Northeast [US] faithful losing connection to Church

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In the archdioceses along the East Coast an average of about 20 percent of registered Catholics attend Sunday Mass. In the Archdiocese of Boston, the epicenter of the clergy sex abuse crisis that rocked the American Church in 2002, it is estimated that only 16 percent of Catholics attend Mass on Sunday.
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“Many Catholics in the United States in the last 40 years have unfortunately been poorly catechized, and if you’re poorly catechized in general, it’s impossible to be fully evangelized, which means that you not only know the Ten Commandments, but you live the Ten Commandment; that you not only know the seven sacraments, but you draw your life from them,” Father Landry said.
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A consequence of generations of subpar catechesis is the fact that “only a small percentage of Catholics treasure the importance of Sunday and live off the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,” said Father Landry.
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osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/8842/Northeast-faithful-losing-connection-to-Church.aspx

The rest of the US doesn’t fare much better. The Midwest is the region with the highest rate of weekly Mass attendance: 26%.

In addition to poor catechesis, the changing nature of American life is a factor. Many people have a diminished sense of community. And there are more alternative Sunday activities which compete with Mass.
 
Good article. Thanks for sharing!

I particularly like these quotes:
“People of good will just haven’t been given an adequate doctrinal formation,” Father Landry said. “They haven’t been taught and trained how to pray and live the Christian life adequately. The education in prayer is essential to the Church, and that has not been adequately done in most places. Many people have learned to say their prayers, but they haven’t learned how to listen to the Lord and speak back with confidence and make their entire life a prayer.”
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“Allowing Christ’s life to radiate through us is what evangelization means,” Father Landry said.
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The New Evangelization is here! 🙂
 
Dale_M said:
osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/8842/Northeast-faithful-losing-connection-to-Church.aspx

The rest of the US doesn’t fare much better. The Midwest is the region with the highest rate of weekly Mass attendance: 26%.

In addition to poor catechesis, the changing nature of American life is a factor. Many people have a diminished sense of community. And there are more alternative Sunday activities which compete with Mass.
Click to expand...
This answers my question as to why our altar servers in my parish blow off their obligation to serve Mass when they are scheduled and for that matter blow off Mass altogether because they have “basketball practice”.:rolleyes:
 
But at least there are Catholics on the East Coast. Try finding one on the West Coast or Southeast.
 
I’m thinking that the headline writer doesn’t quite comprehend the word “Faithful.”
:confused:

The faithful are, by definition faithful. It’s the UNfaithful that, well, aren’t.
 
Dale_M said:
osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/8842/Northeast-faithful-losing-connection-to-Church.aspx

The rest of the US doesn’t fare much better. The Midwest is the region with the highest rate of weekly Mass attendance: 26%.

In addition to poor catechesis, the changing nature of American life is a factor. Many people have a diminished sense of community. And there are more alternative Sunday activities which compete with Mass.
Click to expand...
This is depressing, but I can’t really say I’m surprised. And I completely agree with the point about poor catechesis. It wasn’t until I returned to the Church and started systematically trying to educate myself about it that I realized how dreadfully inadequate my catechesis was.

I’ve also seen more and more how Sunday is “just another Saturday” when it comes to scheduling activities – especially “mandatory” practice for various sports.
 
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