"Archbishop Chaput thinks you should read this young Catholic's letter." Letter says youth need truth and clarity of teaching

[mdgspencer]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...should-read-this-young-catholics-letter-39554

“‘We crave the truth, no matter how blunt or difficult it is for us to swallow or for the shepherds of our flock to teach,’ the young father said."

“We urgently need the Church’s clarity and authoritative guidance on issues like abortion, homosexuality, gender dysphoria, the indissolubility of matrimony, the four last things, and the consequences of contraception" We rarely or never hear it.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Here is a direct link to the whole letter. The CNA article doesn’t do the letter justice.

From the Heart of a Young Father | Charles J. Chaput

The future of the Catholic faith belongs to those committed to bringing new life into the world and raising their children in truth.

www.firstthings.com

The letter is a sad commentary on young faithful Catholics. It reads like the rant of a toddler who wants his toys back, not wanting to share them with the kids who don’t have anything. Just sad.

 

[Axsenex]

Just 300 people out of millions? They must be very special.

 

[Annie]

What? I read the letter as expressing gratitude that he had received the good things of the Church and wants to share them with others… That the Church has good things to offer young people but keeps them hidden under odd ideas.

 

[billy15]

Thanks for the link, but is your comment on the letter’s author truly charitable in any way? I honestly and sincerely have no idea what you’re talking about or getting at. Help me to understand what you mean.

What is “sad” about this letter? What portions read “like the rant of a toddler”? Seriously, I ask this. Archbishop Chaput comments that this message comes from the young father’s heart. The letter certainly is heartfelt as it’s clear this man cares for the spiritual well being of his wife, his children, and his peers. Do you believe this father to be untruthful when he says the following:

“I offer these observations without bitterness or insult, but with love for my brothers and sisters who have not received the blessing, love, and formation God mysteriously granted to me and my friends.”

Why shouldn’t we take his words at face value? Again, what part reads like a toddler’s rant? On the contrary, the entire letter reads like a thoughtful plea to one’s shepherd to help the flock on its way to the greenest of pastures.

Where in this letter does the 26 year old father not want to “share his toys”? What is it that you think he doesn’t want to share? I can agree in one sense that this father does want his “toys” back. That is, if by “toys”, we mean to say the liturgical patrimony of the Latin Rite that was hidden from many millennials. I’ve talked to many of my fellow millennials who, after discovering some treasure of the Church that was obscured for the past few decades, have asked why such things were hidden from them They’ve asked why they’ve been subject, for instance, to modern day iconoclasm in their parishes, which actually is a part of the “beige Catholicism” that Bishop Barron has often talked about.

I’m glad Archbishop Chaput was able to publish this letter. As the young father mentions, he’s not alone. I’m glad to know that there are many young, millennial priests being ordained and serving in our parishes that are already working to preach the truth, and promote the beauty and richness that our faith has to offer.

 

[Annie]

You wrote: This father can dream all he wants about Latin Masses, bells and smoke, high alters, preaching on his favorite issues, and lamenting Vatican ll.

Where did he mention Latin Masses or any of this which you bring up? On the contrary, he mentions two post V2 documents as valuable.

The Church isn’t trying to reach out to spiritually healthy Millenials who want their Church back.

One would hope that the Church would like to retain some members, no? There are life-long Catholics who do not know certain basic teachings of the Church. When they find out about those teachings, they are stunned because they went through (whatever education they had) and never learned this.

The Church is trying to reach out to the spiritually sick, and it’s not going to reach them with… preaching on the sins of fornication.
No, but they might reach them by preaching on the beauty and freedom of chastity, the help that is available to them to grow in holiness, and the inner and eternal benefits of doing so.

Or we could just leave them to rot in their ssin, singing Kumbaya

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Where did he mention Latin Masses or any of this which you bring up?

Young Catholics crave the beauty that guided and inspired previous generations for nearly two millennia. Many of my generation received their upbringing surrounded by bland, ugly, and often downright counter-mystical modern church architecture, hidden tabernacles, and banal modern liturgical music more suitable to failed off-Broadway theater. The disastrous effect that Beige Catholicism (as Bishop Robert Barron aptly describes it) has had on my generation can’t be overstated. In a world of soulless modern vulgarity, we’re frustrated by the iconoclasm of the past 60 years.
In sum, many of us feel that we’re the rightful heirs of thousands of years of rich teaching, tradition, art, architecture, and music. We young Catholics increasingly recognize that these riches will be crucial for evangelizing our peers and passing on a thriving Church to our children. If the Church abandons her traditions of beauty and truth, she abandons us.

