Europe may be in its spiritual death throes, but the resurrection of Catholicism across the pond has already begun:
"Vatican officials say young people’s thirst for moral direction is driving a resurging interest in Catholicism. ‘There’s a reawakening after a time of secularization,’ says Sister Giuseppina Fragasso, vice president of the Vatican’s association for cloistered monks and nuns.
"The number of Catholic clergy has dwindled worldwide since peaking in the late 1960s. In particular, it’s getting harder to attract new blood to the priesthood. According to the Vatican’s statistics office, monasteries have been closing too fast for their researchers to keep track. While other Christian sects attract priests by allowing them to marry and by inviting women to ordination, the Catholic church still prohibits such activities.
"But the tide is turning in Italy. Nearly half of adult Catholics attend mass at least weekly, up from 35 percent who did so in 1980.
"Clergy credit much of young people’s interest in Catholicism to the late Pope John Paul II, stressing the impact of the World Youth Days he started in 1984. Catholic fervor reached a crescendo with his death in April 2005. ‘This pope really brought the faith closer to young people; there was a strong bond between him and us,’ affirms Giovanna, a young biologist praying by John Paul II’s tomb in Rome."
I just spent two weeks in London for work which included a free weekend in Paris. The Catholic roots of Europe seem bare without the soil of devoted Catholics. Still, my wife and I went to a little pub called “The Oratory” across the street from Brompton Oratory in London. A young couple was meeting there (strong indications they are not living together) to discuss their wedding plans. They spent half their time talking about JP2.
If these things are any indication we have good reason to hope for a resurgence of the faith worldwide, not just in Europe.
JP2:
1. Genuinely cared about the youth
2. Wasn’t trying to manipulate the youth, trying to get them to purchase things, buy into materialism or a blind idealogy.
3. He encouraged us to think, recognizing that youths can think for themselves despite what everyone else with a public voice said.
4. He loved us.
The list goes on, but how he stands out the most is his love.
Wasn’t trying to get us to purchase things??
Crap! Why did I buy all these darn JPII coffee mugs and tea towels????
(this post is justa joke)
There is nothing like living a thoroughly materialistic lifestyle to make you crave something more.
Pray for our friends in Europe.
Even the French.
Kidding!!
Young people really seem to be rejecting the pseudo-Catholicism
of the older generation from the 60s and 70s.
By this, I mean the “I’m okay, you’re okay” faction.
In my parish, we have 2000 registered parishioners, but Father says
on any given Sunday, only 800 of those people attend Mass there, and
contribute money.
So it’s not a huge parish.
But we have 11 men currently attending or waiting on seminary, and
20 more who are interested in the Society.
And these are youngsters, many in their early 20s, several just out
of high school.
Incidentally, my parish is very traditional, offering the Tridentine
and the Paul VI Mass daily, etc.
Cathy-
What exactly is the Society to which you are referring?
If it is the Society of Saint Pius X, you may want to find yourself a new place to worship. One “traditional” enough to sit within the Catholic Communion unblemished by schism.
As a young 23 year old Catholic, I can say from first hand observation that yes, we young adults are coming back to the Faith in droves! We want orthodoxy and we will take nothing less. I see all around me people trying to feed us empty junk, filled with nothing of substance. The Church doesn’t do that. We are tired of the mantra of our parents generation. We won’t accept the “if it feels good, do it. You get to do whatever you want sinply because you want it” mentality. We crave more, the stuff only Our Lord and His Church can provide.
Steps off soapbox.
I’m nineteen, and my favorite channel is EWTN. I’m sick of the cafeteria Catholicism as well. I try to attend Mass at my Cathedral whenever I can, cause my home parish is very modern (i.e. ugly), and I like to go to a Cathedral.
Ummm. JD, it’s the Society of St. John Cantius.
Not all ‘societies’ are the SSPX.
One clue that it isn’t the SSPX would be that
it “offers the Paul VI Mass daily”.
JD
Why such hatred for those that profess to adhere to the faith of old and picking on poor Cathy who was obviously talking about the Indult and how traditionalism brings forth and cultivates the religious and liberalism does the opposite. You and many are so quick to throw the schismatic label around, but maybe you should try looking at what has happened to the church from their point of view and maybe you would understand these people are devout Catholics, more than the pro abortion 50% of Catholics by most account John Kerry and Hilary Clinton voter you sit next to each Sunday at your Paul VI mass
Cathy-
You know, I was caught off guard by the word society, and the reference to the novus ordo as the Paul VI mass. I mean, I knew what you meant, I just didn’t really understand why it would be called that. No one calls Tridentine the Pius V Mass (or whomever it was, I just picked a Trent Pope cause I’m not sure who it was)
At any rate, 1000 apologies. Truly.
