Are young Catholics Cultural Orphans?

Catholic Exchange ^ | July 10, 2003 | Joanna Bogle

[attagirl]

I once heard a priest say from the pulpit that he told people he was "Christian" instead of Catholic. Needless to say, I did all I could to avoid Mass there with my family.

well, we do some of those things in the article, but I don't feel as if my kids are where I was at their age. (My parents did their duty, but there was no attempt to make our Catholicism a special vocation.)

Well, the idea is not to give up!

[k omalley]

Let's see, what do I remember?

May Crowning of Mary
Blessing oneself when passing a Catholic Church.
Automatically bowing the head at the name of Jesus.
Saying a prayer when you heard an ambulance or firetuck go by.
Saying the prayer "Night is falling Dear Mother" at bedtime.
Monday novenas.
Sunday evening Benediction.
The beautiful mantillas worn to church.
Holy Saturday visitation of other Catholic Churches in the area.
Corpus Christi processions.
And I'm sure I've neglected to mention many traditions of Catholic Culture long forgotten. We have lost so much!

[attagirl]

was that ping from you or my conscience?

[Desdemona]

was that ping from you or my conscience?

I'm not sure.

[maryz]

Blessing oneself when passing a Catholic Church.

We used to mark a small cross on our foreheads with the right thumb.

I also used to love "making a visit" -- dropping into a church just because you happened to be passing by, and lighting a candle and saying a prayer. But I think the unlocked churches, not to mention the banks of candles, were wiped out by liability concerns.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

How are we supposed to live our faith if no one teaches it to us?

Even worse, parents today who were never taught have nothing to pass on to their own kids. That's one more reason younger families are returning to the traditional ways.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

One word applies here: demographics.

Due to that evil, vicious, capitalist, anti poor, anti minority, environment raping, infrastructure taxing sprawl, people moved out of their ethnic and coreligionist enclaves for places with more room. In the process, they mingled with everyone else, and as a result, don't have the same kind of peer pressure on ethnic and religious traditions - and only those families interested in retaining certain traditions will pass them down to their children.

Absent contraction back to denser population patterns, this will not be changed - the population is too mixed, and people like the convenience of doing things close to home.

[ultima ratio]

But why the breakdown of the family? That too is part of the cultural collapse of Catholicism.

[Desdemona]

Four words: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

[Desdemona]

Because tradition has nothing to do with the enclaves. It has to do with human will. The couple generations before us decided to ruin tradition and deprived us of it.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Your topic applies across the board in all faiths, believe it or not. It is not a solely Catholic lament, and I was honestly speaking of why this has come about.

[ultima ratio]

Catholic culture survives intact only among traditional Catholics and their small communities. Some conservative parishes keep some customs alive--but they are slowly being phased-out.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Do you realize that older congregations in urban areas of all faiths have similar complaints and issues on their little "t" traditions? This is something which afflicts conservative Jewish congregations Orthodox Christian parishes, the more ethnic Lutheran churches, traditional Anglicans, etc.

[maryz]

The church is open from 6AM to past 5PM every day, and there is almost always someone at all times who has stopped by to say-and-pray a word to Jesus.

Where do you live? I haven't seen an open neighborhood church around Boston in years (the downtown Arch Street Chapel doesn't count here -- it is open, but the candles to be lit by tapers are now electric, and you push a button).

[Desdemona]

Some conservative parishes keep some customs alive--but they are slowly being phased-out.

Actually, where I live the older customs are coming back. They're done sometimes as a "novelty" and the organizers are always stunned at how well populated they are. Just the Corpus Christi procession this year at the Cathedral was a complete shock to the people who did it. There were at least a couple thousand people there, most not from that parish.

[Desdemona]

And I honestly reply that the whole urban sprawl argument is a bit of an excuse. This came about more due to lack of will among the faithful in passing it on, than a population density problem. THe most devout chunck of my family were the ones who were farmers and lived in a rural area. I don't buy it anymore.

[maryz]

Absent contraction back to denser population patterns, this will not be changed

Where I live is as densely populated as ever -- the unfortunate change is from working class to yuppification, which has steadily been forcing the working class out.

[Bigg Red]

I can't disagree with anything you said. It is very sad, indeed.

[Bigg Red]

You must be real old ;-)


Yes, at least as old as I am. That description sounds very much like my elementary school experience.