One would hope that the Church would like to retain some members, no?

People are free to leave the Church. In fact many people did leave because the Church couldn’t teach anything right in the 1950’s. Now, somehow, some people think that the Church is capable of teaching God’s rich, subtle truths to children and teenagers?? Read St Paul’s words about milk and meat.

No, but they might reach them by preaching on the beauty and freedom of chastity, the help that is available to them to grow in holiness, and the inner and eternal benefits of doing so.

Been there done that. Doesn’t work. But like I said, some people now think that the Church has the ability to be able to teach these things to children and teenagers. While at the same time, trying to defend it’s own coverups.

 

[billy15]

Your reply to Annie, and your original reply to me (which I understand you retracted, yet was still sent to my e-mail inbox), show me that you appear to be very bitter towards certain Catholics. I suppose this bitterness is the reason your original comment was so uncharitable towards your 26 year-old brother in Christ. A few things I’d like to reply to…

This father can dream all he wants about Latin Masses, bells and smoke, high alters, preaching on his favorite issues, and lamenting Vatican ll.

Don’t bring the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite into this discussion. It’s not pertinent to what this young father was trying to get across. Again, you’ve misrepresented him. This isn’t an attack on the Second Vatican Council, nor is this him lamenting about the Council. If it was, Archbishop Chaput wouldn’t have printed it, because as all Catholics should, he appreciates what the Council set out to do. Beautiful liturgy can happen in the Ordinary Form too. There are several parishes near me (in an archdiocese) and one in particular that offers all Masses ad orientem, with bells and incense, and also utilizes the altar rail for Communion with all coming forward to kneel. Not to mention, the various Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine, Chaldean, and Alexandrian Rite all utilize these “smells and bells” that our brother in Christ “dreams” about, to the benefit of their congregations. So, please, don’t turn this into an EF issue.

The Church is trying to reach out to the spiritually sick, and it’s not going to reach them with bells and smells, and preaching on the sins of fornication.

Absolutely the Church is trying to do this, and should. But even if we were to say that the second part of your above sentence is true, we can safely state the following: bare and white-washed churches, scant use of sacramentals, and preaching on saving the environment and gun control won’t reach people either. You’re not getting the point that this young father is making, and you’re missing the point that Archbishop Chaput is trying to highlight here. For more on what could be called “modern day iconoclasm”, look here at this essay by Dr. Jem Sullivan, pages 6-7:

For younger generations the loss of familiarity and ready access to the Christian tradition of sacred art is particularly real.

I’m curious, what generation are you? Baby Boomer, or one from the Silent Generation? Because you feel that the statements about iconoclasm being made are “ridiculous” (they’re not), you somehow think it follows that millennials have a lack of understanding regarding the Catholic Church post-Vatican II. To be blunt: that’s a joke.

We’ve lived it. Yes, I was fortunate to have grown up in the 1990’s going to a very beautiful parish that cherished a good number of (but not all) the Western Church’s traditions (all in the Ordinary Form, mind you), but many of my generation did not have this experience. One would have to be blind to not see how many parishes across the Western world have contributed to what the author describes as a “counter-mystical modern church”.

 

[billy15]

Again, I lived it. My generation, and especially my parents generation had a lot that was kept from them. This includes the Church’s teachings on many things, including sexuality. Do you know how many friends and classmates (I went to a parish school) I’ve seen hurt because some leaders in the Church, as well as our teachers, were not bold enough to teach these truths? Do you know how many broken marriages and relationships I’ve witnessed? The heartbreak? I’ll give just one example.

In 7th grade, at my archdiocesan parish school, several of my friends talked about sex often. Yes, that’s what boys that age do. One friend said that his dad gave him condoms already. just in case. He was non-Catholic, but several of my Catholic friends thought this was great. I was scared to speak up and said nothing. Later, I found some courage and I walked up to one of my best friends, a Catholic in the hallway during a passing period and mentioned to him that as Christians we’re not supposed to use condoms. That’s all my 7th grade brain could get out because while I knew that contraception was wrong, I didn’t know why it was wrong as it wasn’t explained to me. He laughed and said I didn’t know what I was talking about. 12 or so years later he got a girl pregnant. He thought he was “safe” with condoms. They quickly got married, and then after some infidelity, quickly got divorced. Now that child is without two parents under the same roof.

