If the witnesses cannot or will not witness, very little effective evangelization will occur. Potential converts will hear a bastardized, corrupted, or compromised message – often based on private opinion, popular misunderstanding, feeling, or conflicting information. It is not possible for merely a minority core group of Catholics to carry the day; their message is not being heard over the roar of cacophany in the lamely catechized modern Catholic population.
Vatican 2 is not responsible for this situation. (As has often been accurately repeated.) However, the fact remains that even poorly practicing Catholics prior to V2 did know their faith, and the tenets of that faith (including the disciplines & practices) were therefore also widely recognized outside of the faith. Watch some old black & white movies in which the subject surfaces for some reason (marriage, divorce, death, any number of narrative issues). You will notice that the non-Catholic characters in those movies pick up immediately on what that Catholicity suggests, and that understanding reflected what was also known in the real world. In real life, everything from the articles of the Creed to Holy Days of Obligation were recognized by non-Catholics as representing the authentic Catholic faith. There was no such thing as an alternate Catholic faith (to the non-Catholic world), or several thousand different versions of Catholicism, depending on that Catholic’s “private beliefs.”
And (surprise!) there still is no such thing as an alternate Catholic faith.
And while I do understand what V2 did and did not say (none of which was heresy or even a “new” Catholicism), I continue to be troubled by some of the loosely interpreted tributaries in areas such as liturgy, because liturgy is not “just” worship: worship is a reflection of what and how we believe. The permission to use the vernacular (worldwide) has been expanded to include so many cultural practices, that in the case of the U.S., that often translates to a populist version of Catholicism, as opposed to a faithful version.
That ^ becomes evident in the annual liturgical conferences held in such places as Los Angeles. (Not to be confused with the Eucharistic conferences, such as the one in Ireland.) These conferences are a motley of make-it-up-as-you-go liturgy, as well as lyrics, talks, homilies, etc. which any observer interested in Catholicism would receive as a very confusing representation of our faith.
Others have already touched on the catechesis crisis, one which has not gone away. **I think it is so evident that this is the first place to start, and that it is time to revise catechetical regulations (this has been suggested by some clergy on CAF, too) so that examinations are required prior to Confirmation, at any age. And there should be a massive initiative on behalf of adult re-catechesis. ** Initially, that would tax the priesthood and/or other religious, as it would require vetting of instructors by theologically trained priests/sisters; but once accurate theological training was assessed for lay teachers who have gone through the many graduate schools and other Catholic training institutions/programs, lay teachers could assume this task, with mere oversight by pastors and other religious.
), and my understanding is that that will start with this upcoming academic year. While that seems off-topic, that actually will benefit the examination process, for a number of reasons.
