Posted on 06/15/2018 6:26:10 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Dear fellow catechists,
How do you feel when you read headlines like these?
I'll tell you how I feel. Disoriented.
Am I the only one?
But even stronger than my feeling of disorientation, is my feeling of growing concern that our youth, our students, our RCIA catechumens and candidates --- soon to be new Catholics --- are reading the same headlines I am.
As responsible catechists, we need to talk about this. We need to sort out what is real Catholicism vs. what is manifest error --- even error disguised as "progress," "mercy," and "surprises of the Spirit."
But I also know we have to go beyond "feeling". We need to equip our students with the tools they'll need to confront the perplexities which are sure to arise in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
I am no spring chicken. I have been involved in catechetics-related ministries for almost four decades. I devour Church History. I know the Catholic Church has been through many crises in her long pilgrimage through the ages. As St. Teresa of Avila says, "All times are dangerous times."
In the End, "the Gates of Hell will not prevail." But between now and the End, many hearts can be deceived and many souls can be lost. And according to recent research, for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church.
Friends, that is simply staggering.
We're tempted say, "Everything is normal." Or "Things are going to get back to normal pretty soon. All we need to do is wait." But --- No. We can't just keep our heads down and hope that all this will blow over.
I am calling for a conversation among catechists. We need to think this through, and let each other know what we're thinking. Am I completely off the mark? Then I need you to tell me so. Should we be issuing statements of loyalty to the Truths of the Catholic Faith? Shouldn't we be urging --- imploring --- our priests, Bishop Stika, all the bishops of the United States, to reaffirm the beautiful teachings of the Church in a clear and open and direct way?
I communicate best by e-mail, and I ask you, please, to engage with comments, questions, hopes and fears, and the courage that comes from Jesus Christ Our Lord. Let's help each other serve Him. Can we talk?
Will do. :)
Your thoughts?
My thoughts are that I’m glad I’m in Stewardship and Spanish music rather than Catechetics ;-).
The Bilingual Supplemental Sacrament Class doesn’t cover controversies (and I’m trying to recruit a new coordinator so that I can see my family more often). My parish doesn’t seem to have these controversies. I think Father Gary drives them away with Nuclear Niceness or something.
I’ve always admitted I live in a charmed bubble.
While you did not, cmrosary did.
Otherwise, any and every caucus post could instantly be invalidated by somebody posting a link that so much as mentioned a Protestant denomination. And of course, all of us Christians are constantly making reference to Jews and Jewish Scriptures.
I checked the RM's homepage and saw this.
>> The “caucus” article and posts must not compare beliefs or speak in behalf of a belief outside the caucus.<<
It's up to the RM, but IMHO, if a link mentions another denomination then the caucus thread has been broken by that poster.
RM, Could you, if necessary, delete CMRosary’s comment at #7?
It would not be right to suppress the caucus designation. Otherwise, every caucus could easily be sabotaged by somebody jumping in and posting a kill-caucus link.
(I’m not saying somebody’s doing that here. I’m just saying it could complicate all caucus designations.)
I’m in a parish of saints. Seriously.
Isn't the purpose of the caucus protection to only limit conversation to within the caucus?
If one of the caucus members posts a link mentioning other denominations, then they are at fault for not adhering to the caucus rules.
If this is so, that person’s comment should be removed.
You may note the poster is a Roman Catholic.
The hot link you posted in the body of the thread mentions comparing Catholicism to other denominations.
Therefore the caucus designation will be removed for that reason.
So am I. I wonder if everyone is, if they just realized it was possible.
OK. Thanks for letting me know. Why didn’t you just remove the reply, #7, with the offending link?
Could you ping this to Catholics? I’m hoping to engage everyone who serves as a cathechist, at least.
Thank you!
Number 7 became a moot point as the caucus designation was removed because of the words in the link in the body of the thread.
Number 7 also mentions two Catholic denominations so no reason to remove it.
I’m blindsided. The words in the link? Do you mean the word “denomination”?
Is that it?
If I’d known that, I’d not have put that word in that link.
Or was it because of where the link led: to a survey that compared numbers (growth/decline) for different Christian churches?
I’m not trying to be obtuse or resistant here, but please clarify. It was the word “denomination”?
The mod says the problem wasn’t CMRosary’s post #7 after all, it was the link in the posted article itself, to the Pew Survey.
As I understand it.
https://cruxnow.com/church/2015/05/12/pew-survey-percentage-of-us-catholics-drops-and-catholicism-is-losing-members-faster-than-any-denomination/
Comparing Catholicism to any denomination.
People of "any denomination(s)" other than Catholicism need to be able to respond.
OK.
Might be time to let it go.
I think she was just trying to understand the RM’s actions.
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