Posted on 07/25/2011 12:47:17 PM PDT by markomalley
Madrid, Spain, Jul 25, 2011 / 02:01 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, said July 22 that Spain and Europe are suffering from “a crisis of young people” because of the country’s low birth rate.
The cardinal, who is the Archbishop of Madrid, said the percentage of the population between 0-22 years of age is “low” and is one of the reasons why there are few vocations, not only in the Church “but in many other areas.”
Cardinal Rouco spoke during a summer seminar on the impact of World Youth Day 2011 on youth ministry at the Juan Carlos University in Aranjuez.
Regarding World Youth Day, Cardinal Rouco said everything is moving forward as planned. He noted that his main concern is ensuring that the thousands of young people who will arrive in Madrid will receive a warm welcome.
He expressed his hope that the residents of Madrid would extend “hospitality in keeping with the Christian roots of the city and showing love to those who come.”
Cardinal Rouco recalled that it was John Paul II who launched World Youth Day to reach out to young people. He came at a time in history, he said, when young people needed answers and guidance, and “with his very unique charism,” he invited them to “speak about Christ in fullness.”
The history of the event has entailed “a pilgrimage of searching for Christ” and has led to the emergence of “a young generation that lives the faith and has a very cordial relationship with the Pope and the Church,” the cardinal said.
He added that he hopes World Youth Day Madrid will lead to renewed evangelization, an increase in vocations ministry and the strengthening of the Christian family, which he called “the greatest fruit” of the youth event.
Meanwhile the Muslims breed like rats. Demographics do not favor the Europeans. Once the Muslims overrun Europe, its all over - a European Caliphate where Jews and Christians will be dhimmis, if they aren’t killed first.
They already have one. It's called Córdoba.
Agreed, and the Christians are paying for them to do so with social welfare/entitlement programs.
I wonder if most Americans realize that they will not be able to visit the land of their forebears because of the muslim invasion; an invasion that was allowed and encouraged?
...“In Gera, Germany, for instance, people are developing mushroom farms in high rise estates. There are some very interesting projects like this, and most of them are inspired by culture and arts,” says Hannemann.
I hope the land of my forebears, Poland, never reaches that point.
There are 53 millions Moslems in Europe and the European Union brought them in — they didn’t come in by camel caravan, they were flown in and welcomed by the socialist European countries.
Still, the Mexicans are not islamic. They are much better than that.
The one silver lining to being behind the Iron Curtain, is that those countries didn't have the kind of Turd World invasion that occurred in Western Europe.
i hate to say it, but another clueless cleric. if he and his fellow bishops would proclaim the Gospel with courage and without shame, he would be amazed how the Holy Spirit would move and convert hearts. treat the problem, not the symptom.
The Modernist bishops from the 60s on no longer believe in the Gospel. They believe in Man and the spirit of Vatican II. Are there enough bishops left who believe in God to turn things around? I pray that there are.
But a very good fertle field for evangelization, bring more persons to the Lord Jesus Christ.
My parish is sending 9 young people to Madrid in a few weeks. Final bake sale this coming weekend. Best wishes for them and all the young people going to Madrid.
AMEN to that and I second it!
Please see post number 12. Thank-you.
It is WESTERN Europe, Central and Eastern Europe are pretty ok, thank you...
Birthrates, 2010, CIA stats:
Lithuania, 1.24
Czech Republic, 1.25
Belarus, 1.25
Bosnia, 1.26
Ukraine, 1.27
Romania, 1.27
Moldova, 1.28
Slovenia, 1.29
Poland, 1.29
Latvia, 1.31
Slovakia, 1.36
Armenia, 1.36
Greece, 1.37
Hungary, 1.39
Serbia, 1.39
Bulgaria, 1.41
Estonia, 1.43
Croatia, 1.43
Georgia, 1.44
Albania, 1.47
Russia, 1.54
United Nations stats show 2005-2010 averages, which are higher than the CIA 2010 numbers, suggesting that birthrates are still falling.
True, but not all of that is due to abortion — the emigration from the East to the West is quite a lot. For instance about 1.5 million Poles moved to the West after 2004.
Whether it’s due to abortion is not particularly relevant to the issue of the disappearance of these populations in their native countries. You seem to be saying that Polish people of child-bearing age have moved out of Poland, and that’s probably one reason for the low fertility of Poland.
However, explaining the numbers that way (or any other way) doesn’t put young Poles in Poland, and without young Poles, there will never be a flourishing economy that would encourage Poles to remain in or return to Poland. A 1.29 aggregate fertility rate is a nation - if not an ethnicity or a historic heritage - that is disappearing.
Good luck and prayers for them. My former church had a sister church in Madrid. The spritual ground there is hard, hard, hard. It is even worse for Catholics than Protestants, because most young Spaniards associate the Catholic Church with the Old Regime and Reaction. Since the left took full power a few years ago the situation has grown steadily worse. It took our sister congregation 5 years to get a building permit for a tiny chapel, and that was then rescinded after ground was broken. To my knowledge the situation is still in stasis.
But our God can do anything, it is our job to obey and trust Him.
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