What Happened to the Catholic Church?
A Letter from a Convert to his Pastor
I ran across this article/letter in The Remnant. It's kind of a long read, but well worth it. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Here's just a lil' tid-bit;
As a convert, I am appalled at the current state of the Church. Although I, as do you, hold that Vatican II was a legitimate council, it was not (as Pope Paul VI clearly stated) a doctrinal council, but rather a pastoral one. Its aftermath, starting in 1965 (the year Vatican II ended), has had a devastating effect on the Church and on the faith of millions. How can one begin to defend the novelties that have entered the Church since Vatican II?
How does one explain American seminaries that in 1965 boasted 47,000 men and now have less then 5,000? How does one explain 180,000 nuns in this country in 1965 decreasing down to about 80,000 today, and with a mean age of 69? How does one explain Catholic Mass attendance of almost 80% in living memory that is down now to somewhere in the 20% range, less than 5% in “Catholic” countries such as France?
Belief in the "...height and summit of our faith," the Eucharist, is down to less then 30%. How does one explain the deviant sexual and criminal behavior of many priests whose crimes where covered up for decades by our own bishops. How does one explain bishops and priests who routinely refuse communion to those who "kneel to receive," but allow liturgical dancers, nuns giving homilies and silence in regards to abortion, euthanasia and homosexual behavior?
My sympathy for the convert.
ReplyDeleteHardly all, but a major part of the Post V II trouble is that Catholics, lay & clerical, wanna "jes' fit in" with their surrounding culture--and in the West, that is a adamantly secularized culture.
TO fit in, you give in.
That's why, for instance, you have the ordinary (bishop) of Washington D.C. state publicly that his job is to teach the faith. Thus when the president of Catholic Georgetown University permits law students to intern with organizations that perform /promote abortions, the bishop simply shrugs his shoulders and says his job is to teach.
That deflection is sloppy at best, cowardly at worst--the bishop is ordained specifically to teach sanctify and GOVERN.
Ask ya'self, would YOU wanna give up marriage and family to become a social counselor in a collar? A man wants to give his life for somethin' beyond the banal.
It's going to take a long time to recover from this mess and canonizing JPII, trying to salvage the Novus Ordo Mass and ignoring the fact that the council is full of ambiguity isn't going to help things either, in fact I would say it would help to prolong the problem.
ReplyDeleteBut false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. (2Pe 2:1-2, RSV)
ReplyDeleteSorry to bible thump, but I am a bloody Prod, after all. I just can't help myself. Just be glad you aren't Episcopalian, Vir.