The point I want to illustrate is that never once did my pastor (a faithful priest, nonetheless) or any of my teachers bring up the Church’s teaching on sexuality. as an 8th grader, I wanted to approach my pastor and ask about this, as I knew many of my friends were fine with contraception and with being sexually active before marriage, but I chickened out. Who knows if any of my classmates would have listened if we were given a treatment of the Church’s beautiful teaching on marriage and sexuality, but the point is that nobody even tried. This is what we’re tired of. this is what many young priests today are tired of, again, because they lived it, and they’ve seen first hand how not calling young Catholics to holiness has had a deleterious effect on the world at large.

So I agree with Anne: they might have reached them “by preaching on the beauty and freedom of chastity, the help that is available to them to grow in holiness, and the inner and eternal benefits of doing so.”

But to that, you callously shrug that off with this:
"1Lord1Faith:

Been there done that. Doesn’t work. But like I said, some people now think that the Church has the ability to be able to teach these things to children and teenagers…

Again, for whatever reason, you exude a lot of bitterness here, and I wish I could understand why. Young Catholics aren’t naive. If we were, the Archbishop would’ve called out this father. But he didn’t. If you don’t think the Church has the ability to teach “these things” to the youth, then you appear to suffer from a lack of hope. The Church certainly has the ability to do so, but do our leaders, both ordained and lay, have the courage to do so? That is the question.

 

[Annie]

Please ignore indentation of paragraphs. I don’t know how to make it stop without taking away the numbers which I hope clarify which comments I am replying to.

1. I do think that we can have beauty and reverence without going all the way back to the 1950s and the Latin Mass. I see this happening more and more, in fact.
2. For generations, the Church grew. And it is still growing, just not in the West. In the West it is shrinking due to attrition. This young man offers a solution he thinks would work, which does not, according to his actual words, require a return to pre-V2 ways.

You mention “children and teens.” I don’t think those are the main subject of the conversation he is joining (loss of Millennial Catholics). In fact, if anything, I would suggest he is saying the opposite: we are good at giving milk, but we really need to start feeding people meat as they grow older!

I would also suggest that retaining Millennials requires a very different set of actions than does evangelizing the wider culture.

1. First, you seem upset about the cover-ups. For whatever reason, the Church went against the previous rules about what we now call sexual abuse and ended up perpetuating the heinous acts and hurting many people. This was terrible, and if you experienced any of this harm, you have my sympathy and prayers.

I see that you still list yourself as Roman Catholic in your profile. I wonder what your suggestions would be? ETA: for retaining young adults and/or evangelizing?

 

[Annie]

I gave you a heart for your story, which has been repeated many times in many places.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Well billy, I didn’t retract my post. It was deleted by mods. Too incendiary perhaps, a bit over the top.

Anyway, I can read between the lines of that letter. It’s an indictment on the current Church. I’m not misrepresenting the letter, it’s there for anyone to read. He writes quite a bit about traditionalist’s talking points.

I know exactly what he’s talking about. It’s he who did not write one word about his understanding of why the Church is doing things the way it does today, and that is why it’s unpleasant to listen to the talking points of young people who just seem, well… a little bitter.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Beauty is subjective Annie. The “this is more reverent than that” road is disastrous.

Billy’s story goes a long way to help my point about children and teenagers. That’s what I read between the lines of that letter.

The Church has nearly destroyed itself with the scandals. Yes, it’s a tad upsetting. Especially when bishops want sexual morality taught to children.

I’ll do what I think is right for me and my family. I don’t need, nor is it my place, to offer suggestions for the Church.

 

[Annie]

To each his own, then.

 

[billy15]

Well billy, I didn’t retract my post. It was deleted by mods. Too incendiary perhaps, a bit over the top.

Well if that’s the case, perhaps it’s a gentle nudge to encourage you to be more charitable in your postings. I remain curious as to what generation you belong to.

But still, though, you continue to assume a lot about this young brother of ours. Look at the language you use:

“Anyway, I can read between the lines of that letter… I know exactly what he’s talking about.”

