That wouldn't be the Church of St Agnes in St Paul would it?
Yep.
As you know, the Catholic Church is passing through difficult times. Had we abided by the decisions and teachings of the II Vatican Council, we would today be in the golden age of "renewal." Instead, "crackpot" theologians and phony "experts" have taken over, and, speaking and acting in the name of a spurious "spirit of the Council," are throwing everything into chaos and confusion. And the end is not yet.I have warned about this, predicted evil consequences. I was labeled as "old- fashioned," "behind the times," "a voice from the past," "reactionary," etc. I have not changed my mind. After two years of experimentation, I have only one more sentence to add: "By their fruits you shall know them." And what are some of these "fruits" today?
1) According to the reports of our American bishops, the number of converts to the Catholic Church in our country in 1966 was the lowest in fifteen years. Please note: the American bishops said this.
2) The liturgy in some of our churches is celebrated in such a noisy, irreverent, vulgar, hootenanny manner so as to be no longer worthy of the name "liturgy." Pope Paul calls it a "desanctification" of the liturgy. As a result, in some parishes many Catholics are abandoning the Sunday Mass and the reception of the sacraments.
3) Vocations to the religious and priestly life have fallen off to an all-time low. It is reliably reported that a large monastery in Minnesota has one candidate this fall for its order, whereas formerly, it would have 20 to 30. A large sisterhood reports four candidates this fall, whereas formerly it had 30 to 40. In former years Nazareth Hall used to receive over 100 boys into first year high school, whereas this year the number of registrants is 31. Certainly no one needs to know "higher math" to figure out what is going to happen in a few years if this trend continues.
4) But this is not all. Every religious order is losing a large number of professed nuns; Sisters are foolishly asking to be dispensed from their vows and are returning to the world. One order reports 30 such cases this summer, another 20, another 50. At this rate how long will it take for the whole order to disappear?
5) Does this mean that parishes will not be affected? Listen to this: Next year the neighboring diocese of St. Cloud is closing the higher grades in all parochial schools outside the city of St. Cloud for lack of Sisters and teachers. Already there is talk of beginning to close the lower grades. And elsewhere there is talk of closing some parishes for lack of priests. (Msgr. Rudolph Bandas, St. Agnes bulletin of August 20, 1967)