Living in a Post-Christian Canada/USA/World - Advice?

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FishyPete

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How does a devout Catholic live happily in, not only a post-Christian (I don’t like that phrase) world – but a planet ever more and more hostile to Christians, Christianity and God in general. And before you accuse me of judging, I am the chief sinner amongst you. And I pray for sinners, and know that God loves them just as much as he loves me. I know that every human is worthy of love, no matter who they are, what they believe or what they chose to do… but:

I noticed the following:

Living in Canada I’ve noticed:
  1. Suicide is looked upon as a favourable alternative to any form of suffering, in fact assisted suicide has become legal and is encouraged.
  2. Homosexuality is celebrated as a viable and reached for lifestyle - and a norm, with gay couple adoption an marriage a unescapable conclusion and reality. The acceptance of the Cross of homosexuality and loving individual as a person created and loved by God is yesterday’s baseline not today’s. Any unacceptance of any sexual practice whatsoever is seen as radical discrimination worthy of shame and job loss – love is not enough anymore – celebration is a baseline.
  3. Christian guilt & Catholic guilt is at an all time high with the majority of 30-40 something Christians turning their backs on their father and mother’s Churches, without understanding their faith.
  4. Abortion is seen as an unassailable right in being a strong woman. It fact it is celebrated and seen as a virtuous endeavor
  5. Radical feminism has launched the male guilt movement so far as to demonize men at every turn.
  6. Hook-up culture has reduced the sex act to the level of drive through fast food, designed to satisfy a basic need.
  7. Any mention of God or His Church is seen as an attack on the rights of individuals and freedom.
  8. Any mention of Christmas or Easter is seen as an attack on diversity and inclusion.
  9. Sin is viewed as a point of view and hell and satan are no lingered considered threats.
I see a day where Christianity becomes outlawed, and Church pastors are arrested for slander, hate speech and bigotry to the general public.

In the world, Christians are killed by the thousands, and barely a mention.

Are we not stoned if we proclaim Christ, either literally or figuratively in 2018?

Whenever I see someone wearing a cross in public I feel like hugging them and saying “me too”…

Just looking for some coping methods as I feel defeated, as if the struggle is lost.

I pray daily for the world, and look to the Saints, but how does one evangelize in a world that resembles more closely first century Rome than anything else. I feel sadness for this…
 
Honestly I think it’s going to be tough if the Catholic Church doesn’t lead the way by pushing through a reform of its beliefs and other things.

This is just my opinion, no disrespect here
 
Start being the new protestors in society 😀. Use reason to discuss faith questions starting with the CC social teachings. Get the people in society to think by asking questions and get them to reflect on their answers and what the consecuenses will be for their thinking. One on one works best for this and expect to keep the conversation going for a good time. Make sure you live and know your faith well. Positive attitude and showing joy in being a Catholic. If people are into art then go to “a Catholic church and look at the art” and talk about what is portrayed and why. Symbols, colours etc. I am sure you know about 20 stories from the Bible that talk about jealousy, brotherhood and sisterhood, the rich and the poor, trust, being lost in the world and not knowing where to turn to, doing the bad action and knowing it will have consequenses, not understanding anything, joy of being created, motherhood and fatherhood, “big guy verses the little guy”, good verses poor leadership, love etc.

Spend time with other Catholics or Christians. Go to Mass as often as you can apart from Sundays and solemnities. The Sacrament of Confession is a necessity as well as going to Adoration. Pray.

I live in a “post secularised society” with about 2% Catholics. A new expression for most people and used in studies regarding people and faith and unfortunately needed to describe the society I live in.
 
You are correct but it is not the first time the few faithful live in a faithless world. We have to speak the truth but also respect other people’s choices. St Paul said the heretic stands self-condemned.
 
I think the best way we can evangelize is just to live out our faith in our daily lives and let our example speak for itself. We can be salt and light by not hiding our beliefs or being apologetic about them. We can be polite yet unwavering about it.

When the world sees someone who has faith and hope and love in their life they are more receptive. So much in the world today, the feminist movement for example, all they can offer is anger and entitlement and victimhood. I predict people will grow tired of this and begin to search out the genuine, the beautiful, the edifying. And each of us as a witness to the beauty of God and Jesus and Holy Mother Church will be like compasses pointing them where to go.
 
Dan_Defender said:
You are correct but it is not the first time the few faithful live in a faithless world. We have to speak the truth but also respect other people’s choices. St Paul said the heretic stands self-condemned.
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Actually St Paul was willing to describe in detail what is true and what is false. He loves individuals but not necessarily respect their choices. He condemns some choices.

Today the advice to love the sinner but hate the sin has been diluted to “respect the sinner, and respect the choices”.
 
I live in Canada also and agree with your list with the exceptions of numbers 7 and 8. I haven’t seen any sign of this where I live, but that’s not to say it won’t come about at some point. Yes, our world is becoming an increasingly volatile and hostile place to live, but so was the Roman Empire for many Christians at different times. We can count it an honor to suffer as so many of them did, and as so many still today do.

To evangelize in a way that counters all of this we must do three things. Love, love, and love some more no matter what we receive in return.
 
