The state of the Church in America?

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Do you think the Church in America is in:

A. Decline (losing priests, becoming more “liberal”, on the verge
of schism)

B. Already “lost” (already technically in schism, we must start
over and build the American Church from the
bottom up)

C. Staying the same (has a lot of good and bad in it, and isn’t
going to change much anytime soon)

D. It is on the verge of an explosion of orthodoxy!
(todays seminarians are orthodox men who will soon turn the church around, people are converting at
high rates, and the Church is returning to its true identity)

E. It is getting better but only our children and grandchildren will see the fruits of change
(today’s Catholics are rebuilding the Church but we won’t see the fruit of it in our lifetime)
 
Ok, maybe that is what I am hoping for, but it may be true. It seems that the culture of life is fighting in the US. Hopefully we will win!
 
Another great thread.

AmChurch is sick, rotting from the inside.

I vote, more of a prayer really, for the explosion of orthodoxy (little ‘o’)!

We need a turn away from vernacular in the Mass, which seems to have only created more and more ghettoization of parishes and ethnic enclaves rather than supporting the Universal Church’s universality. More Latin will help with the cure.

I happen to know a couple of seminarians and newly ordained. BOY ARE THEY SHARP. They’re MEN. Nothing swishy about these dudes.

They are much more focused on the liturgy than their predecessors.

May God bless the FSSP.

May God bless AmBishops not afraid of RESTORATION.

May God bless those AmLayCatholics who STARVE politicians coveting their votes, like Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush. STARVE THEM and their parties filled with balderdash, until they refuse to continue down the path supporting the Culture of Death.

The election of Pope Benedict XVI gives me ample reason for hope.
 
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kelso:
Another great thread.

AmChurch is sick, rotting from the inside.

I vote, more of a prayer really, for the explosion of orthodoxy (little ‘o’)!

We need a turn away from vernacular in the Mass, which seems to have only created more and more ghettoization of parishes and ethnic enclaves rather than supporting the Universal Church’s universality. More Latin will help with the cure.

I happen to know a couple of seminarians and newly ordained. BOY ARE THEY SHARP. They’re MEN. Nothing swishy about these dudes.

They are much more focused on the liturgy than their predecessors.

May God bless the FSSP.

May God bless AmBishops not afraid of RESTORATION.

May God bless those AmLayCatholics who STARVE politicians coveting their votes, like Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush. STARVE THEM and their parties filled with balderdash, until they refuse to continue down the path supporting the Culture of Death.

The election of Pope Benedict XVI gives me ample reason for hope.
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👍
Great post! I agree very much with your post. I love the FSSP and use to attend Latin Mass at Holy Cross Mausoleum when I still lived in SD, 3 years ago. I miss my home terribly 😦 but it is not feasible for me to move back right now with the outrageous cost of living out there.

I do believe however that the new Mass can be made to be a very reverent liturgy… with more Latin and a return to ad orientum.
God Bless
 
I agree the Novus Ordo can be salvaged.

I recently caught the EWTN version, which I can only assume is closer to what those at Vatican II were REALLY trying to achieve, and it was VERY reverent.

Can we get a BAN on bongos, Spanish guitars, and stand-up comedian priests, PLEASE.

Yeah, Holy Cross lumbers on. We’re trying to get a parish for them … but that is GOING TO TAKE A LONG TIME AND A LOT OF PRAYER.

Hope you’re doing well where you are.
 
😉
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kelso:
I agree the Novus Ordo can be salvaged.

I recently caught the EWTN version, which I can only assume is closer to what those at Vatican II were REALLY trying to achieve, and it was VERY reverent.

Can we get a BAN on bongos, Spanish guitars, and stand-up comedian priests, PLEASE.

Yeah, Holy Cross lumbers on. We’re trying to get a parish for them … but that is GOING TO TAKE A LONG TIME AND A LOT OF PRAYER.

Hope you’re doing well where you are.
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You guys need to get Bishop Salvatore Cordileone put in power out there… then I think a parish for the FSSP may be in order 😉
 
You’re right, of course.

Bishop Cordileone (his last name, loosely translated means HEART OF A LION) is THE MAN.

He is far too good for San Diego.

I have a standing bet with a few of the boys that he’ll become the first American Pope.

Ha!
 
My grandaughter, 23, was welcomed into the The Church this Easter past.
She had very little religious training at all growing up and came to The Catholic Church with so much joy.
She is orthodox in her thinking and practice and I’m hoping she is a beacon of hope for the future.
With young folks like her and Benedict XVI as our Pope, I forsee a great cleansing and renewal of the Church, especially in America.
 
As a Traditional Catholic I am hopefull that things will turn back to the traditional ways. It makes me sad to see some of the parishes that no longer provide the teachings of the Holy Mother Church. Our Church leaders need to have a unified voice to lead us into the future. A lot if not all of the misunderstandings about country-V-Church could be cleared up with stronger leadership.
 
