C
Chris_McAvoy
Guest
The main advantage in immigrants and their parish knowing USA culture is that children of the 2nd or 3rd generation can be taught how to fight off the bad elements learned from it more easily. However I feel also that there’s a certain destruction that occurs when adopting too much of the current “American” USA culture in a Church. Many peoples complaint about the Western Latin Cath Church is that it has become too similar to it’s protestant cousins, too “North Americanized”. Think of all the “charismatic” masses we have now. How one can prefer the bob dylanesque singing in many Latin Churches to the ancient apostolic chanting of the Eastern Churches I do not know. For me my whole point in attending Eastern Churches is to escape from this “adaptation to the concerns of the American world” I want no part of them, except to learn to avoid them.
For me this is exactly what is missing from Western Latin Catholic Churches. When the average laity stops understanding and living with monasticism influences this is when the Churches is in trouble. Throughout medieval europe monasteries were frequently visited and made a part of the average laities life. They traded food and good with them…provided charity and social services. They are what we need back again as a normal force in our society.
When the average moslem is doing more praying on his knees at the noon “salat” than the average christian is to the liturgical hours (whom the Moslems copied in the 7th century) than the world is in GRAVE danger.