You don't need polls or stats, just use your eyes next time you are at Mass. Imagine all the people that are 60 and older sitting down, how many would remain standing? 10% or less of the congregation? And this is Sunday Mass, a very low measure of "active Catholic". You are right, numbers will go right off the cliff, and quickly.
As I said at lunch a week ago, I have for years understood the current situation of the Church as Holy Week: the procession into Jerusalem; the agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the pillar (which is where I think we are now).....
While I don't doubt the numbers, I wonder if the report MV is preparing has regional data. It may be the Church is dying in the Northeast US, and maybe even in other large urban regions (LA, Chicgo), but I don't see as much of a decline in the South/Southwest. Anyway, didn't Benedict also say he foresaw a much leaner, but more faithful Church in the future?
Another demographic about which I wonder a bit is the Hispanic. True, the influx of Latinos has tended to mask the de facto decline in real RC numbers in the US over the last decade or more.
But I also wonder about the power of the new Latino RCs once they've settled into America and their kids have settled into American public schools, and the toxic American TV culture has begun taking its toll in their lives. I've read that many of the Hispanics coming to the US don't end up remaining in the Church.
The people who will be dying off in the next twenty years will be members of the V2 generation: the children of Aquarius shaped by the council of Aquarius, who have drifted into AmChurch's vacuum by virtue of their own vacuity, which is called "vibrance" in parish bulletins.
Institutional religion fiercely tries to remain relevant, almost guaranteeing its irrelevancy. And while the Pope cautions that Dogooding apart from faith makes for a NGO, faith looks to be the thing receding.
"“An individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church.”
"a mixture of ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty in most that—when mixed with a healthy dose of culture’s laissez-fare mentality—produces the absence of any firm conviction or resolve to doctrinal purity."
9 comments:
You don't need polls or stats, just use your eyes next time you are at Mass. Imagine all the people that are 60 and older sitting down, how many would remain standing? 10% or less of the congregation? And this is Sunday Mass, a very low measure of "active Catholic". You are right, numbers will go right off the cliff, and quickly.
Repeat after me:
New Springtime ... JPII the Great ... TOB ... Dialogue ... Propose Don't Impose ... Collegiality ... "Always Our Children" ... New Springtime ...
Can you see anything yet?
...
As I said at lunch a week ago, I have for years understood the current situation of the Church as Holy Week: the procession into Jerusalem; the agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the pillar (which is where I think we are now).....
JM, you forgot "the New Evangelization"...
I was away from my former NovusOrdo parish for about 18 months and I was shocked at how much attendance had dropped off.
While I don't doubt the numbers, I wonder if the report MV is preparing has regional data. It may be the Church is dying in the Northeast US, and maybe even in other large urban regions (LA, Chicgo), but I don't see as much of a decline in the South/Southwest. Anyway, didn't Benedict also say he foresaw a much leaner, but more faithful Church in the future?
Yes, these numbers look bullish.
If you are Satan.
Another demographic about which I wonder a bit is the Hispanic. True, the influx of Latinos has tended to mask the de facto decline in real RC numbers in the US over the last decade or more.
But I also wonder about the power of the new Latino RCs once they've settled into America and their kids have settled into American public schools, and the toxic American TV culture has begun taking its toll in their lives. I've read that many of the Hispanics coming to the US don't end up remaining in the Church.
Any further information on this group, I wonder?
The people who will be dying off in the next twenty years will be members of the V2 generation: the children of Aquarius shaped by the council of Aquarius, who have drifted into AmChurch's vacuum by virtue of their own vacuity, which is called "vibrance" in parish bulletins.
Interesting parallel account.
Institutional religion fiercely tries to remain relevant, almost guaranteeing its irrelevancy. And while the Pope cautions that Dogooding apart from faith makes for a NGO, faith looks to be the thing receding.
"“An individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church.”
"a mixture of ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty in most that—when mixed with a healthy dose of culture’s laissez-fare mentality—produces the absence of any firm conviction or resolve to doctrinal purity."
http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/07/24/the-coming-collapse-of-the-pc-usa/
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