Posted on 05/14/2005 6:18:48 AM PDT by NYer
This article interviews a 15 and a 16 year old. Yeah, let's allow them to set the agenda. What a joke. There may be a lot of "disenchanted" Catholics, but the vast majority can't bring themselves to actually leave the Church. In many cases, later maturity brings them back.
If you revisit the article, it becomes quite evident that VAT II had nothing to do with this loss of faith. If anything, the primary reason given is that the Church refuses to keep up with modern times - it is too orthodox. That is what is so revealing in this story.
The homosexual molestation of adolescent boys (let's call it what it is) was a U.S., not an Irish, problem.
It (and the cover up) was confined almost exclusively to dioceses run by "modernist", "progressive" administrations. Those were the people who believed the modern, progressive psychiatrists who said these perverts (and perjurers of their vows) could be "cured".
When JPII discovered that certain archbishops had been lying to him, he dropped the hammer. Since B16 has been handling these cases directly since 2002 or 2001, he knows the score and he will continue to attack it.
And that poor priest who believes this and is trying to lure the kids back in . . . bless his heart, you know he's TRYING. But that's the fallacy in this whole line of thought (you can't call it reasoning).
Trying to make the church "relevant" and "modern" is counterproductive. The teenagers ultimately are attracted to the church because it is the "other" - the contrast between their daily lives and the transcendent Reality. Cell phones and parties and pop music can only go so far, and when the kids realize that their lives lack a spiritual center, they turn back to the Church that was waiting for them all along, eternal and unchanging and True.
They don't turn to a pop-church that has been transformed into the World. What would be the point? They can hear better music on their IPods . . .
When I was an Episcopalian, the church went through this same convulsion trying to "attract young people". You see where it's gotten THEM.
5.56mm
Did you catch this week's episode of "Life on the Rock"? Fr. Francis invited on a group of 5 nuns from Mother Angelica's order who are on their way to set up a new monastery in Phoenix AZ. Their stories mirrored your comments. Asked if they missed going to the movies and various other entertanment venues, they all concurred that spending time each day in Perpetual Adoration with their bridegroom, is far more gratifying and fulfilling. It was an awesome interview!
I wish them every success in their new enterprise.
What snivellers. Western Europe is a lost cause. They should be prayed for, but no longer courted. Im agaisnt gay marriage and abortion. I dont want the Church to change doctrine just to apease euro liberals. Its shame to see Ireland turn away from the Church, though..
5.56mm
This seems to be the theme whine of the week. The Catholic Church Needs To Get With It, It needs to throw off the oppression of orthodoxy and hey ho go with the flow". So what cultural practices past and present, besides those of the Western Secular should the Church adapt to? Indian practice of Suttee (sp). New Guinea Headhunting, Aztec human sacrifice, Arab harems, Child slavery, Abandoment of the frail and elderly, Chinese foot binding. Female circumcision ? There are just too many to list thema all.
So the whiners should remember the Church is protecting and preaching and eternal Truth. That does not change. So if you don't like don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
"they have a great deal of freedom and indulgence and are shielded from the responsibilities of adulthood"
This is the fault of the PARENTS, who are too busy to be involved in the lives of their children. Parents who give the children things instead time. Money without working for it. Parents who want to be liked instead of respected.
You reap what you sow.
I don't see where you get that from the article.
Vatican II wasn't the cause of all of our woes, but it did play a role in releasing the pent-up modernism throughout the Church.
Then, some people, after they got a taste of "create-your-own" Catholicism, wanted even more. Now, that the hierarchy is starting to put the brakes on some of the nonsense, it's upsetting these people.
I have one that seems to have skipped that stage, but the other is in full "you don't know ANYthing!" cry right now. As I said, fortunately they grow out of it.
"Part of the problem is the extreme rapidity of affluence"
This is also hurting Boy Scouts in Ireland. I took a troop in Scotland some years ago (Blair Athol) and spent an evening with a guy from Ireland. The sudden availability of well paying jobs is drawing many Scouts away.
Ye-es, it does seem that even a liberalized Church is now to the right, culturally speaking, of many Irish Catholics, and many Catholics throughout the West. However, judging from the ferocious secularization of the past four decades I believe the suicidal "throwing open of the windows" of VAT II during the cultural hurricane of the late 20th century so damaged the authority of the Church, and the Faith of many in the West that the RCC is now irrelevant to many even nominal Catholics. Had the Church held to orthodoxy she may well have declined numerically during social upheavals of the later postwar years, but I don't think she would have been reduced to a state of barely-tolerated irrelevance in so many of her former strongholds, as we now see happening in Ireland. But then again, you know the old saying about the man who weds the spirit of the age...
Of course, our place is packed every weekend . . .
Well said. Those who are 'bored' are bored with themselves. Empty, devoid of anything to give, they have no place for anything but themselves - and that is indeed boring.
"Can't blame the parents entirely"
Agreed. That's why I also get my kids involved in other good activities without me around -- sports, Boy Scouts, theater, etc.
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