February 18, 2018

Fornicating with the Scarlet Woman; the Decline of Catholicism

Timothy Birdnow

Since it's Sunday a bit of discussion about religion is in order. Dana Mathewson forwards this article about the decline of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and the reasons behind it.

While I agree with some of it, I have to say I don't agree at all with a good deal of what the author says. Let's take a look at it. First, the author cites both PEW and PRRI date, with which I cannot quibble. it shows:

The downward trend in the number of Catholics is pretty familiar by now. In 2016, we were 18% of the population according to a recent PRRI report. In 2014, we were 21% and in 2007, 24% according to a Pew Religious Landscape Study.

The decline in non-Hispanic white Catholics is a bit steeper: 11% in 2016, 12% in 2014 and 16% in 2007.

Thirty six percent of Catholics are Hispanic; 9% are black, Asian and other. Hispanics are 52% of Catholics under the age of 30. The proportion of Hispanics is likely to increase because they have younger children and larger families, according to PRRI.

In 1990, native-born Catholics were 23% of the U.S. population and 87% were white, non-Hispanic.

End excerpt.

I don't disagree, although both PEW and PRRI have a liberal bent and would like to create a "trouble in River City" scenario so they can provide the solution, which would be "bringing the Church into the 21st century i.e. opening it to the very things that have sent the world into a death spiral. But be that as it may I accept the numbers here.

It is the interpretation of WHY the Catholic Church is losing membership that I find myself in disagreement.

From the article:

"In 2016, PRRI asked those who no longer identify with a denomination why the left. "A lack of belief in teachings of religion was the most commonly cited reason for disaffiliation …. Notably, those who were raised Catholic are more likely than those raised in any other religion to cite negative religious treatment of gay and lesbian people (39% vs. 29%, respectively) and the clergy sexual-abuse scandal (32% vs. 19%, respectively) as primary reasons they left the Church.”

From the 2013 Pew survey: "Latinos who have left the Catholic Church are especially likely to say that an important reason was that they stopped believing in its teachings …. In addition, 49% of Hispanics who were raised as Catholics and have become Protestants say that an important factor was finding a church that "reaches out and helps its members more” …. About 3% specifically mention the scandal over sexual abuse by clergy.”

End excerpt.

So, the Church isn't gay enough or socialist enough to please her members anymore. I find the sexual part of that interesting; many of these respondents blamed lack of acceptance of homosexuality and "alternate lifestyles" and went on to condemnt the Church for acts of homosexuality and alternative living by some of the priests. Of course, the study didn't ask them if they were aware that there have been more acts of pedophilia in public schools than by Catholic priests and if that made a difference to their views. I am of the opinion that this is just an excuse, not a reaason.

I am also puzzled about this "lack of reaching out and helping members" business; the Catholic Church is perhaps the largest charitable institution on Earth and has innumerable programs to help the poor, the homeless, the refugee, and whatnot. Again, the reason appears to be but an excuse for leaving because they no longer believe in Christ.

The author of the article gives his own interpretation:

"So why is the Catholic Church experiencing the greatest decline? Because we are the only U.S. denomination controlled by a foreign government, a society exclusively all male, (officially) without spouses and children, who were promoted to their current positions precisely because they place the institution before all else. And that directly effects the reasons Catholics give for leaving."

End excerpt.

Hmmm? In an era of internationalism and globalist ambitions an international and global Church is somehow reviled for it? Again, I find the contradiction hard to swallow. By this reasoning the Catholic Church should have been more hated and had fewer members in the past, when the world was more divided and tribal, but it is losing members now that globalism is the order of the day.

He may be on to something with the "all male" business; the error of feminism has driven a wedge between male and female, and the females are clearly winning the war of the sexes. Schools and colleges teach young women that men are the root of evil, and so an all male organization may well turn them off (all male if you ignore nuns, who used to run the every day aspects of the organization of the Church.) But the rest of it? Who worries about "no spouses or children" in an era of divorce, abortion, and choosing what makes you happy. Why is the Church held to a different standard?

Of course it is and the argument would be that the Church holds US to a different standard than we hold ourselves, so turnabout is fair play. But the Church holds no temporal power over indivuduals; its only power is in its moral authority, an authority grounded in the Permanent Things and not in the fashions of popular thought. The author of the piece goes on to berate the Church for being anti-homosexual and old fashioned, but he misses the point; the church is failing because it is becoming more open to the garish moral fashions of the day and eschewing the Permanent Things.

