How can people be readmitted to the sacraments if their objective state is perpetually sinful (if they cannot abstain)?
That’s the problem. I went looking for some numbers, and I came across a 2014 article in Der Spiegel
The Vatican last year sent out a survey to Catholics around the world focusing on attitudes to sex and sexuality. The responses are now in -- and they show that the Church is badly in need of reform. Can Pope Francis meet such expectations?
www.spiegel.de
"If the pope and his bishops were still harboring any illusions about their influence on young Catholics, they have now been dashed. “The church’s sexual morals are irrelevant to nine out of 10 young Catholics,” reads the BDKJ [German Catholic Youth Federation] summary. “Sex before marriage and birth control are a given in their intimate relationships.”
And hardly anyone feels guilty about it. For their grandparents’ generation, premarital sex was tantamount to living a life in sin. In sermons, Grandma and Grandpa were taught to feel “tainted” after taking sexual liberties. Today, according to the BDKJ, 96 percent of people who are in “sexual relationships” without having been married in the church have no qualms about it. Young Catholics simply do as they please, and yet they still participate in the sacraments."
But I liked this sentence the best: “A question that asked respondents about their knowledge of the doctrine of “Humanae vitae” was also the source of great confusion. “Ten out of 10 random respondents thought it referred to an invigorating body lotion,” reads a questionnaire received at the diocese in Mainz.” Yup. 100% thought it was a body lotion.
Now I have to ask a question, particularly to those black-and-whiters out there: if all of the Catholics think the most important document in the last 50 years is a body lotion, whose fault is that?
I’ve done some math–I’ve mentioned this in other threads–I’ve been to Mass every Sunday for 50 years, + holy days. But let’s just tally up the number of Sunday Masses: 2,600. In those 2,600 sermons, how many times have I heard the words “Humanae Vitae,” or heard the doctrine it champions explained? Zero. Never. Not once. Anyone think that’s weird? Or is it just me?
So let’s think about this…young people–96% of Catholics in the German survey–are at complete odds with the Church’s position on sex, marriage, etc. 100% think Humanae Vitae is a body lotion. Anyone see a problem here?
It seems to me you have a couple possible reactions. #1–raise the drawbridge, tell 96% of Catholics they are on their way to Hell, and ignore them. And when church after church and school after school close, ignore that, too. So far, that’s pretty much been what’s happening. #2–realize that the Church has been doing an absolutely abysmal job of explaining itself, to the point where even when it says things that those 96% would agree with (Amoris Laetitia is a good example), they don’t even bother to read it. They don’t even know it exists. I can’t think of a good analogy…maybe Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation and putting it in a drawer and not telling anyone?
). I have been to numerous conferences over the years with Janet Smith PhD, Christopher West, Katrina Zeno, etc. on Theology of the Body and Humane Vitae. Our diocese requires all couples getting married to undergo 6 months of marriage formation including NFP (6 x 3hr. Classes) and catechesis. This has been going on for 14 years or so.
