ping — anyone know more about Dolan?
What I have seen in Italy is that the only people attending mass are the old people. Sunday mass has about 3 children there. Mine. There are very very few young adults in attendance.
Honestly, I think that most of the problem falls to, in one word, modernism. Strictly speaking, the idea that all must be updated continually, for the sake of being “with the times,” as opposed to “in this world, but not of it,” makes a big difference. No, I’m not railing against V2 or anything like that, but rather that the combination of poor catechesis and a perception, based on changing and inconsistent teachings, leads the faithful to not know what the Church stands for. And I feel that those in leadership who espouse the modernist bent, wholly or partially, share some responsibility, too. I’d pretty much give an arm and a leg to see the Church following Her path better here. I don’t know too much about Archbishop Dolan, but I certainly hope and pray for the best. Better in this case to have a somewhat unknown quantity than an Archbishop who by all appearances is a card-carrying modernist.
I am a new convert to Catholicism, after a lifetime as a Protestant of varying degrees of enthusiasm. What I find is that people who were cradle Catholics and had the Catechism stuffed down their throats as children do not appreciate their faith very much; they can’t remember the details of what they learned (and even that, at an unsophisticated level suitable for children) and don’t understand the extraordinary beauty and power of this faith.
As I talk to lifelong casual Catholics in my community I find not only that they’re ignorant about faith; they’re bored to death with the local parish, its politics, and its ceaseless demands for money. They’re embarrassed and chagrined by the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church and irritated by the stupid political stance of bishops on some issues. And they’re lured by the distractions or temptations of modern life, to which the Church seems to offer no competition.
But as life becomes more serious and more painful, the Church does offer some help. Websites like catholicscomehome.com can let longtime Catholics know that this is indeed a home, a refuge, a source of enormous help and consolation. The Church -can- reach out to these people and bring them back in.
It would be important to know:
1)How many of these former Catholics attended our collectivist, godless, government schools? ( If children attend godless schools, they **will** learn to think godlessly!)
2) The Barna Foundation research shows that children from strongly religiously active families have even **worse** retention rates if the children attend our collectivist, godless, government schools.
For later.