And as materialism, hedonism, secularism, and the concupiscence of the human person became more and more widespread, the Church became more and more irrelevant to daily life.
The short of it is that in the minds of all too many, the Church is seen as caught up somewhere in a time warp of several centuries ago. Europe is not without its conservatives, but it appears that at least in some areas the liberals have become the de facto power. And less I offend anyone, I find all too many liberals here in America to be true believers of their social and moral philosophy and incapable of looking beyond their constructs to see the unintended results. Europe suffers even more to the emotionally driven disillusion of reality (examine, for instance, the downhill slope in the Netherlands of physician assisted euthanasia, now being administered not because the patient desires it, but because of the decision of “quality of life” or whatever the excuse may be the doctors executing patients are using).
Asking why Europe is so enthralled with secularism (and the rest of the ‘isms’ directing their choices) is a bit like asking why and how a re-puked version of Marxism has taken Venezuela down the economic toilet. People become enthralled with their own version of reality even without the aid of drugs and any questioning of their direction becomes a threat to their person-hood.
Please note (before pulling the trigger and shooting at me): I am in no way anti Church, or Church history. The old saying that when one is up to one’s arse in alligators, it is hard to remember that the original objective was to drain the swamp. It is easy to sit in the armchair and critique the decision of the past. It is another matter altogether to make those decision, and many of the decisions which were made over the centuries were made in good faith and with the best of intent. Further, the Church did a tremendous amount of good in its efforts to keep Europe from descending so far into tribalism as it appeared repeatedly to be intent to do.
I know of no even-handed study of history that is not polemical, and there not only is material indicating mis-steps the church made, but also a tendency to either sweep anything of a foul odor under the rug, or to treat all as at best miscreants. All historians have their biases, and the better ones know them and try to keep them out of the accounting. We have a history of saints and scoundrels sitting upon the papal throne, and the same for the multitude of bishops ensconced on the cathedra. As we have seen with the sexual abuse scandal, the choices made, often driven by a fear of creating scandal have delivered a scandal even greater than anticipated. It is all too easy to presume evil intent on the bishops’ part, when at least some of it was simply stupid decision making. The same can go for much of the past history of Europe. Not all, but to all too many people in Europe, they presume and therefore see only bad, evil intent and manipulation.
