Generation Gap Shapes American Catholics

[Paladin D]

[url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23970574/"]Generation gap shapes American Catholics[/url]
[b][i]Pope Benedict XVI will see divisions during U.S. visit[/b][/i]

[quote]NEW YORK - In his visit this month to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI will find an American flock wrestling with what it means be Roman Catholic.

The younger generation considers religion important, but doesn't equate faith with going to church. Many lay people want a greater say in how their parishes operate, yet today's seminarians hope to restore the traditional role and authority of priests.

Catholic colleges and universities are trying to balance their religious identity with free expression, catching grief from liberals and conservatives in the process.

Immigrants are filling the pews, while whites are leaving them. Nearly one-third of U.S. adult Catholics are now Hispanic, and they worry about being considered a separate, ethnic church.[/quote]

[mortify]

So much for the "new spring time" of the Church.

[Justin86]

1. If Hispanics worry about being considered a separate ethnic Church then they need to abolish Spanish Masses in the United States.

2. Hispanics aren't really "filling the pews" anymore than whites. All the Catholic Hispanics I've met haven't been any more devoted to their faith than the whites. They have the same chance of being the nominal Catholics we've come to expect from whites.

3. I thought everyone knew that JP2's "new springtime" was really just a reference to global warming.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='mortify' post='1493004' date='Apr 5 2008, 03:46 PM']So much for the "new spring time" of the Church.[/quote]
"The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians."

Naturally, for a new springtime to occur, there must be a new sowing of seed, and I don't think the current culture hostile to Christianity is opposed to making martyrs of those who are devout, at least white martyrs.

JPII predicted a new springtime. First the seed must be sown, then grace will have to rain from the heavens, until the Sun of Justice rises in our hearts. Springtime will come, but there is as yet much work to do.

God bless,

Micah

[fides quarens intellectum]

This is a call to action, not despair or complaining. The New Springtime won't happen unless people are willing to give their lives to it.

[Dismas]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1493178' date='Apr 5 2008, 07:18 PM']"The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians."[/quote]

All too right. Of course, we might not be far off from that, in unexpected places and times.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote]Many lay people want a greater say in how their parishes operate,[/quote]
Oh. See, where I come from, we call these 'Presbyterians'.

[Ash Wednesday]

They write as though, opposed to youth, the older generation cared about going to church -- which generation are they talking about? Our grandparents?

The older generation, i.e. baby boomers, aren't exactly known for their traditional churchgoing ways, either.

[farglefeezlebut]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1493015' date='Apr 5 2008, 10:00 PM']Hispanics aren't really "filling the pews" anymore than whites. All the Catholic Hispanics I've met haven't been any more devoted to their faith than the whites. They have the same chance of being the nominal Catholics we've come to expect from whites.[/quote]


I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing. However, there are millions of Hispanic Catholics in America. You can't make a definitive statement based just on the one's you've hapenned to meet, especially as I suspect most of them will be concentrated in the area you live and your home may not be a representative sample.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1494348' date='Apr 7 2008, 06:29 PM']They write as though, opposed to youth, the older generation cared about going to church -- which generation are they talking about? Our grandparents?

The older generation, i.e. baby boomers, aren't exactly known for their traditional churchgoing ways, either.[/quote]

Bingo.

Which I found amusing about this article, out of the many inaccuracies.

[fides quarens intellectum]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' post='1494310' date='Apr 7 2008, 03:26 PM']Oh. See, where I come from, we call these 'Presbyterians'.[/quote]



We have a new pastor, and his whole thing is, "We are not congregationalists - we are Catholic!"

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1494356' date='Apr 7 2008, 05:37 PM']Bingo.

Which I found amusing about this article, out of the many inaccuracies.[/quote]

Also -- the Catholicism of many hispanics is cultural Catholicism, so it's hard to compare with average American Catholicism as well, as far as the motivation behind devotion or church attendance. So to me it seems hard to guage if one group is more "devout" than the other, when the ways average Americans and immigrants approach the faith may be different. To me it would seem that there are more hispanics filling the pews in proportion to average Americans simply because U.S. the population of hispanics is rising.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Ash Wednesday

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1494419' date='Apr 7 2008, 07:46 PM']Also -- the Catholicism of many hispanics is cultural Catholicism, so it's hard to compare with average American Catholicism as well, as far as the motivation behind devotion or church attendance. So to me it seems hard to guage if one group is more "devout" than the other, when the ways average Americans and immigrants approach the faith may be different. To me it would seem that there are more hispanics filling the pews in proportion to average Americans simply because U.S. the population of hispanics is rising.[/quote]

'Cultural Catholicism' also was prevelant during the wave of European immigrants that came to the States in 19th and early 20th centuries. Hispanics are just the new wave of immigrants of our time.

[Vin]

All depends on what you mean by a "new springtime" I can say this much: I grew up in the early 80's with liberal nuns and whacked baby-boomers at the helm. Youth groups were about pizza and soda. You could not find a monstrance with a metal detector, let alone a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament therein. Any good Catholic books were to be found in junky used bookstores. Much HAS changed for the better. If I had not had JPII, I may not have still been a Catholic now. I see many signs for hope, signs that the media would not be attentive to, like heroic sanctity. We need saints, period.

[Ash Wednesday]

I agree with you, Vin. Recent younger ordained priests have shown a tendency to be more orthodox than the ones ordained during the boomer generation. Not to mention the Motu Proprio and emerging interest in reviving the latin mass.

Prayers for our Church.