PJB: An Index of Catholicism's Decline

WorldNet Daily ^ | 12/10/02 | Patrick J. Buchanan

[ninenot]

As the Watergate scandal of 1973-1974 diverted attention from the far greater tragedy unfolding in Southeast Asia, so, too, the scandal of predator-priests now afflicting the Catholic Church may be covering up a far greater calamity.

Thirty-seven years after the end of the only church council of the 20th century, the jury has come in with its verdict: Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism.

Liars may figure, but figures do not lie. Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis has pulled together a slim volume of statistics he has titled Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II.

His findings make prophets of Catholic traditionalists who warned that Vatican II would prove a blunder of historic dimensions, and those same findings expose as foolish and naive those who believed a council could reconcile Catholicism and modernity. When Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church, all the poisonous vapors of modernity entered, along with the Devil himself.

Here are Jones' grim statistics of Catholicism's decline:

• Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.

• Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

• Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.

• Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.

• Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.

• Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.

Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones' statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.

• Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002.

• Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend.

• Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a "symbolic reminder" of Jesus.

At the opening of Vatican II, reformers were all the rage. They were going to lead us out of our Catholic ghettos by altering the liturgy, rewriting the Bible and missals, abandoning the old traditions, making us more ecumenical, and engaging the world. And their legacy?

Four decades of devastation wrought upon the church, and the final disgrace of a hierarchy that lacked the moral courage of the Boy Scouts to keep the perverts out of the seminaries, and throw them out of the rectories and schools of Holy Mother Church.

Through the papacy of Pius XII, the church resisted the clamor to accommodate itself to the world and remained a moral beacon to mankind. Since Vatican II, the church has sought to meet the world halfway.

Jones' statistics tell us the price of appeasement.

[Scupoli]

Thanks for the ping.

Do non-Catholics always come on the threads pretending to be Catholics leaving the faith?

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Thank you for the civilized tone of the exchange. It must be a first on FreeRepublic!

[potlatch]

True the schools in some areas are struggling

When my Mother died this past summer, my brothers and I had a 'tuition fund' set up in our parents name, at the Catholic school we attended. The Sisters were overwhelmingly grateful.
We, Catholics, have the teachings of the Church 'in our heart'. The donations may dwindle, attendence may slow, but God will hear our prayers and the church must correct its 'wrongs'.
I also believe there is or will be a resurgence of enrollment in Christian schools - if only more could afford it!

[ninenot]

Funny you should use the term "monarch." Read an article tonight in Latin Mass Magazine in which one of THEIR authors refers to 'papal monarchy' as a big negative. Irony, with more to follow...

Look, JPII is not the 'shoot-em' kinda guy. Maybe it's like the death penalty--easy to talk about but if YOU actually had to stand there and PERSONALLY energize 'the chair,' would you? could you?

If you read his letters to the Rota, it's clear that he wants the criteria for annulment tightened considerably. That's all I can say.

As to the rest of the irony--the authoritative BlackElk has posted that the 'divorce mill' Rota decisions BEGAN with none other than Mgr. LeFebvre--the founder of SSPX.

[ninenot]

HerCher: Baptism of water, baptism of blood, baptism of desire. All are valid. The Sacrifice of Calvary was sufficient for ALL men to be saved. You know that baptism by water (with proper form) is also valid whether administered by Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, etc.

But if you wish to say that Trent contradicts perfect justice, go right ahead.

[ELS]

Pat is obviously alluding to Pope Paul VI's comment that the "smoke of Satan" had entered the Church.

It's an all out flaming blaze.

LOL! yendu, that is true on so many levels.

[ninenot]

OK--here's at least part of the story. The organ is preferred by Church authority (hundreds of cites available) because: 1) its variety of tones produced by different stops represent "all of creation" praising the Lord--birds, people, critters, etc. 2) It is activated by wind ---pneumos--breath--and is thus, 'natural,' as is the human voice (there's also some minor theological stuff here about pneumos/life, etc.) 3) Unlike many other instruments, the organ is not percussive (as is the piano and to a lesser extent the guitar)--the organ's keys do not have to be struck repeatedly to sustain tone; thus it is inherently less overtly rhythmic than those other instruments.

As to "good music:" First, it has to be art, thus beautiful and true: having perfection of form. If it has text, the music MUST illuminate the text. In music using text from the Mass or the Bible (sacred music) the text is the WORD--and obviously takes precedence over the music. Chant is regarded as THE pre-eminent song of the Church because it is beautiful, text-dependent, and 'universal.' I like to say that Chant is not masculine (e.g., not a march) and not feminine (squishy hymns.) It has no rhythm other than the text's.

[BlackElk]

Ping for tomorrow

[Desdemona]

Okay, then why all the resistence to organ and chant?

Frankly, chant is a thousand times easier to sing and the organ blends better with the voice. I'd rather use that. AND I got out the St. Gregory earlier - there's music for absolutely everything in there. SO what if it's in Latin...

[ninenot]

I don't trust your source, sorry. No slam on you--just that Resource Publications/San Jose doesn't seem to be an authoritative historical source.

Check the Catholic Encyclopedia.

[ninenot]

Thanks for the complement.

THree little words: screw Oregon Press.

