Posted on 09/03/2019 9:28:46 AM PDT by Salvation
Numerous surveys have documented the steady decline of religious belief in the U.S. and the rest of the Western world. The category of people known as “nones” consists of atheists, agnostics, and those who state that they are not affiliated with any particular religious denomination. There is little that unites them other than this lack of belief. In trying to bring others to the Catholic faith, we are not facing people with a single mindset but rather a bewildering and complex hodgepodge of stances and ideas; the “nones” disagree with one another as much as they do with us Catholics.
There is a simplistic perception that believers are losing ground to a united group of non-believers; this is not the case. We are losing ground, but to a host of disconnected groups/trends: atheists, agnostics, and the “spiritual but not religious,” as well as those who embrace Eastern religions, yoga, reiki, Wicca, Santeria, Wicca, Santa Muerte, and Satanism. There are also people who follow a syncretic religion, incorporating aspects of two or more different religions into a unique new one. The people we are trying to convert represent a mishmash of confusing and self-referential “movements,” some of which have a single member! Some who abandoned the Catholic faith did so in anger over a specific issue or teaching; others just drifted. Some oppose us intensely while others are merely indifferent. Almost nothing unites these groups except that none of them accept our faith.
This can be consoling, but it can also make our task more difficult. The consolation comes from the fact that is this not some strong, united force arrayed against us. If anyone in this non-believing “group” boasts, “We now outnumber you,” I would point out that there isn’t a lot of “we” going on in their supposed movement! Little if anything unites them besides unbelief.
Melanie McDonagh, writing in the Catholic Herald, describes a recent secular movement in England centered around the “Sunday Assembly.” In many ways this assembly mimics Sunday religious services: people sing songs, listen to a secular talk, and share coffee and fellowship afterwards. It turns out, though, that even this group is seeing a substantial decline in attendance. McDonagh writes,
Yet now, it would seem, the difficulties in maintaining attendance turn out to be common to believers and unbelievers alike. According to Faith Hill, writing in The Atlantic, “Sunday Assembly has reported a significant loss in total attendees over the past few years—from about 5,000 monthly attendees in 2016 to about 3,500 in 2018. … After a promising start, attendance declined, and nearly half the chapters have fizzled out ….” If it’s hard getting people to come to Mass when there’s the Body and Blood of Christ on offer, it must be far harder when you’ve got an unanchored community with nearly nothing in common. In fact, some Assembly members are agnostics and others are atheists, so even the absence of religion doesn’t mean unity.
So, it is not really a case of “us versus them.” Rather, it is more that we are against something no more cohesive than a morning mist as the sun rises.
While this may be consoling it also illustrates the difficulty of our response or strategy. Apologetics has always been multi-faceted: Catholic vs. Atheist, Catholic vs. Agnostic, Catholic vs. Mainline Protestant, Catholic vs. Evangelical, and so on. In the current quagmire of highly subjective denominations, the decline in belief resembles more a death by a thousand cuts. While certain commonalities may exist among the myriad varieties of unbelief and designer deities, it has become clear to me that the best thing we can do in response is to be the Church, clearly and unambiguously; we must be clear in our doctrine and identify ourselves as Catholics to others. St. Paul says,
We do not lose heart …. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor 4:1-2).
What we certainly do not want to do is to follow the example of the mainline Protestant denominations, who have comprised nearly every doctrine and moral teaching to please the world rather than God. In the same article, Ms. McDonagh memorably describes some Protestant sects
… [they] slid from non-conformity to Unitarianism and eventually to mere political activism. Unitarianism, in fact, strikes me as the American way of doing agnosticism, or at least deism—a way of being religiously observant without having anything in particular to observe.
What could be more useless than to become the very thing we set out to convert? How can we convert the world by becoming the world? What distinguishes the Protestant denominations and their teachings on moral issues like sexuality, marriage, and the value of life? One might argue that they stand against greed and for social justice. Those are not controversial stands in the liberal West, which loves to trot out such things as a form of virtue signaling.
No, I think that the best and only way forward is being fully, faithfully, and joyfully Catholic. There is still a place for arguments and apologetics, but in the era of competitive atheism and consumerized belief, being “happy customers” of the Lord Jesus and insisting on no cheap substitutes or imitation brands is our best way forward. This may seem bold or hard in an age of never-ending scandal and disappointment with our leaders. However, those are examples of not being Catholic enough or of living in outright contradiction to the Catholic faith. Be Catholic, joyfully. St. Teresa of Calcutta is purported to have said, “Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.”
St. Isidore, defend us.
St. Francis de Sales, defend us.
St. Gabriel, defend us.
St. Michael, defend us.
Guardian angels, defend us.
All the angels and saints….. GRRRRR.
Wow, is THAT a keeper!
