Raised Catholic

[little2add]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/catholic-pope-francis-chimamanda-adichie/409237/?utm_source=yahoo#article-comments 

•  OCT 14, 2015

As a child, I loved Mass, its swirl of music and rituals. My family went every Sunday to St. Peter’s, the Catholic chapel at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. It was full of perfumed people: gold pendants at women’s throats, their headscarves flared out like the wings of giant butterflies; men’s caftans crisply starched; children in frilly socks and uncomfortable clothes. Mass was as much social as spiritual—an occasion to greet and gossip, to see and be seen, and to leave consoled. I loved watching the priests sweep past, all certainty and majestic robes, behind the sober Mass-servers holding candles. The choir sang in Igbo and English, each song a little plot of joy. I loved the smoky smells, the standing and sitting and kneeling, the shiny metal chalice raised high in air charged with magic and ringing bells. The words of the liturgy were poetry...

see LINK for more

when i was a child, the churches (60's) were filled on Sunday, now a days there not.  

Why?

[Gabriela]

I think this article is pretty unfair and one-sided, but at least he frames it all as his own experience.

[Era Might]

Institutions change or die out...or just become privatized. Religion hasn't died out in the modern world, but has become privatized. Modern society is radically different from the past...not just morally, but the entire makeup of society. It's globalized, it's technological, it's profoundly commercial, it's built around products and services, it's divided into market segments, etc. This has been a long time in the making, of course...the rise of commerce and a middle class during the Renaissance brought up "the individual" in a new way, which led to Protestantism, which led to modernity, etc.

The article calls for "change," which is usually a liberal demand, but one can also ask from a traditional perspective whether the institutional structure of the church has to change if it wants to be relevant again in society. Some might answer no, that the church should hunker down, maintain its traditional forms, and wait for society to come to its senses. But I think there is a lot that the church could change without abandoning at all its faith. Something like the institutional role of a priest, which we associate with the institutional life of the parish (the priest was a central figure in society), but there is nothing intrinsic to the priesthood that requires him to be an institutional service-provider (as opposed to being a spiritual father). Reimagining, say, parish life is potentially something that would be a major positive change. Monasticism arose at a specific time in church history, and even though we think of it as an essential part of tradition, it was an institutional innovation. I think there could be potentially an equivalent innovation needed to adapt the church to an entirely new world. But usually "change" just becomes a way for people to say the church should integrate itself into society, rather than adapt itself...there's a big difference there, I think.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Era Might

[Amppax]

I think this article is pretty unfair and one-sided, but at least he frames it all as his own experience.

She, the author is a woman. Other than that, yup.

[truthfinder]

Yeah, read through it.  Two thoughts: as the others have said, it's certainly personal experience.  Second: this may be the sort of behaviour that the Holy Father keeps decrying in his talks against hypocrisy and merciless clergy. What it seems to have resulted from is seminary training that was probably less than rigorous, and clearly a misunderstanding of canon law. It all seems to come down to "what does the church actually teach".

[Nihil Obstat]

"l do not necessarily expect Pope Francis to make significant or quick changes to Church doctrine. Still, I cannot help but hope."

That is about all you need right there. She thinks she is hoping for change. In reality she is hoping for the destruction of the Church and the mockery of Christ's promises.