T
TheBigQ
Guest
My own family provides a kind of view on what’s going on alot of the time in middle to slightly upper-middle class Catholic families (or families who are trying to be Catholic) in suburban America today. My father went out of his way to send myself and my sibs to all Catholic school(s) where we were of course taught everything you wanted to know about the religion. All for a hefty fee of course. We all were taken to Mass as kids, every week, and didn’t really have a “choice” in the matter. We grew up seeing Pope John Paul II in pictures in our house , and on TV, etc etc. (may he RIP).
Well, now, at 26, my one sister is an agnostic I guess. She practices no religion. Won’t even go to Mass on Christmas or Easter. She says the key reason is / was the ongoing scandal problem(s) in the Church, amongst other personal “dogmatic difficulties”. The other sister is , * technically * I think still a Catholic although she’s definitely not practicing. She’s a teacher at a Catholic elem.school so she has to attend masses w/her kids occasionally, as part of the job. Personally though, she says she does not consider herself a Catholic , and says she is much more in tune with a sort of “mixture” of Reform Judaism and Buddhism.
I was “agnostic” leaning toward atheist for quite awhile. Lately I’ve been trying to go back to the Church where I grew up , but I don’t know if I could call myself a true Catholic per se. I mean, I am still one , technically, I realize. I admire the Church’s art, its “aesthetics”, if you know what I mean, and I like the fact that it is the only Christian church wherein one can legitimately direct prayers right to various manifestations of the Virgin Mary, or to any number of these (sometimes almost “occultish”) folk’ish “patron saints”, etc.etc. I have read that some of the Protestant denominations hold that against Catholics, but to me it’s a selling point, because it does smack of ancient pre-Christian Europe’s paganism in certain ways ( mother worship, local “protector” deities, personal deities, etc etc). Which I like.
But, anyway, some suggestions on why you’ve lost, or are losing, so many members, particularly amongst the young. Firstly, the “evangelical” churches are fun. I disagree with their “Jesus-only” theology, and they wouldn’t be for me, but I’ve watched them on TV (TBN for instance). The kids are truly involved, and truly into it. The numbers I see in those churches and arenas and what-have-you on those kinds of TV shows would smoke the numbers I’ve seen in my local Catholic church when I’ve gone. Alot of times the Catholic church by our house looks and sounds more like a rest home when you go there on a Sunday morning.
The Catholic mass is often about as much fun, about as “engaging” let’s say (particularly to the young) as sitting around all night at a wake for a distant elderly relative you barely know might be. The doctrines from Rome are too socially stiff also. I’m not saying there should be married priests, or even female priests; I agree with the Church on that. But no birth control?? Are ya’ nuts??? And how many Catholics really adhere to that anyway ?? The old doctrine that the “only way to salvation is through the Church” ?? Disgustingly religiously bigoted. The generally anti-gay stance? That’s not flying anymore either, as you can tell. Society , particularly here in the West, has been far too indoctrinated for far too long by the (yes let’s face it) “Left wing-dominated” mass media. Each generation is getting more and more “liberal” than the next. And, if the Catholic Church doesn’t change, it’s going to be a real minority amongst the Christian denominations in fifty years, simply because it’s losing the youth. Any organization knows it needs the youth. And, at least around here, I do NOT see the youth getting remotely involved in the local Catholic church. All I see them doing is simply going to CCD (Sunday school) if their parents make them, and / or getting through 8th grade and their Confirmation, and then just forgetting it. Or, if they “get religion” in their later teens or early 20’s, and they stay Christian, it almost always seems like they go “evangelical”. The “evangelical Protestant” movement is what’s really killin’ ya… in my opinion.
Well, now, at 26, my one sister is an agnostic I guess. She practices no religion. Won’t even go to Mass on Christmas or Easter. She says the key reason is / was the ongoing scandal problem(s) in the Church, amongst other personal “dogmatic difficulties”. The other sister is , * technically * I think still a Catholic although she’s definitely not practicing. She’s a teacher at a Catholic elem.school so she has to attend masses w/her kids occasionally, as part of the job. Personally though, she says she does not consider herself a Catholic , and says she is much more in tune with a sort of “mixture” of Reform Judaism and Buddhism.
I was “agnostic” leaning toward atheist for quite awhile. Lately I’ve been trying to go back to the Church where I grew up , but I don’t know if I could call myself a true Catholic per se. I mean, I am still one , technically, I realize. I admire the Church’s art, its “aesthetics”, if you know what I mean, and I like the fact that it is the only Christian church wherein one can legitimately direct prayers right to various manifestations of the Virgin Mary, or to any number of these (sometimes almost “occultish”) folk’ish “patron saints”, etc.etc. I have read that some of the Protestant denominations hold that against Catholics, but to me it’s a selling point, because it does smack of ancient pre-Christian Europe’s paganism in certain ways ( mother worship, local “protector” deities, personal deities, etc etc). Which I like.
But, anyway, some suggestions on why you’ve lost, or are losing, so many members, particularly amongst the young. Firstly, the “evangelical” churches are fun. I disagree with their “Jesus-only” theology, and they wouldn’t be for me, but I’ve watched them on TV (TBN for instance). The kids are truly involved, and truly into it. The numbers I see in those churches and arenas and what-have-you on those kinds of TV shows would smoke the numbers I’ve seen in my local Catholic church when I’ve gone. Alot of times the Catholic church by our house looks and sounds more like a rest home when you go there on a Sunday morning.
The Catholic mass is often about as much fun, about as “engaging” let’s say (particularly to the young) as sitting around all night at a wake for a distant elderly relative you barely know might be. The doctrines from Rome are too socially stiff also. I’m not saying there should be married priests, or even female priests; I agree with the Church on that. But no birth control?? Are ya’ nuts??? And how many Catholics really adhere to that anyway ?? The old doctrine that the “only way to salvation is through the Church” ?? Disgustingly religiously bigoted. The generally anti-gay stance? That’s not flying anymore either, as you can tell. Society , particularly here in the West, has been far too indoctrinated for far too long by the (yes let’s face it) “Left wing-dominated” mass media. Each generation is getting more and more “liberal” than the next. And, if the Catholic Church doesn’t change, it’s going to be a real minority amongst the Christian denominations in fifty years, simply because it’s losing the youth. Any organization knows it needs the youth. And, at least around here, I do NOT see the youth getting remotely involved in the local Catholic church. All I see them doing is simply going to CCD (Sunday school) if their parents make them, and / or getting through 8th grade and their Confirmation, and then just forgetting it. Or, if they “get religion” in their later teens or early 20’s, and they stay Christian, it almost always seems like they go “evangelical”. The “evangelical Protestant” movement is what’s really killin’ ya… in my opinion.
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