Don’t worry. The process is not political. It has rules to protect privacy. Give yourself the gift of possible peace and understanding of what went off track and when.
Arm up.
“Faith alone” is something Luther added to the Bible. It is not true.”
What Luther said was “The just shall live by faith” Romans 1:17. St. Paul was actually quoting the OT book of Habakkuk 2:4
Here it is in the D/R translation:
“For the justice of God is revealed therein, from faith unto faith, as it is written: The just man liveth by faith.” Romans 1:17
” Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4
Your many Scripture quotes and those of the historic creeds and confessions and well thought of persons in church history do not solve or even address the problem raised by the OP. If your quotes do anything that would be to convict the leadership in Rome of not acting in the best interests of those who seek salvation.
In other words, the captain of the ship should stop what he is doing and fix the holes in the hull then pump the water out least the ship go under. For what it is worth I have been studying the medieval church and the reformation for 40 years and in my opinion and for numerous internal in external reasons, I believe we are on the verge of the worse time for the Roman Church in history, worse then the Great Schism or the Reformation.
Surely you know then that the Latin rite (you said Roman) is only one of 22 Catholic rites?
Are you talking about the entire Catholic Church worldwide?
Surely you know the poster never mentioned "rites". He said "church". And all 22 Catholic rites you refer to are subject to a pope who is in Rome, i.e. Roman Catholic.
True! It’s up to the laity now. Healing the wounds of scandal will require much prayer and fasting.
You mean like this?
“But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery”
New American Bible (Washington, DC Revised Edition 2011) Mt 5:32
LOL! This is comical coming from the Roman Catholic who daily posts thread after thread condemning his pope with narry word of protest raised by his fellow Roman Catholics.
But let a non-Roman Catholic utter a word in correcting the false dogmas of Rome and it's a case of "catholic bashing".
It's a good thing Paul wasn't Roman Catholic or else he'd put everything under a "caucus" label to avoid the conversation. Thankfully he did not.
To date none have.
You seem to know so little of what your denomination espouses unless it's in the church of ebbtide and it's one or two members.
*******
We all have things that bother us more than they probably should. For me, one of those things is when I hear someone describe the Second Vatican Council as a “pastoral, not a dogmatic” council. “So you haven’t actually gotten around to reading any of the documents, then, I take it,” I’m always tempted to reply.
The numbers alone tell the tale. Of the fifteen official documents of the Second Vatican Council, three have the title “Constitution.” Two of these have the title “Dogmatic Constitution,” the one on the Church (Lumen Gentium) and the one on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum). Then there were three “declarations”: one on Christian education (Gravissimum Educationis), one on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions (Nostra Aetate), and one on religious freedom (Dignitatis Humanae). Along with these, there were eight “decrees” on: (1) the mission activity of the Church, (2) the ministry and life of priests, (3) the apostolate of the laity, (4) the training of priests, (5) the renewal of religious life, (6) the pastoral office of bishop, (7) ecumenism, and (8) the Catholic churches of the Eastern Rite.
Notably, only two of these documents (out of fifteen) contain the word “pastoral” in their titles: The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) and the Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church (Christus Dominus). And both of those are “doctrinal” through and through.
more at the link
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2014/07/19/a-pastoral-and-dogmatic-council/
Do you always deflect when the conversation becomes uncomfortable for you personally?
What do you think is this “root cause?”
The allowed proliferation of homosexuality and pedophilia in the clergy. Any other organization would have been investigated eight ways to Sunday by the FBI.
I’m boycotting the church, just as I boycott Target, Nike, and the NFL.
It sickens me to think that my years of tithing has enabled this cabal, and I’m quite certain Jesus doesn’t want me to start funding it again.
There is no fee for an annulment. Quit spreading lies
See, if one can consider oneself a FReeper in good standing without contributing to the dollar-a-day club, then the principle is established, that one can belong to an organization without forking over wads of cash all the time.
So just show up in the pews, and don't contribute to the collection plate, duh.
Pope Francis has asked dioceses whenever possible to provide their tribunal services free of charge. Depending upon how much your diocese is able to subsidize the work of its tribunal, you may be asked to pay a nominal fee. You may also be asked to make a donation following the completion of your case. Fees are typically payable over time, and may be reduced or even waived in cases of financial difficulty. Other expenses may be incurred when consultation with medical, psychological, or other experts is needed, or if you obtain the services of a private canon lawyer to represent you.
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/annulment/index.cfm
Just noticed you weight being pro-life at +15 more heavily than believing in Christ at +10 or anything else on your scorecard.
I thought it was a good idea at the time,
I really think He would prefer it that way,
especially since He is the author of ALL life.
I could be wrong, I’ll ask Him when I see Him.
7
Apples and oranges.
Where did Luther’s teaching authority come from?
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