One can hope.“It’s a pagan kind of culture,” he said, adding that Christians have to “mentally adjust.”
It’s true that the culture has been corrupted, over a historically relatively short period of time, going from a Judeo-Christian culture to a neo-pagan culture. I have lived through it. But the decline is not yet complete. We’ve gone from contraception to abortion to broken families and the destruction of marriage. I don’t see any major signs of a turnaround. However, there are hopeful signs among many Catholic youth who recognize the extent to which the culture has degenerated. They may be the generation that has to rebuild.
That’s exactly right. Since I lived through the changes in the media, I can say I saw some small, slightly off color, a little risque and some slightly offensive things but thought, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” By the mid-1980s, things were about 50/50, good/bad. By the end of the 80s and after, into the abyss.He’s exactly correct and furthermore, I’m convinced that what he’s identifying is precisely a huge reason there has been a collapse in faithfulness among catholics in the last several decades. Catholics have in large measure failed to recognize that our culture has diverged from the gospel and from Natural Law to the point where the two are downright incompatible in many circumstances.
Catholics who fail to realize this and to teach their children from an early age to discern the difference and then to choose God over Baal shouldn’t be surprised when their children grow up to reject the church and worship Baal instead.
For the first two centuries of catholic life in America, bigoted WASPs prevented catholics from being fully IN American society and culture. Since the 60’s catholic Americans have broken through so thoroughly that there is no longer any difference between the average nominal catholic and the average American. Jesus called us to be “in the world, but not of it.” We’ve gone from failing to be IN the world to failing to avoid becoming OF the world.
Preach on bishop!
Oh, future generations are being taught a good deal of nonsense. But I’m certain that not all of them are buying it. However, the culture is likely to crash even further before a restoration begins.One can hope.
Though, a possible problem that may arise in the future – many who identify as being Christians may fall further from what they see as “institutional Christianity.” Setting themselves up as the authority of what being a Christian means and how to defend it. They may respond to hostility and violence…with hostility and violence? I hope that’s not the case but the path of factional divisions and undermining authority many people seem to promote leaves one to wonder what the future generation is being taught?
I don’t think so. As someone who works in the media and studies social trends, I see the Church tightening things up now. Don’t present yourself for Communion if you don’t believe Church teaching, to outright bans on certain individuals in Ireland. Pope Francis is reviving the Church.Oh, future generations are being taught a good deal of nonsense. But I’m certain that not all of them are buying it. However, the culture is likely to crash even further before a restoration begins.
Funnily enough, church attendance in Poland under the communism was something like 60% of the baptized, and now it’s about 40% and declining at a rate of 1 percentage point per year.Bishop Paprocki warned that the situation of the Catholic Church in the U.S. is becoming more like that of the Church in Poland under communism, where Christians lived in “a very hostile environment.”
I have actually lived in Poland under communist rule. My all family went to church every Sunday. New churches were being built, and big ones at that. It wasn’t easy to get a permit for building a church, but it was far from impossible. That one for example was built between 1977 and 1990: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:Krak%C3%B3w_-_Krowodrza_G%C3%B3rka_ko%C5%9Bci%C3%B3%C5%82_2006-04-09.jpgMy mother received letters from her relatives in Poland under Communist rule.
It is not just the outer environment that concerns us, but the inner as well. Who can honestly say that Catholics are not separated into opposing camps within the Church. Those who value the spiritual good first, vs those who push for the progressive culture.I have actually lived in Poland under communist rule. My all family went to church every Sunday. New churches were being built, and big ones at that. It wasn’t easy to get a permit for building a church, but it was far from impossible. That one for example was built between 1977 and 1990: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:Krak%C3%B3w_-_Krowodrza_G%C3%B3rka_ko%C5%9Bci%C3%B3%C5%82_2006-04-09.jpg
His Excellency should try working in Syria, Egipt or Saudi Arabia before speaking about a “very hostile environment”.
Well, if government persecution and social hostility to the Church is going to be favorable for Church attendance, then we have some great decades ahead of us!Funnily enough, church attendance in Poland under the communism was something like 60% of the baptized, and now it’s about 40% and declining at a rate of 1 percentage point per year.