FishyPete said:
How does a devout Catholic live happily in, not…
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A few thoughts:
  1. Suicide is not considered something to be promoted, certainly not the normal person in crisis, depressed sense. But the controlled fore-planned suicide is a challenge to the notion that we need to do everything to keep a person alive despite the results.
  2. There are many reasons for this, but one that is often missed is that many people of this age bracket don’t have the time or interest in maintaining a physical building and its governance. We’re coming off a peak of high interest in Christianity brought on by the WWII generation. They were joiners of institutions. The veteran’s groups, Rotary, Lions, and the like are all having similar issues.
  3. What alternative is being presented? Simply being against something does not mean you’ve solved it. How are you holding the men involved accountable? The trend of abortion rates has fallen to half of what it was in about 1979.
  4. I have to strongly disagree here. The “male guilt movement”, or whatever you want to call it, is not to thwart men; it’s the shock some men are finally experiencing regarding how much they were oblivious to.
The world is not ending, the Christian world has been knocked out of bed and has been befuddled to understand what got us here and where we can shape the future.
 
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And you sound like a new age spiritualist steeped in relativism. No offense.
 
I think it’s a lose-lose proposition. Western nations like Canada (my own country) and countries of Europe are so post-Christian that even their societies are declining. The United States is not that much better off and is headed in the same direction. But even then, those nations that are “staunchly” Catholic are no better. They may still be nominally Catholic and may even have a Catholic hierarchy that is influential and powerful, but the people treat their faith with nothing more than nominality and lip service, e.g. the Philippines (my former country). Of course, I speak of the societies in general, not individuals. In both Canada and the Philippines and other nations, there are still plenty of upright, devout Catholics who deeply love Christ and the Faith such that we can still hope for these nations.

Thing is, Christ came to save men, not governments. All I can really see is that these nations will probably be allowed to continue in their sin until the consequences of their sin leads their societies to complete collapse. They will then either sober up and seek God again, and the Christian civilization will revive (it HAS happened before), or Christ will return in glory to judge the quick and the dead. Either way, it’s probably all for the best in the end.
 
I think the first thing to do is to study your catechism and pray for the gift of the HOly Spirit, to know when to speak and when to be silent.
 
FishyPete said:
Suicide is looked upon as a favourable alternative to any form of suffering, in fact assisted suicide has become legal and is encouraged.
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I recommend as an alternative letting everybody you know that you don’t want anything unplugged when your time comes. Say it with a smile.
 
Relating to the concerns posed by @FishyPete , I think a good knowledge of the history of the Church helps .

I think of the world into which the Church was born .

I think of all the crises through which the Church has journeyed over the centuries .

I think of the state of Europe 100 years ago and 80 years ago . It was horrible .

But above all I need , as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews says , to keep my “eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” .

The victory is His .
 
Homosexuality is celebrated as a viable and reached for lifestyle - and a norm, with gay couple adoption an marriage a unescapable conclusion and reality. The acceptance of the Cross of homosexuality and loving individual as a person created and loved by God is yesterday’s baseline not today’s. Any unacceptance of any sexual practice whatsoever is seen as radical discrimination worthy of shame and job loss – love is not enough anymore – celebration is a baseline.
Just because something is socially acceptable doesn’t mean that we have to accept it in our own lives. I recommend not being crude.
I remember when it was in the 70s and public displays of racism were coming to an end. Our reading teacher said, “Oh you children are missing out” and she proceeded to read some literature that was very offensive. Many of the children laughed.I didn’t laugh. The teacher noticed that I wasn’t laughing and and said, “But you are not laughing, why?” Knowing how the people thought at that time I thought that I was going to be torn to pieces. But I said, “I don’t think that stuff is funny.” She put the book away and we did something else in class that day. .
 
For me the biggest challenge is how to raise children in this world. As they get older they just ignore parents more and more. My oldest child is 14 and slumps in church every week, won’t take communion any more, and fights RE every week.

It would be nice if we could send them to Catholic school. We did manage to send one child to Catholic school last year but we almost maxed out our credit cards doing so, so back to public school he goes. 🙁 I don’t know how to counter the messages in school with a message of Christ when school teaches everything with Christ absent and any religious stuff regarded as hocus-focus.
 
Do not call me a racist or a homophobic. That is HIGHLY offensive. I am HIGHLY offended!
 
It is not my intention to call anybody bad names. I am pointing out that with the passage of time there has been a change in mentality. With the change in thinking and mentality comes new challenges in response to these changes.
Forty - fifty years ago in certain parts of the United States expressions of racist bigotry were acceptable. Today that is no longer the case. However how to respond to other agendas and mentalities that are inimical to Christianity without being offensive is a challenge. Sometimes we have to remember the words of Christ; “Those who acknowledge me before others i will acknowledge before my Heavenly Father. Those who deny me before others I will deny before my Heavenly Father.”
 
Since there is nothing new under the sun, we might strive to avoid looking left or right - only to see the mess that we are in. We can begin to tune the media out - really! I did several years ago and am much happier generally. No cable TV, so i listen to Catholic radio and watch Catholic vids on YouTube.

Ahhhhh…much better.

Our Lord took flesh so that we might have life, and life in abundance. We are called to be filled with joy.

Joy.

Strolling through the morass of modern society filled with joy! Those who are post-Christian will notice this. Some will be angered and lash out - and for that you will be blessed. Yet, some will be attracted, and for that reason, we are called to be ready to give an explanation for the hope that is within us.

Suffering? Embrace it. It is part of our purification here on earth. The great Saints actually enjoyed suffering for their love of God. Talk about counter-cultural.

Show the world by your patient, loving example. Others cannot help but take notice.
 
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