Rather than a continued parade of programs and events, the Church needs to get back to the basics; the Mass and men. When there is a Mass Conversion of Men in which millions of men and priests are evangelized and catechized to the point of conversion in the Mass, the Church will be renewed and the promise of the New Evangelization will be fulfilled.
I chose not to make this a caucus thread so it had better not turn into another perpetual virginity battle.
It’s not just Catholics. The entire Christian church is failing men. The Curcillo movement was created after WW2 to bring men back into the Roman Catholic church in Spain and it spread to become Via de Cristo for Lutherans, Walk to Emmaus for Methodists, and Presbyterian Pilgrimage for Calvinists.
But, the pilgrims on weekend retreats are largely women. The problem is that the role of men as spiritual leaders of the family has been destroyed by society and by their ex-wives and current wives. Since men can’t even be the spiritual leader of their family, they just give up and let the priest/pastor be the spiritual leader of the wife and kids who do attend church. Another case of the husband/father becoming irrelevant in today’s family.
What is your take on why people are fleeing the church?
The feminization of the Church get seriously going in the 12th Century.
The bishops and priests of 1968, determined to maintain their popularity, allowed the faithful to adopt the practice of sodomy (contraception) en masse.
The bishops allowed the Quakers and leftist Jews to ethnically cleanse major American cities—systematically driving Catholics into the suburbs, where they were socially isolated and no longer a political force to be reckoned with. It all happened under the bishops’ noses, and they didn’t lift a finger.
I see emphasis from the bishops on social justice, which is a major tenant of Marxism. I see additional emphasis on income equality/inequality with no emphasis on the work ethic. I see nothing being done to admonish illegitimacy.
I could go on.
That's a question with a very long answer, I'll try to be brief. I believe the "collapse" started when Rome changed the rites surrounding the Sacraments. People had been led along believing that the Church never changes and then almost overnight everything was changed. Then (and this is where I put on my tin foil hat) homosexuals infiltrated the clergy in massive numbers and basically just destroyed everything from within.
It's a lot more complex than just that, but I think those two things contributed more than anything else. There was also the birth control kerfuffle, the people who were happy with the changes expected (and were led to expect) that the Church would change its teaching on birth control as well. There was a backlash when that didn't happen.
Because it's not Catholic enough.
Not serious about doctrine, not serious about discipline, not serious about being the Church Militant (while still having some of the characteristics of the Church Nurturant.)
If the Church made more demands at every level --- heroic truth, heroic service, the heroic attachment to Christ --- some slackers would leave but many men would be inspired and come back.
That's my take on it.
Rats, I like your answer better than mine. :)
It’s not about perpetual virginity. Not at all and if it were, then one has to at least attempt to explain why it is a recent phenomenon.
Anyway: A local parish, in existence in the past quarter century, has traditional music, well done, I’ll add, at Masses. The celebrants process the Aisle in gran fashion for every Mass.
NOT theatrical, grand. Reverent.
One Sunday Mass per week is in Latin. And not the mumbling irreverent pre Vatican II, but Novus Ordo, with the translation easily recognizable - same sequence so those who complain with INSANITY that they cannot understand what’s going on - don’t get me started.
No girls on the altar. They would not dream of joking from the altar. There is no clapping not ever.
The choir is in the loft to the rear, where it belongs. It’s not a Disney production.
The music is sing able not some atheistic off beat impossible out of tune dora the explorer torturous demonic cacophony no one knows, no one cares to know and everyone hopes is over soon.
It does not suggest the congregation live like this always just one hour a week for heaven’s sake Literally.
It is a hint of heaven, otherwise, why would anyone want to go to Mass..
The priest is in vestments at all times, and garners due respect. He visits the Vatican regularly, he is not some renegade.
NO Eucharistic ministers, only deacons or seminarians and himself, on the tongue, kneeling at the rail
Full consecration, not hogging thirty minutes to joke about sports and film and UGH AAGH! welcoming out of towners, to scream through the consecration at breakneck speed to haul up every sleevles faded demin flip flop wearing gum chewer from the congregation in fifteen minutes while the congregation sits doing nothing , or tries to tam impatient kids and husbands, who have nothing to draw on in terms of envisioning heaven and if THIS is heaven, who WOULDN’T want to skip this bastardization of the mass, blamed completely erroneously on Vatican II, which does not call for this ugliness at all.