Really? Only God is omniscient. You’re allowing your own biases towards “traditionalists” to cloud your judgement. Yes, you are misrepresenting the letter, as it is not indicting the “current Church”. It’s as if you’re making a distinction between the Catholic Church before Vatican II and after Vatican II… but it’s the same Church! It’s the same thing you did with bringing up the EF. Don’t make this about “traditionalists” versus whoever; we’re all Catholic. You do seem bitter and hurt, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps you experienced harm from those you trusted as Annie mentioned, and if you did, I am so sorry. Truly.

Regardless, yes, the situation with the scandals is very upsetting. But this doesn’t mean that bishops and pastors should stop teaching sexual morality. Especially to children! It should be taught all the more so in this broken world that preaches unfettered sexual “freedom”. Young Catholics, even in Catholic schools, barely even have a chance.

How my story helps your point about children and teenagers not understanding the Church’s teaching is puzzling. On the contrary, it shows that our youngest brothers and sisters in the Lord need to be formed in virtues such as chastity and temperance, and in a way that they can understand proper to their age level. A certain number of leaders (perhaps even many) may fail to teach, but the materials are there and we just need to be bold enough to preach it and bring it to the world. Particularly to young Catholics. Young modern saints like Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Bl. Rolando Rivi show that young people can and do embrace these teachings. They just need to be formed and nourished by their leaders in the Church. This is what the author of this letter is asking, and this is what I wanted to ask my own pastor: “help my friends, family and peers on to the path to holiness… to the path to heaven!”

We’re all members of Christ’s Body, and building each other up is something that we must do.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

You seem like an idealist. That’s fine, most young people are. But there is still no acknowledgement on your part, or the man who wrote the letter, as to why things are the way they are today. There is seemingly no attempt to understand, there only seems to be venting about how you, and the man writing the letter, feel let down by the Church.

Parents are the primary nourishers of children, not the Church.

 

[Feanor2]

This letter smacks of another veiled criticism of the Holy Father.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The letter writer is entitled to his opinion and I can respect it even if I don’t agree with all of it.

However, how did he go from “my wife and I think…” to “Young Catholics think…”?

Who died and made him the megaphone for all “young Catholics”? A 26-year-old married father of 3 is not representative of all “Young Catholics”. I could point to other “young Catholics” who think that the expressions of positions on border control and gun control are welcome and necessary. Again, I may not agree with them, but they have valid opinions.

Not every Catholic, young or not, is looking for a lot of black line rules on “homosexuality bad” or whatever, which is what this seems to be expressing, and yes, I agree it reads like a veiled jab at the Pope.

 

[billy15]

Many great saints were “idealists”. St. Dominic Savio comes to mind. Bl. Miriam Teresa does, too. Both died before they were 30. I would be happy to be among their company.

But “attempt to understand” what, exactly? What of the things today, specifically, am I not acknowledging? What are the “things”? I don’t feel let down by the Church at all. I don’t feel let down by my pastors or teachers either. They’re human. Sometimes I may be disappointed in the actions of others, but I wouldn’t say I’ve personally been let down by anyone in particular. And surely, the Church has sustained me. To say she has let me down couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s unfair to think that this letter to an archbishop is an attack on the Pope. Again, we seem to think we are masters of reading the heart instead of giving the benefit of the doubt. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt, though, and charitably assume that this young man loves Pope Francis. If we call ourselves Christians, we should not be attacking the ones we love.

Parents are the primary nourishers of children, not the Church.

Of course, but why are you making it either/or? From whom do the parents learn? You seem to have forgotten that the Church is our Mother, and we are her children. Indeed, parents are the primary nourishers of children. So on the contrary, Holy Mother Church does nourish Christians in a very significant way, including children:

“[T]he Church, bathed in the light, of the Lord projects its rays over the whole world… she extends her richly flowing streams far and wide; yet her head is one, and her source is one, and she is the one mother copious in the results of her fruitfulness. By her womb we are born; by her milk we are nourished; by her spirit we are animated.” (St. Cyprian of Carthage: On the Unity of the Catholic Church, 5)

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I don’t feel let down by my pastors or teachers either. They’re human. Sometimes I may be disappointed in the actions of others, but I wouldn’t say I’ve personally been let down by anyone in particular.

This makes no sense.

Anyway, ethereal statements about saints aren’t very useful in practical applications.

Maybe you can do little research on recent Church history on the US in order to answer some of your questions.