What condition is the Church in?

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davy39:
I have been looking at some of the postings today, and I get the impression sometimes that the Church is in deep trouble. We have over 100 priests in Ireland suspected of molesting, we have priests and bishops that think homosexual “love” is powerful, and church closings all over the country, not to mention bankruptcies in dioceses. Is there anything good going on? Give me you opinion.
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It was estimated that 200 Million people world wide, including 6-6 million in person in and around Rome, showed their love for the Pastor of the Church Universal when he died last year.
100 Million souls came to Christ and His Church last year in addition to the 1 billion already following Him.
The Holy Spirit lead the Church to have a wonderful new Pastor in the person of Pope Benedict XVI.
The reform of many of the abuses happening in the Church has begun under his leadership.
There are five more new Catholic parishes in my town when there was only one ten or fifteen years ago. We had to expand our own Church a few years ago and we are back to standing room only. And most of them are 20’s and 30’s and very true to the orthodox teaching of the magisterium. It’s wonderful.
I discovered the reverence and holiness of the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Catholic Church last year.

Yes, lots of good things happening in the Church. I believe there is a new springtime dawning in the Church.

God Bless.
 
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Ignatius:
It was estimated that 200 Million people world wide, including 6-6 million in person in and around Rome, showed their love for the Pastor of the Church Universal when he died last year.
100 Million souls came to Christ and His Church last year in addition to the 1 billion already following Him.

God Bless.
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St Faustina from Divine Mercy: note book 6

As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.

In Jesus Name Thy Will Be Done, Amen and Amen (*)
 
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LambOfGod:
St Faustina from Divine Mercy: note book 6

As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.

In Jesus Name Thy Will Be Done, Amen and Amen (*)
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I know in my own personal experience, the Holy Spirit has been working on me for several years and I couldn’t figure out what was up. General discontent with my Christian experience throughout my life started it off, then the great search for the TRUTH, The Passion of the Christ,…finding EWTN,…then JP2 died. And I don’t know how to explain it other than I felt like my heart had broken, like someone I was close to had died, and I wasn’t even Catholic, or even seriously looking at Catholicism. But his passing and Benedict 16’s coming, it changed everything for me. And from what I can tell, I’m not by any means the only one.

So I believe.
 
I’ve moved around quite a bit in the past 10 years. All of my churches have been overflowing and full of life.

I live in a fast-growing area of the country now and a new church is being built in my neighborhood to accommodate the rising numbers of Catholics moving in to the area.
 
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davy39:
I have been looking at some of the postings today, and I get the impression sometimes that the Church is in deep trouble. We have over 100 priests in Ireland suspected of molesting, we have priests and bishops that think homosexual “love” is powerful, and church closings all over the country, not to mention bankruptcies in dioceses. Is there anything good going on? Give me you opinion.
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It is always darkest before dawn. I feel the Church is in a dark period poised for a major rebound. JP2 will be feeding minds and hearts for the next century and beyond. As Christopher West says, “his Theology of the Body is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off” and when it does it might have revolutionary impact. In addition, although everyone seems to focus on the negative aspects of Protestantism, I feel that a wave of energy from the Protestant camps is infiltrating the Church and bringing some extraordinarily commited people with it. I have also heard that we are in for some “changes” to be announced from the Vatican in April. What an honour to remain faithful to the Church at a time such as this…
 
Jeanette L:
I felt like my heart had broken, like someone I was close to had died, and I wasn’t even Catholic, or even seriously looking at Catholicism. But his passing and Benedict 16’s coming, it changed everything for me. And from what I can tell, I’m not by any means the only one.

So I believe.
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This is very true amongst both the Catholics and Protestants I know. So many in my generation, who only remember JPII as Pope, were deeply affected by his death.
 
Last Tuesday evening the Archdiocese of Perth in Western Australia had its rite of enrolment. In total there were 128 candidates and catechumens including myself. In an archdiocese of only 1.2 million this is quite significant, how many other religions can claim to have growth this significant?

Australia is one of the most secular societies in the world, with less than 10% of the population attending church regularly, how could the Church possibly be in trouble when it can flourish in a society as secular as that of Australia?
 
I think the Church in the US is on the start of a new revival in faith. The seeds planted in Vatican II are starting to bear fruit. This past weekend in Boston there was a Men’s conference in which over 5,200 men participated in a very orthodox conference featuring Father Corapi, Dr Hahn and Father Raniero Cantalamessa and a womens conference planned a month before to compliment the conference attracted over 3000 women.
I spoke with some men there who are starting to study the bible after decades of not reading it.

