I wonder if anyone has had a chance to look at the Catholic Herald this week. There is another very interesting article that you may like to look at. One of our prominent bishops, Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster asks if the English Church has lost its way.
In his book, Fit for Mission? - Church, Bishop O'Donoghue lists the following points as evidence;
Vatican II: Ignored
Vocations: In declineBishops: Playing it safe
Catechism: DismissedLiturgy: PoliticisedLaity: Forgetting God
Strong words. I'd be interested to hear your views.
His conclusion is that Catholics must act courageously in order to rediscover their mission
Follow the link to read more about the article in this week's Catholic Herald.
6 comments:
Thank you Fr Miceal for bringing
to our attention Bishop Patrick
O'Donoghue's views on how he
feels the English Church has
lost its way. As I don't subscribe
I probably would have missed it and
as I have not had time to read all
the contents as mentioned at the
moment, I would like to make a comment from a purely simplistic
overview of how I see why the
Church would be in decline, on
just a couple of points. I think
most of us would agree that women
attend to the vast majority of the
day to day running of the church
and yet women are often viewed
upon with suspicion, especially if they attend on their own, and I
have heard plenty of derogatory
comments to back this up, hope-
fully these comments are made by
the minority, but even so, insidious and damaging to the
Faith. And how easily we can
fall into an exclusive club
mentality, thus putting off
people who would like to become
more involved in even the most
simple of tasks, usually because
people of long standing in the
church have built up this invisible
wall around them. After all, as
baptised Catholics we are all
members of the Jesus Christ Club,
which leads to the one most
important problem I think we
have and that is communication.
These are the things that can
erode our confidence and yet if we
are in a position to encourage someone we should not be afraid of
rejection if they say "no thank
you", at least we have made an
effort and reached out to them.
As I say, a simplistic overview.
I will however be reading in more
detail the topics raised, especially Vatican II: Ignored.
Thank you for giving us a platform
to air our views.
May I draw attention to the
Decree on the Apostolate of
Lay People - APOSTOLICAM
ACTUOSITATEM.
In the Introduction, especially
under the sub heading THE
SPIRITUALITY OF LAY PEOPLE, it
is a good reminder to the Lay
Faithful.
I do not find it helpful to dwell on a declining church. This gives our lapsed youth 'justification' in their eyes for their actions, the safety in numbers theory.
We are all part of the Church - priests, laity, male, female and we all have a responsibility to spread the good news of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist and to pray for the future of the Church. The rest we have to leave in God's hands. That is my simplistic view.
The youth are the future for the
Church, all the more reason to
address the problems within it,
to make it as inclusive and
welcoming as we can so that they
will continue to attend of their own volition. We can't bury our
heads in the sand, yes, we do
have a responsibility to Jesus
Christ to keep His Church "alive"
to make it a place where people
(not just the youth) 'want' to be.
The Bishop has made some extremely
valid comments and we have been
invited to enter into the debate.
I wouldn't call that dwelling!
And we shouldn't be in denial.
O fine, religious, decent folk
In virtues flaunting gold and scarlet,
I sneer between two puffs of
smoke,
Give me the publican and the
harlot.
Ye dainty spoken, stiff severe
Seed of the migrated philistian
One whispered question in your
ear -
Pray, what was Christ if you be
Christian?
If Christ were only here just now,
Among the city's wynds and gables
Teaching the life he taught us, how
Would he be welcome at your tables?
Robert Louis Stevenson
Upon looking through recent blog comments, Layperson's really struck a chord with me. As my husband and myself have just returned from holiday, and after going to the local Church we were approached by a nice lady organising things and asked to take up the offertory, she had never seen us before! It was like a breath of fresh air to be welcomed in this way. Just the small things make all the difference and thanks for hi-lighting this because we do tend to get stuck in our ways.
MARY.
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