In my late teens and early 20’s, many of my friends, including myself split from the Catholic Church.
20 years later , most have returned.
I loathe/strongly disagree with much of the Roman Catholic leadership over their Social Justice themes and the Churches slow drift into Humanistic principles, but NOW, I refuse to leave. Many of my friends have stated similar reasons.
The Church needs to stop trying to be MTV cool and get back to the basics.
He sounds like a Suuni Muslim putting down a Shiite, or vice versa.
He's so steeped in his Catholic mumbo-jumbo that he actually thinks he knows something about Evangelical churches...which he does not.
Proof of how blind he is is the fact that he seems to think his put downs of those who don't want the Word of God buried in a lot of liturgy and intermediaries actually makes his religion appealing.
But then, Islam is appealing to some Westerners who need structure and want the burden of thinking for themselves or having a personal relationship with God removed from them, too.
Maybe Michael can beat the local Imam to some of those lost souls and lock them into a lifelong contract.
As millions of Catholics convert to Evangelical and become pro-life conservatives instead of pro-abortion liberal Catholics, this guy will have to make more of his incredibly bigoted and mocking, and false, propaganda videos. It makes you wonder which side this guy plays for.
As conservatives, all of us have an interest in this guy’s anti-Evangelical bigotry regardless of which church we attend, since they are the most conservative, most pro-life group in America. This is especially important in the face of the Kennedy migration from Catholic Mexico.
From THE HISTORY NEWS NETWORK;
“What are the political party preferences of Catholic and Protestant renewalists? In general the Pew study points out that “Latino evangelicals are twice as likely to be Republicans as Latino Catholics.” Another Pew study that examined the 2004 presidential elections notes that “Republican gains have been greatest among Protestant Hispanics especially those who consider themselves evangelical Christians.”3 Interestingly, Latino Catholic conservatives, a group which includes the large portion of Catholic Charismatics, favor the Democratic party. In other words, conservative ideology does not automatically translate into support for the Republican Party. With regard to by far the largest group of Latin American immigrants, Mexicans, Democrats enjoy a sizeable advantage among Mexican Catholics (49% vs. 14%). “However, among Mexican evangelicals the partisan split goes the other way (47% for Republicans and 24% for Democrats).””
Snip
“Latino Catholics still outnumber Latino Protestants to a large extent, and these Latino Catholics prefer by and large the Democratic Party over the GOP. The activism of the Catholic Church in fostering a pro-immigrant policy reform, more or less directly supports the voting base of the Democratic Party. This is because of the close connection of the Catholic Church with other pro-immigrant network organizations used to mobilize Latinos politically. Pro-immigrant networks turned their efforts into large campaigns of citizenship and voter registration among Latinos, often using the infrastructure of Catholic parishes. These new citizens and registered voters are much more likely to vote for the Democratic Party, instead of voting Republican, because of the large percentage of Latino foreign-born Catholics.
In the long run, however, the Republican Party may benefit from the conversion of Catholic Hispanics to Protestantism. This would then in turn transform the former historic ethnic-religious advantage of the Democratic Party among Latino Catholics. Interestingly, this polarization was already visible during the 2004 presidential campaign.”
I think it’s pretty silly to say that Catholicism can grow and Evangelical churches cannot. Of the two groups, Catholicism has the far greater problem. There are more “cafeteria Catholics” than Evangelicals that don’t really believe in their faith.
The left in the world truly hate the Church because the left does not like any barrier to their madness. We need to be purged of any priest who is guilty of gross sin or of spreading the destructive humanistic marxism which has infected the minds of many students at university.
YHvH and His Salvation don't want rock concerts nor magic shows about matzoh and Passover wine.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiachYHvH wants us to worship Him by lifting up our voices in praise.
6 For I desire goodness, not sacrifice; Obedience to God, rather than burnt offerings.
“Catholics are the only ones who can reverse the process.”
Bull.
As a kid religion was forced upon me. In my 20’s I left my church with no intention of going back. In my 30’s I returned to Christ. I am not now nor have I ever been a Catholic.
The Catholic Church in my town has about 100 parishioners.
The YOUTH GROUP at my charismatic/Protestant church has 120 to 130 kids ranging in ages from 12 to 24.
The kids run the music/worship program. They run the A/V systems. They run the summer camp. We keep them very involved. I believe that the activities, grounded in faith in Christ keep these kids interested in attending and out of trouble.
I am not and cannot speak of every denomination of Christianity, just what I see in my town and more specifically in my church. Things are looking really good lately.
I disagree. I don’t begin to believe that the Catholics are the only ones who can turn it around. That expresses a very narrow view of what is actually going on in the evangelical church...very narrow, and a bit biased!
I have attended various Protestant services in the past.
Several times as a young adult I went to Protestant worship services. I was not impressed. There was lots of communal choral signing with men singing some verses and women others. It was beautiful— and took the focus from the words of the song. I listened to the ministers speak. It was very well done— and sounded like a game show host to me. Too glib. Too sure. Too smooth. Everyone seemed to be making a very public show of how faith-filled they were. There was a sense of one-upsmanship there that I found disturbing.
I went to a distant relative’s Protestant funeral. It was empty of the mystical power of God. I came away shocked and saddened at the shallowness of it. The deceased was all alone at that service; there was no communion with two thousand years of Christian practice, thought, teaching, tradition and belief. There were no ties to what Christians have been saying and doing since the time of Christ.
I think young adults look for sharing, community, focus on self, and enthusiasm. They find that at Protestant services.
But when they mature and are looking for something more, they come home to the Catholic Church. Why? Because we have so much more than that. We have the fullness of the Faith. We have something so solid and timeless and sure to cling to when times get tough.
In Mass, one is alone within community. We are each worshiping as individuals, all together. There is mystery, adoration, art, history, Truth, worship, the Word, timelessness, and brokenhearted love of Christ. We are not fancy and we don’t do showy singing, but we do something much more nourishing. We follow Christ’s ancient words and teachings as He asked us to do.
People grow up and stop looking for a “cool” religious experience and start looking for a “real” religious experience.