We use GIA for the readings, and Adoremus Hymnal for most of the singing. Now and then GIA for hymns. Even GIA has not deteriorated as badly as OCP--unless you use GIA's "Glory and Praise," which is more accurately titled Gooey and Poop, from a musicological point of view.

[ninenot]

AB: speaking of follow the money--ever notice that ICEL has its clammy little hands on MOST of the money???

Why do you think they don't want to give up???

[ninenot]

You know, CP, I believe that Christ called your kind "whited sepulchres."

Reading your forked-tongue posts, I know exactly why.

[ninenot]

Do yourself a favor and check the price at GIA/Chicago and then (use your French) call the publisher, Solesmes Abbey (sable-sur-sarthre, France) and get the price in French Francs SHIPPED to you in USA. Call your bank and get the exchange conversion from francs to dollars (or euros to dollars)

You can wire Solesmes the money through your bank and probably save a small bundle. But while you're doing it, get the Liber Cantualis, the Liber Hymnarius, and the Psalterium Monasticum. Makes a great set.

Spend the REAL money on a used book: the Liber Usualis, now out of print (1932 edition is fine.) Haunt the used-book shops. Worth about $200-$400 in decent shape, and has EVERYTHING.

[ninenot]

Have it and read it. Mike Jones is a friend and an occasional publisher of my poor material.

[ninenot]

PJB is as Catholic as you can get. Gonzaga Prep, first in class, Georgetown, first in class, Latin Mass (old rite) at least monthly, Latin Novus Ordo the rest of the time.

PJB does NOT like some of the slimeballs who CALL themselves "Catholic."

Not to be too pushy, but if you don't believe what the Church teaches, go back to school--or you will go to hell. Sorry about that.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

The answer to your question is provided by referring to the Vatican II documents referenced in the footnote, specifically Lumen Gentium 16:

Finally, those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 3, Q.8, Art. 3, Reply 1) ... Nor is God remote from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, since He gives to all men life and breath and all things (cf. Acts 17:25-28), and since the Savior wills all men to be saved (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4). Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation (cf. Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston). Nor shall divine Providence deny the assistance necessary for salvation to those who, without any fault of theirs, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is considered by the Church to be a preparation for the Gospel (cf. Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio Evengelica, 1.1) and given by Him Who enlightens all men that they may at length have life. But very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served the world rather than the Creator (cf. Romans 1.21, 25). Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to despair. Hence to procure the glory of God and the salvation of all these, the Church, mindful of the Lord's command, "preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16.16) takes zealous care to foster the missions. (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 16, November 21, 1964)

Those of Good Will must be brought to the Church by preaching to them. But God will also assure through His Providence that those of Good Will are brought to the Church, despite their explicit ignorance of the Gospel in their present state. God wishes the salvation of every man, so if He has prepared a man for the reception of the Gospel, that man WILL receive the Gospel.

Again, the Catechism of clear:

851. Missionary Motivation. It is from God's love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, "for the love of Christ urges us on," (2 Corinthinas 5:14; cf. Apostolicam actuositatem 6, Roman Missal 11). Indeed, God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.

So you see, the virtuous man of good will is already on the path of salvation, because God has prepared him to receive grace. BUT, the Church must also go out and find these people. The annals of the Missions are filed with wonderful stories that make it very clear that this will always happen.

[ninenot]

I would not mind if all of these whiners on both sides of the debate left the church!

Actually, RM, we really don't need your advice. Better men than you have wished I would go away--Rembert the Vandal, for instance--and I haven't.

I will NOT abandon my children to the predators-- and since all my small children are girls, I do not refer to the queer rapists of the body--rather the queer rapists of the mind and soul, who have done their damndest to obviate a sense of sin AND a sense of the sacred.

You may "assent" to whatever Fr. PinkShoes and his husky DRE-in-Charge cram into your poor head. I, on the other hand, will not whine: I will stand up and say BULLSHIT! and REQUEST CITATION!! when required.

[ninenot]

Well, PJB didn't get my vote the second time around (he did the first time)--but then I will NOT bury my nose up Republican butt. Had it with those two-timing tax-and-spend, abort-the-babies Republicans, who, for crying out loud, now endorse the most intrusive Gummint spying campaign since East Germany and have major elements in play with the "Patriot Act."

PJB is more Catholic than most people I know. You don't like facts, read the comics.

[ninenot]

Let me state clearly: the queers who ran the 'implementation' both in Rome and over here were queers. Among other things, queers are SUBVERSIVES--Mike Jones at Fidelity/Culture Wars has put together a very solid case. What will they subvert? The Church!! What else? Start with the Mass, and destroy all that is sacred. Chant is good--thus replace it with Hootenanny. Organ is good--replace it with gittar/banjo/fingercymbals.
Sacred space and time is good--replace it with warped "art" and applause. No thanks on the incense, and bells.

It's not resistance from these perverts: it's downright subversiveness. They are ENEMIES of the CHurch, and draw a damn nice living from Her.

Most of the liturgy-committee- ministers are simply stupid in EVERY sense of the word. THey are ignorant of history, art, moment, time, space, ceremony, elegance, truth, goodness, and beauty. They resist because Chant and Latin require THOUGHT--something they don't have the tools or time to deal with.

Further, Aquinas has stated that sin 'dims the mind.' Their fruits tell us all we need to know about them.