At a time when the Roman Catholic Church is facing a worsening shortage of priests, these friars with the throwback look are part of a fast-growing and closely watched community.
Wonderful news, nickcarraway. Thanks so much.
There is no doubt that the majority of those people, in their late teens to thirties, that are actively Catholic are solid and orthodox.
In ten years, when a whole bunch of people left over from the sixties are gone, and the currently young people begin taking leadership positions, it will be a very different day in the Church.
The difficulty is that there is a HUGE proportion of young Catholics that are so deficiently educated in elementary Catholic teaching, indeed, elementary Christian thought, that they could neither articulate nor defend it and so are essentially useless as protagonists of a Catholic worldview and social order.
But divine mercy is strange. The young Catholics who are so deficiently educated are, precisely because of that deficiency, unlikely to get involved in the Church. They are unlikely to take up significant leadership positions, and only rarely will some of them join a religious order. In other words, liberalism is so destructive that it destroys its very offspring. Think about it.
You have been taught your whole life that it does not matter what religion you belong to, it is okay to skip Mass once in awhile (so nothing really important is taking place at Mass), of course it is alright to use artificial contraception, of course it is okay for gay men to sodomize each other, of course celibacy is ridiculous as a rule for the whole clergy, of course Marian devotion is just a superstition, of course evolution implies that the teaching on original sin is false, of course tradition is the principle that impedes social progress, and when we become adults we must think critically, think for ourselves. Thankfully, a few years ago the Second Vatican Council SET US FREE of all that old time stuff left over from the dark ages. Now we know that CONSCIENCE is the ultimate arbiter of religious truth, of good and evil. Abortion is wrong, but there are exceptions. That is my personal belief, of course, but I will not impose it on anyone else. Why go to Church at all? Well, we want to bring an end to war, environmental destruction, and corporate greed.
Now suppose you were raised on this view. Suppose this was your primary catechesis. Where, if anywhere, would a motivation to go into religious life ever enter your mind save through a special illumination of the Holy Spirit? The closest thing to a motive would be to give oneself to a liberal cause, e.g. pacifism. But there is nothing in liberal theology that implies that poverty, chastity, and obedience are either necessary or helpful toward ending war on earth. To someone rasied on Fr. Fluff's catechesis, it must appear that a law degree would help more. So, the children of liberal Catholicism, precisely because they are children of liberal Catholicism, are so warped in their religious views that, for the most part, they are not motivated to get involved in Catholicism in any significant sense or they enter the working world and "fight for justice" using the world's ways and means and think that to do so just is to be a Catholic. For that is all Catholicism really is: a program for social justice. Given liberal theology as ones starting point, the vows are an absurdity.
This leaves mainly the solid, orthodox people to take the reins.
And that is no cause to rejoice. Liberals have souls too.
There is no doubt that the majority of those people, in their late teens to thirties, that are actively Catholic are solid and orthodox.
In ten years, when a whole bunch of people left over from the sixties are gone, and the currently young people begin taking leadership positions, it will be a very different day in the Church.
The difficulty is that there is a HUGE proportion of young Catholics that are so deficiently educated in elementary Catholic teaching, indeed, elementary Christian thought, that they could neither articulate nor defend it and so are essentially useless as protagonists of a Catholic worldview and social order.
But divine mercy is strange. The young Catholics who are so deficiently educated are, precisely because of that deficiency, unlikely to get involved in the Church. They are unlikely to take up significant leadership positions, and only rarely will some of them join a religious order. In other words, liberalism is so destructive that it destroys its very offspring. Think about it.
You have been taught your whole life that it does not matter what religion you belong to, it is okay to skip Mass once in awhile (so nothing really important is taking place at Mass), of course it is alright to use artificial contraception, of course it is okay for gay men to sodomize each other, of course celibacy is ridiculous as a rule for the whole clergy, of course Marian devotion is just a superstition, of course evolution implies that the teaching on original sin is false, of course tradition is the principle that impedes social progress, and when we become adults we must think critically, think for ourselves. Thankfully, a few years ago the Second Vatican Council SET US FREE of all that old time stuff left over from the dark ages. Now we know that CONSCIENCE is the ultimate arbiter of religious truth, of good and evil. Abortion is wrong, but there are exceptions. That is my personal belief, of course, but I will not impose it on anyone else. Why go to Church at all? Well, we want to bring an end to war, environmental destruction, and corporate greed.
Now suppose you were raised on this view. Suppose this was your primary catechesis. Where, if anywhere, would a motivation to go into religious life ever enter your mind save through a special illumination of the Holy Spirit? The closest thing to a motive would be to give oneself to a liberal cause, e.g. pacifism. But there is nothing in liberal theology that implies that poverty, chastity, and obedience are either necessary or helpful toward ending war on earth. To someone rasied on Fr. Fluff's catechesis, it must appear that a law degree would help more. So, the children of liberal Catholicism, precisely because they are children of liberal Catholicism, are so warped in their religious views that, for the most part, they are not motivated to get involved in Catholicism in any significant sense or they enter the working world and "fight for justice" using the world's ways and means and think that to do so just is to be a Catholic. For that is all Catholicism really is: a program for social justice. Given liberal theology as ones starting point, the vows are an absurdity.
This leaves mainly the solid, orthodox people to take the reins.
And that is no cause to rejoice. Liberals have souls too.