It seems to me the the wheat and the chaff are being seperated and many Catholic’s are starting to deepen their relationship with God intellectually, but with humble obedience to the Churches teaching.

Remember Gideon’s Army was a fraction of a fraction but in the end the King of Kings wins.

-Catholic Dad
 
Good things I’ve experienced:
  1. Catholic Radio
  2. Fellowship of Catholic University Students (F.O.C.U.S.)
  3. The renewed interest in truly learning and living the faith by the younger generation of Catholics (not to say taht they are the only one’s…it’s just that I’m in college so those are the ones I’m involved with 😉 ).
  4. The sacraments
  5. The Rosary
  6. Eucharistic Adoration!!!
  7. Our Papa (Go Benedict 😃 )
  8. Wonderful priests, religious, and laity who encourage others to grow in their faith.
  9. A greater respect for life (Go SD legislature)
  10. The Church that God handed us and promised never to abandon
  11. A renewed interest in the priesthood and religious vocation
  12. The great works of Church fathers, doctors, saints, and apologists
    13 And of course God :):).
    (Just to name a few)
    (Obviously not necessarily in that order)
    God bless,
    k
 
Jeanette L:
I know in my own personal experience, the Holy Spirit has been working on me for several years and I couldn’t figure out what was up. General discontent with my Christian experience throughout my life started it off, then the great search for the TRUTH, The Passion of the Christ,…finding EWTN,…then JP2 died. And I don’t know how to explain it other than I felt like my heart had broken, like someone I was close to had died, and I wasn’t even Catholic, or even seriously looking at Catholicism. But his passing and Benedict 16’s coming, it changed everything for me. And from what I can tell, I’m not by any means the only one.

So I believe.
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When Pope John Paul II passed away, i cried and cried and cried way more then normal. It was a good cry and felt the Holy Spirit throughout the entire event.

John Paul II is a very very special Holy person.

In Jesus Name Thy Will Be Done, Amen and Amen (*)
 
In my own small individual life, the light of faith has been ignited and nurtured amidst the darkest depths of tragedy, depression, and despair–not to mention many years of being a true prodigal child. And I’ve found that I am not the only one for whom this is true. Lately, my family has been giving me credit for rekindling their own lights of faith, and I am sure they inspire others as well. I believe it is contagious (in the good sense! :)).

In my city, the faith is flourishing among people of all ages, backgrounds, and states of life. There are always new activities to participate in, always new opportunities to learn and to build relationships. My parish is a second home and a second family for me, full of love, support, education, compassion, and companionship. There are especially many new activities and ministries for young adults, both single and married. It’s a wonderful, exciting thing, and I’m so pleased to be a part of it! 🙂

We have only 1 full-time priest (there used to be 3, I’m told), and I’m simply amazed by how much he does! I can only think that the Holy Spirit is very strong in him! Still, I hope one or two more priests will join him soon.
 
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rlg94086:
My wife volunteers to teach at Church, and she is always amazed at the lack of knowledge children have about their faith.
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A lot of folks may be against it, but I feel the good old Baltimore Catechism is hard to beat.

Yeah, I think I got it in the second grade, that would be 1957 or so. You know what? It was all memorization. There were these questions and we had to memorize the answers.

The only one I remember to this day is

Why did God make you?
God made me to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world and to be with Him in the next.

While this was a difficult task, tough homework (I thought), it really wasn’t that bad. They had a lot of nice pictures in these books to spark the imagination. I had a sense of accomplishment when we finished the Baltimore Catechism, until I discovered that it was just the first volume. Then they gave us the second volume, with more questions and longer answers to memorize.

We went to Mass every day, which was in Latin. Eight school years of Latin Mass. We accepted it, and I think we were quite well off for it.

Compare that in my area, the newspaper just wrote, they’re teaching kids Chinese in pre-school. Well, there you go. The old myth of childhood ignorance dispelled.

Kids can learn this stuff, it’s just so retro to pick up a book to memorize something.

Later, I got a degree in chemistry. The academic program in college is based on learning a wealth of information, oriented to problem solving. but, when I went to work, I found it more reliable to have a handbook nearby, rather than rely on my memory alone for solving problems.

Likewise, I think that the effort to memorize the catechism is what builds a Catholic character, with a desire to know and to know more about the faith.

My mother is 81 and she learned all she needed to know about her faith in Catholic elementary school. Well, she remembered it fairly well, I think.