John-
I expressed no hatred. Your nonsequiter bit really deserves no cogent response.
Sorry again, Cathy.
Incidentally,
I did a bit of reading on the Society of St. John Cantius–interesting group, great apostolate. I hope they flourish!
JD,
I totally understand. Actually, the reason I use the term “Paul VI” is because in my opinion, the term “Novus Ordo” could be construed as less than respectful, as that’s how the SSPXers refer to it.
I know exactly what you meant, because I get irked at those SSPX types who have nothing but disdain for the Holy Father and the ‘new’ Mass as well.
I should have said “Society of St. John Cantius”. I forgot what the connotation ‘Society’ has unfortunately become.
😉
John,
He just made a mistake. He meant no harm. 😉
We’re all playing for the same team.
All the same, I appreciate your defense, and I wish I could have had you
with me a few times when I was under attack.
🙂
Every year or so I see an article about Christianity being resurgent, etc. The media loves these kind of stories, for some reason.
But the evidence always seems anecdotal or suspect.
Well, anecdotes are ripples that will soon make a statistical tide.
On the question of whether Christianity in Europe is going to experience a resurgence or not, I think a lot depends what kind of pastors the priests of the immediate future will be. Most of the liberal priests I run into tend to be middle-aged or elderly. I get the impression that almost everyone who reads liberal journals like “The Tablet” falls into this age category too.
Does anyone know if today’s seminarians show any signs of being more conservative than the priests around at the moment? The only seminarians I know are FSSP and SSPX, but it would be heartening to know if “novus ordo” seminarians (please no one be offended, I can’t think of a better term!) are also questioning the outdated certainties of the sixties. If they are, Catholic life will look very different in ten or twenty years time. A long time to wait, but it will be worth it …
Brian, I was doing some reading recently (I think it was on “The Curt Jester”, but don’t hold me to that) about Voice Of The Faithful(or, as I like to call them, “Voice Of The Dissenters) in my diocese (Rockville Centre, NY). It seems that they are very worried about the young priests coming out of the seminary: they just don’t seem to be progressive. VOF’s biggest lament appears to be that these Neanderthal’s will be our pastors in 15-20 years. (Yeah!)
I think it’s easy to look at a few trends and come to the false conclusion that there is a big change happening.
For example, in the last 25 years all the new Catholic collges and universities were started by conservatives. The reason, however, is that the left now controls virtually every college, university and seminary in the US and Europe. So the “trend” is actually indicative of how bad the situation is.
Many Protestant schools that were started 50 years ago (such as Fuller) have gone liberal as well. Look at some of the junk that is being produced by people associated with Westminster Seminary.
This is probably a version of the collective fallacy, or whatever it’s called.
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lest some of the rabid sspx haters aka good christians havn’t gotten the news yet(from no less than the vatican itself) the society of saint pius the tenth IS NOT IN SCHISM dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and attendance at SSPX churches will not send your soul to hell the day after. that society (SSPX) is again NOT schismatic but in an irregular relationship with the post vat 2 “church”. have a good day
postscript, again for the self righteous good catholic christians of the 60’s 70’s 80′ and 90’s cumby ya protestant cum catholics of the cookie mass clown mass halloween mass vintage even sedevacantists who refuse to recognize the last 5 Popes as legit might even be valid Catholics too ooops.
post post script— And before the rush to canonize john paul 2 or johnny 23, check out the condition of the Catholic church in and since their reigns as opposed to the 200 odd previous popes and 1960 previous years of Catholic Christianity, yup Vatican 2 Catholics and toto too there was a Catholic church before Bugnini, John 23, paul6, jp’s 1& 2 & Benedictos
AND DARE I SAY IT THERE WAS A CATHOLIC CHURCH BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS REVOLUTION WE CALL VATICAN 2 AND YUP THE BELIEF IN TRANSUBSTANCIATION IS STILL LEGIT AND EXCEPT FOR HIS HOLINESS ROGER MAHONEY AND THE NEW VATICAN CALLED THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LA WE STILL DON’T HAVE PRIESTESSES BUT THANKS TO HIS HOLINESS CARDINAL MAHONEY WE HAVE A LOT OF CHILD FRIENDLY PRIEST IN SUNNY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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