Will Catholics Come Home?

20 Jan 2011

This article was published in the Sydney Morning Herald 28 January 2011. See:

Catholics need more than ads to come home

Cardinal Pell is thinking about adopting Catholics Come Home – a TV advertisement program launched in Chicago in December 2009. Well produced ads invite Catholics who have given up the church to come back and try it again. The program’s success in several dioceses of the USA is hard to evaluate. It has raised the awareness of the church and is liked by active Catholics, but Mass attendance figures are still relentlessly dropping.

One central problem is that you can’t expect it to work unless the cardinal and his fellow bishops change policies that have caused those Catholics to leave, and stop initiating policies that produce new alienation.

Is he going to tell remarried divorcees that they are now welcome at Holy Communion? Barring divorcees from going to communion has alienated thousands of very good Catholics from the church.

Is he going to welcome practicing homosexuals to Mass and Communion; give women equal status in church ministry; forget about contraception being wrong; approve couples seeking IVF if it is their choice?

Is he going to say that criminalizing abortion is bad public policy even if you think it is morally wrong?

Most involved Catholics – priests and laity – are open on these matters. Will the cardinal be open to reasonable debate about the morality of issues – including abortion - in today’s world?

These issues are why thousands have left. So, until these issues are reasonably addressed the cardinal can forget about these Catholics coming back. What might work is giving up the constant preoccupation with sexual morality and getting back to the main game – proclaiming a gospel of life, peace, forgiveness, love and welcome. Otherwise Come Back Home is another futile magic fix.

On top of this, the paedophilia issue continues to alienate. Once the bishops saw the extent and toxicity of the problem they should have become completely open about it and done whatever it took to fix it once for all. The disillusion will continue to alienate until bishops become transparent in formulating policy and accountable in action. This goes against their monarchical grain. Canon law still favours secrecy and the bishop’s right to rule unaccountably.

One of the worst perpetrators, Cardinal Bernard Law, still holds high office in Rome though he was run out of Boston by his priests and people. No bishop offending either in action or covering up has been proceeded against. The Archbishop of Dublin got some offending bishops to resign and Rome undermined him by refusing their resignations.

Add to this the beatification of John Paul II, the best friend and protector of the evil Fr Marcial Marciel – founder of the Legionaries of Christ. This sort of contempt cannot convert the alienated.

Further, Rome is superimposing a defective new English translation of the liturgy. Most Catholics in the know realize this is a act of power politics. Rome has won its battle with the bishops of the English speaking world by emasculating the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL). And guess who was chairman of the emasculators? Cardinal Pell. He calls his team Vox Clara – Latin for A Clear Voice. More likely Vox Perfidiosa – betraying both ICEL and the English language. Does he realize how many priests and people are alienated by this? This could have the same effect on mass attendance as Humanae Vitae did.

The most ancient bureaucracy in the world seems unaware that it has fossilised many of its habits into values. It cannot see a way to come to terms with new values in the 21^st century. It is into magic fixes. John Paul II thought his celebrity status as a touring pope would draw people in. That failed even in his native Poland. He put his money on the New Movements – Opus Dei, Legionnaires of Christ, Heralds of the Gospel. But they alienate more than they attract. World Youth Days are successful extravaganzas – but with no long term pulling power. The die is already cast for the Come Home program.

In deep water if you can’t swim you drown. It’s a good idea to learn to swim. Get the basics right by forgetting the moralizing and proclaiming the Gospel. Otherwise Come Back Home is just another straw the drowning man is clutching at.

Comments

[essay writers]

The frustrate will carry on to distance until ministers come to be transparent in detailing arrangement and responsible in movement. This goes in opposition to their monarchical grain. Standard law still favours mystery and the priest's power to lead unaccountably.

[Moncler Online]

Now we have a great walkway that goes to the beach and to the canals that came from the partnership of community with government

[commercial electric]

historically it make sense to think about believes.