It was far more common decades ago than it is now, for kids to drop out of school. So, educators really didn’t defer things all that much before. Now I don’t know what the emphasis is. I have the stereotype of the lay Catholic school religion teacher who isn’t so well-prepared and has much lower expectations of children than in the past.
 
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mikew262:
Maybe somebody really needs to do a study of how priests are distributed around the country. Your parish has 3 priests, others have 1 priest for 3 parishes. Something doesn’t add up.
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There are four priests and one continual visiting priest at my parish. The visiting priest did the Mass at this Sunday’s 10:00 AM Mass. I was wondering this weekend where all the other priests were that Fr. Pat, the visiting priest, had to preside.
 
This is an interesting question! Yes in one way we see the church being hit hard from all different angles from both inside & outside of the church. Wave after wave of problems or heresies seem to be washing over the ship we call the church. It almost seems that this great ship is almost ready to capsize spilling out all it’s contents. All it’s passengers and treasures to spill out and be swallowed by the raging sea.

IMHO this is exactly what is happening to the church at this point in it’s history. But never lose hope or faith in the church because it is equal to losing faith in Jesus. The waves and pirates will hit the ship and anyone not tied down is sure to be washed over board or taken hostage by the hostiles but the ship will never capsize.

The Church has been around for 2000 years and I’m guessing that the present is not the churches most trying time. In the past many situations and scandals arose in the church and it was during these most difficult times that the greatest of saints were called to bring a renewal to the church. Never give up hope or faith that this will happen again in our lifetimes. Always be open to the will of our Eternal Father because it may be you he calls upon to do his will.

Read about St. Dominic as one example of a man in a trying time for the Catholic Church.

Peace! 👍
 
Cute little story for you all…

In a small town a Catholic priest, a Methodist
minister and a Baptist minister have breakfast
together on the 2nd Saturday of every month to
share with one another and encourage each
other.

The Methodist tells the other two about the
problem they’re having with pidgeons in the bell
tower and how their efforts to get rid of them
fail.

The Baptist tells a similar story and even says that
they use fireworks and water hoses to get rid
of the pidgeons, but to no avail.

Finallly… smiling,… the priest says… “We’ve had
the same exact problem but we solved it completely.”

“What did you do differently,” asked the other men?

“Well… First we baptized 'em and then we
confirmed 'em… Haven’t seen 'em since!!!” :eek
 
The Archdiocese of the military is right around 30% of its authorized manning level for priests, and our contract priests (the ones that fill in so the mass can be available at different times) are all at retirement age.

Meanwhile, our pews are filled regularly during the Catholic mass and (trying to be nice) somewhat less full during the other services.

The basilica at Kempten was FULL when we visited one ordinary Sunday, and St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican is always jam-packed.

Keep hope. Also, please pray for an increase in the vocation of priesthood and for health Catholic marriages. Thanks.
 
We have 3 priest because we are a mega parish with around 4000 families and growing. Don’t even try to go to 10:30 mass on Sunday. If you do arrive 15 minutes early to get parking and a seat. The next mass is at 12:15 in order to leave enough time to get everyone out from 10:30. Oh and the one before is at 8:45 for the same reason. Our church is huge and probably holds over 1000 people seated. In many parishes with only 2000 families there are 2 priests. So if 2000 families get 2 priest, then we are still down by 1 priest.
 
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LambOfGod:
St Faustina from Divine Mercy: note book 6

As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.

In Jesus Name Thy Will Be Done, Amen and Amen (*)
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Oooh; I got shivers when I read that! Thank you for posting it!

God bless all on the forum!
Mimi
 
In 1846 Our Lady of La Salette warned of a future where the Church would be in eclipse. This is facinating terminology. In a solar eclipse we have the the moon which rules the night passing in front and practically blotting out the sun which is the star that rules the day. So from our perspective on the ground we could say we have the sun and the moon in the same sky in the same place at the same time. Couldn’t we say then that an eclipse is a sort of compromise between day and night between darkness and light. This is facinating because it is the moon that is responsible for the darkness. And our Church is in the midst of too much darkness. However, the promise “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” is a promise to hold on. So, let us just do our best to be good Catholics and wait till the Lady with a crown of twelve stars and the moon under her feet steps and bruise the head of the serpent.

Peace! :gopray2:

mongladz
 
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Della:
To answer your question: What condition is the Church in?, it’s in the same condition it’s always been in–dying out and seeming to never rise again and being resurrected just when everyone had thought it down for the count.
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Amen, Della. Truer words were never spoken.

Edwin
 
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