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catsrus:
My grandaughter, 23, was welcomed into the The Church this Easter past.
She had very little religious training at all growing up and came to The Catholic Church with so much joy.
She is orthodox in her thinking and practice and I’m hoping she is a beacon of hope for the future.
With young folks like her and Benedict XVI as our Pope, I forsee a great cleansing and renewal of the Church, especially in America.
Click to expand...
catsrus!

Hooray.

Now I have more hope.
 
I’m so-so when it comes to the state of the Church… it seems at times that things are looking good and getting better… but as a young person, sometimes it seems like these are isolated incidents… Just go to any college campus for example… 99% of the time you will find no renewal amongst the youth, but just people who want to drink and have sex. Its HARD to find a strong Catholic… Of course, you’ll see them come out of the woodwork at Catholic conferences and the like… but in the overall analysis, these are really just a handful of people. Even in your everyday parish the kids look lost and bored to tears, not even knowing their faith.

I get fired up when I see all the youth at a Catholic conference, or parish Bible study… but when I take a step back and look at the big picture, it looks grim…
 
Keep faith, some may say the Church is going to die or is already dead, but if there is one thing Christ knows how to do is to come back from the dead. Jesus and his Church has been doing that for 2,000 years, now is not the time to get discouraged.

I would think there is something of a schism, but one group is going to dissolve into apathy. The other group will be an ever revival of orthodoxy. There probably will be a decline of priests. And it may just be our children to see the fruits, much like its the children of the sixties that tire of their parents values. Why stay in nihlism when there is hope? How long can you go being so self-centered? Will the prodigal people decide there is a better place to go? This has not been the first generation to be in this situation.
 
Oh dear.

I voted “stay the same.” 👍

Then I saw I was the only one. :confused:

Perhaps I’ve messed up again. 😦

:crying:

Alan
 
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AlanFromWichita:
Oh dear.

I voted “stay the same.” 👍

Then I saw I was the only one. :confused:

Perhaps I’ve messed up again. 😦

:crying:

Alan
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No, you’re not the only one. I struggled with that answer, but I took hope from the newly ordained priests I’m met in the last year or two, and I went with the fourth choice.

They are SO orthodox.

Because of them, I think that the Lord will heal our Church, and new growth will occur. Scripture says that we’ll be purified as gold is purified by fire. I think the occurances of the last several years have been that “fire”.

JMHO
 
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AlanFromWichita:
Oh dear.

I voted “stay the same.” 👍

Then I saw I was the only one. :confused:

Perhaps I’ve messed up again. 😦

:crying:

Alan
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Me too, but I never find myself in the majority around here.

Nohome
 
James_2:24:
I’m so-so when it comes to the state of the Church… it seems at times that things are looking good and getting better… but as a young person, sometimes it seems like these are isolated incidents… Just go to any college campus for example… 99% of the time you will find no renewal amongst the youth, but just people who want to drink and have sex. Its HARD to find a strong Catholic… Of course, you’ll see them come out of the woodwork at Catholic conferences and the like… but in the overall analysis, these are really just a handful of people. Even in your everyday parish the kids look lost and bored to tears, not even knowing their faith.

I get fired up when I see all the youth at a Catholic conference, or parish Bible study… but when I take a step back and look at the big picture, it looks grim…
Click to expand...
I tend to agree with you.😦

It does get better as these young people get married and have children, they tend to return to the practice of the faith in greater numbers.🙂

But our continued evangelizing to our young Catholics needs to be really ramped up ! a fire needs to be ignited !

Trick
 
I think what looked like a great falling away of Catholics for the past forty years was just some sort of spititual pruning. Now the vine is ready to seriously explode like and atomic bomb with fruit. The seminarians I met in the eighties and the ones I meet now are polar opposites. Todays are such beautiful orthodox souls.

The new springtime of the church has begun!
 
“The Church always seems to be behind the times, when it really is beyond the times.”

G.K. Chesterton

Keep the faith!
 
I voted E, although I was tempted to go with D. I went with E because perhaps I’m living in a bubble (the Diocese of Pittsburgh sent the largest contingent of youths to WYD from the U.S. - 640). I think the Church is regaining strength but it will take time for my generation to bring the fruits of Pope John Paul II’s evangelization to us to the fore. Perhaps when I am a grandmother, we will have a Pope who came into the clergy as a result of Pope John Paul’s efforts with the young. 🙂
 
I can’t see it ever getting better until statements from Rome quit having gray areas. We don’t need 14 paragraphs when 2 sentences will do. As long as things can be interpreted more than one way things will never change in the USA. They will find a reason to keep going the way they are.
 
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