Where Have All the Catholics Gone?
In Monday's edition of USA Today, Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros offer their take on the declining number of Catholics attending Mass in the United States. It's not a great article, but it is interesting in that it gives us an idea of what others are thinking about our Church.
In what may surprise some Catholic-bashers, they point out that the clergy child abuse scandal hasn't been much of a factor. Their conclusions?
• Catholics are moving from cities in the Northeast and Midwest to the suburbs, South and Southwest.
• For decades, so few men have become priests that one in five dioceses now can't put a priest in every parish.
• Mass attendance has fallen as each generation has become less religiously observant.
• Bishops — trained to bless, not to budget — lack the managerial skills to govern multimillion-dollar institutions.
It's just my opinion but I doubt that any of these is the root cause. Point three, that each generation has become less religiously observant is probably closest to the truth, but I think that's a symptom, not a cause.
I'm currently reading a book by Tim Russert called Big Russ and Me. It's the story of Russert's growing up in the '50s and his recollections of his father. He describes a time when kids called adults "Mr" or "Mrs", when young boys were taught how to shake hands, and when you were taught to take responsibility. (Long ago in a galaxy far away.)
One story Russert tells is of the time when he broke a neighbor's window with a baseball. Big Russ told Little Russ that he would go to the neighbor, confess to breaking the window and tell him that he would pay for the repair from his allowance money. And he did. Today, under the same circumstances, what would happen?
First, kids don't play baseball in the street anymore, at least, not in my part of the world. To play baseball, you need uniforms, a lighted field with stands, adult coaches and umpires, and an organization. You have to have fundraisers to pay for all of it. In a lot of cases you have to have security on hand to make sure parents don't assault one another.
Second, if a baseball does happen to break a window, it's certainly not the poor kid's fault. That window shouldn't have been there. Now the poor child is traumatized by mis-placed guilt. He'll have to have therapy and be put on Prozac. The parents are advised to sue the homeowner and the manufacturer of the ball and the bat.
Far fetched? Maybe, but only a little.
Close on the heels of the announcement that approximately eight Catholic elementary schools will be closing in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, we have a story in Saturday's Post Dispatch about teachers. It seems that the local Catholic grade school teachers group has delivered thousands of signatures to the Archbishop's office, with copies sent to the Vatican. They want to form a union.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have four kids who each attended twelve years of Catholic school. I have friends who teach in the system. I believe we should pay them as much as we possibly can. They deserve it.
However, in a less-than-perfect world, the money just isn't there right now. It's vital that the Church and the teachers come to a peaceful agreement or all of the schools may close with the exception of those in wealthy suburbs. But, that's not what concerns me agout the article in Saturday's paper. The president of the teachers' group refers to the Vatican as "the boys' club."
Do you wonder why we're losing Catholic? This woman is teaching in one of our schools. She disparages the Magesterium of the church in an interview with the local daily newspaper. What is she teaching our kids?
And, remember, she was elected president of the teachers' group. Obviously there are a lot of teachers who like what she has to say.
It's a Catch-22, people. To maintain and grow the church, we need an increase in faith. That begins at home and in the schools. An increase in faith is the only way to put an end to church and school closings. In fact, we will be in need of more churches and schools, which means, among other things, more jobs for teachers.
An increase in faith will also lead to an increase in vocations, creating the priests we will need for all those schools. It will take time. It takes nearly a decade of study to become a priest.
In what may surprise some Catholic-bashers, they point out that the clergy child abuse scandal hasn't been much of a factor. Their conclusions?
• Catholics are moving from cities in the Northeast and Midwest to the suburbs, South and Southwest.
• For decades, so few men have become priests that one in five dioceses now can't put a priest in every parish.
• Mass attendance has fallen as each generation has become less religiously observant.
• Bishops — trained to bless, not to budget — lack the managerial skills to govern multimillion-dollar institutions.
It's just my opinion but I doubt that any of these is the root cause. Point three, that each generation has become less religiously observant is probably closest to the truth, but I think that's a symptom, not a cause.
I'm currently reading a book by Tim Russert called Big Russ and Me. It's the story of Russert's growing up in the '50s and his recollections of his father. He describes a time when kids called adults "Mr" or "Mrs", when young boys were taught how to shake hands, and when you were taught to take responsibility. (Long ago in a galaxy far away.)
One story Russert tells is of the time when he broke a neighbor's window with a baseball. Big Russ told Little Russ that he would go to the neighbor, confess to breaking the window and tell him that he would pay for the repair from his allowance money. And he did. Today, under the same circumstances, what would happen?
First, kids don't play baseball in the street anymore, at least, not in my part of the world. To play baseball, you need uniforms, a lighted field with stands, adult coaches and umpires, and an organization. You have to have fundraisers to pay for all of it. In a lot of cases you have to have security on hand to make sure parents don't assault one another.
Second, if a baseball does happen to break a window, it's certainly not the poor kid's fault. That window shouldn't have been there. Now the poor child is traumatized by mis-placed guilt. He'll have to have therapy and be put on Prozac. The parents are advised to sue the homeowner and the manufacturer of the ball and the bat.
Far fetched? Maybe, but only a little.
Close on the heels of the announcement that approximately eight Catholic elementary schools will be closing in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, we have a story in Saturday's Post Dispatch about teachers. It seems that the local Catholic grade school teachers group has delivered thousands of signatures to the Archbishop's office, with copies sent to the Vatican. They want to form a union.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have four kids who each attended twelve years of Catholic school. I have friends who teach in the system. I believe we should pay them as much as we possibly can. They deserve it.
However, in a less-than-perfect world, the money just isn't there right now. It's vital that the Church and the teachers come to a peaceful agreement or all of the schools may close with the exception of those in wealthy suburbs. But, that's not what concerns me agout the article in Saturday's paper. The president of the teachers' group refers to the Vatican as "the boys' club."
Do you wonder why we're losing Catholic? This woman is teaching in one of our schools. She disparages the Magesterium of the church in an interview with the local daily newspaper. What is she teaching our kids?
And, remember, she was elected president of the teachers' group. Obviously there are a lot of teachers who like what she has to say.
It's a Catch-22, people. To maintain and grow the church, we need an increase in faith. That begins at home and in the schools. An increase in faith is the only way to put an end to church and school closings. In fact, we will be in need of more churches and schools, which means, among other things, more jobs for teachers.
An increase in faith will also lead to an increase in vocations, creating the priests we will need for all those schools. It will take time. It takes nearly a decade of study to become a priest.
posted by Mike at 1:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home