And there is NOT any hand holding, no greeting people after consecration for a handshake of peace.
All in keeping with the Magesterium and the Vatican.
These Masses are where the men can be found. Both in the congregation and on the Altar (where there are no girls allowed - there has never been a girl on that altar).
This is how to get men involved. I’m a girl, though, so what do I know?.
Gregorian Chant . That and the music - less Mass early AM.
I see Satan at work in a feverish way right now. I believe he knows his time is limited.
We are having marriage being redefined right in front of our eyes into something that is not in accordance with God's definition of marriage. As the family is impacted so is the church.
The rise of feminism with women pastors is impacting the church as well. If you're not going to be faithful to the requirements of the office as noted in 1 Timothy and Titus, why will you be faithful in the rest of the word?
The Bible does note there will be a falling away in the End Times. But I also believe God is One who is not willing that any should perish....but He does have a time line.
I think He may be watching the church to see what the Bride will do. Will she get herself ready for the groom?
Will there be revival among His people?
As men, we are to be the spiritual head of the household. Are we preparing our families? Are we leading our families as we should?
I pray we, I, am not found wanting.
I think you are painting with a pretty board brush, though I certainly agree most mainline denominational churches are in fact failing man...
There are churches that have not bowed the knee to Baal...
Your second half of your post is spot on
The problem is that the role of men as spiritual leaders of the family has been destroyed by society and by their ex-wives and current wives. Since men can’t even be the spiritual leader of their family, they just give up
True shepherds will hold the men in their church accountable for the spiritual life of their own family...
When G.K. Chesterton wanted to answer the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”, he answered, “I am.”
>>I think you are painting with a pretty board brush, though I certainly agree most mainline denominational churches are in fact failing man...
Of course I’m painting with a broad brush. I wasn’t writing a dissertation with studies and citations of specifics.
On the average, Christianity is failing men in this country. Christ isn’t failing them, but the churches are. And the distractions of life give them the excuse to stay away. There are exceptions, of course. My church tries very hard to keep men engaged, but most of them slip away after the service on sunday and you don’t see them again until next week. We have 50 men who are Elders and Deacons (in our non-mainline church) and they make up the majority of the men who show up for all of our men’s events.
**I think we’re in the Last Days myself. If we’re not, it’s going to get a lot rougher going forward. But it won’t be the first time Christianity has hit rough times.**
Then it’s time to get very serious about coming back to the Church.
A man's position is more like that of a sheepdog, always at the Shepherds side, always ready to search out the stray and bring it back to the fold, and always ready, willing, and able to take on the wolf that tries for the flock.
That is a task and imagery that I feel most men could get behind, and that would bring more men back to the church.
I agree. My mother took me to a United Methodist Church when I was young and they believed in nothing and when we gradually stopped attending service it made no difference to us.
Even though the militant Catholics on FR will recoil at what I say, it’s the same militant Catholics who often bemoan the fact that the current pope is a spiritual brother to our current President. Neither really evidences a profound love for the organization that they lead and everyone knows it.
Don’t get me wrong. The pope is a nice guy but where is he when ‘Catholics’ like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden promote perversion and deviancy? He’s silent.
I’m not a Catholic but if there was something that would attract my attention to considering the Catholic Church it would be if this current pope took a moral stand and excommunicated some of the key liberal Democrats and had them officially trespassed from church property.
That would tell me that he really believes in his faith. I bet it would also bring back a lot of that 14 million who’ve fallen away.
When women seize power, men walk away.
False ecumenism.
One of the reasons I don't volunteer to change their flat tire, fix their sink, etc,etc. They wanna be men? Knock yourself out.
This is nothing new sadly.
So few males are willing to grow up and be men.
Christianity teaches that a man should rule his appetites not be a slave to them. This is not a happy notion after you have been raised with a boys will be boys mentality.
It is easy to say that it is just this day and age but it is not. For centuries males have treated church as a social club and religion as something only for children, women and perhaps old men.
In historical paintings, how many of them picture young men in church, reading the Bible or praying?
Now how many show them fighting or at play?
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