The attraction of something like Catholicism is its eternal nature; the Church was a rock in a hurricane wind, providing safe harbor to the weary traveler. Alone among modern Western institutions the Church said there is an absolute Truth that transcends our viewpoints or our wishes. That is a very powerful message, and it is a large part of why Islam has been growing so quickly throughout the world. Islam makes no excuses and holds very exacting standards for its members. The Christian world used to do that, and the Catholic Church was a leader in that. Even people who hated Catholicism had a grudging respect for that aspect of the Church.

No more. Progressives have infiltrated the Church, starting with the seminaries and havde sought to "modernize" it, make it more of a Progressive liberal entity. Meanwhile, priests no longer preach about sin; I haven't heard that word in decades in any church, and I go regularly. They areafraid to speak about right and wrong, about Truth, and are terrified of offending sinners in their pews lest they leave and take their donations with them.

My local church has a board where they put up the photos of new parishioners. I sometimes glance at it. There are plenty of couples with different last names, meaning they are shacking up without the benefit of marriage. Now, they are actually excommunicated, meaning they are cut off from the Church and should not receive the Sacraments, but nobody told them and the priests at our church aren't about to. So they are treated like any other married couple and put up ont he bulletin board, completely oblivious to the fact that they are in a state of grave sin.

THAT is why the Church is losing members; they no longer stand for anything. Why go to a church that wastes a lot of your time and tells you nothing of consequence? If you want to go to a social club you can sneak over to the local brewpub or whatnot; it's a lot more enjoyable. Catholic sermons are inevitably detailless scolds about how we need to be nicer people. That gives noone any comfort or sense of purpose.

The author of the piece bemoans Catholics voting for Trump and the battle between conservative Cathics and Progressives. He states:

"Jesus also prayed that his believers "all may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:21)."

End excerpt.

Unity is to be desired, but unity of what? Christ also said "if a town does not accept you shake the dust of that town off your feet and move on". Well, if a so-called fellow member of your faith does not acdcept Catholic teaching, shouldn't they be treated in like manner? Jesus was not about quantity but quality. He wanted people to believe not to pick and choose what they wanted ot believe. And Paul admonished the faithful to try to get heretics and rebels to repent, but in the end they should be cut off from the Body of Christ until they do. That hardsly amounts to this notion that we should all be one big happy family no matter how one behaves or what one believes.

This is precisely what is wrong with modern catholicism. And even if I am wrong and the author is correct, if the Catholic Church will fall because it is too exclusive, so what? God promised Lott He would spare Sodom and Gemmorrah if Lot could find even one good man there. It is not about quantity but quality. I prefer to be a member of a religion that goes down with integrity rather than a harlot that prostitutes itself to survive.

Here the author shows himself to be a Progressive hack:

"George Lakoff, cognitive linguist and professor, described a model for conservative and progressive worldviews as "strict father” and "nurturing parent.” Among many characteristics, the former favor authoritarian figures and a clear delineation between right and wrong. The latter favor empathy and a more situational ethic."

End excerpt.

George Lackoff is a leftist who was the darling of the Democrats for a while. He's the guy who came up with the idea of "reframing" which is a fancy way of saying twisting the meaning of reality to fit your narrative i.e. lie. Great soruce!

I could just as easily turn this on it's head. Conservatives are the loving, guiding parents and liberals the inattentive, disconnected, abusers by neglect. Actually it's worse, because liberals open the doors to the most debased aspects of the human condition while at the same time restrain anyone who would try to stop the madness.

And pardon me but who favors authoritarians? Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Che Guevera, were all on the liberal side. True conservatives believe in personal responsibility and the right to freely choose. Liberals seek to impose their views through power. Lackoff was projecting.

Notice how the author never uses the word sin. The Bible is full of discussions about sin, and how it eats men alive and must be resisted. See, there's no devil, no Hell, no sin in the Barney the Dinosaur world of Progressive Christianity. The only evil are the reactionary right wingers who resist their progress to glory.

Here's a real whopper:

"Conservative Catholics are in the majority because for almost 40 years popes and U.S. bishops have been conservative"

Yes, St. John Paul II was conservative, as was Benedict. But JPI was not, nor Paul VI, nor John the twenty third. And the U.S. Catholic Bishops are quite radical, and frquesntly at odds with the Papacy.

Oh, and the Catholic Church condemned socialism and other modernist ideas in the 19th century, well before the "last forty years" our friend believes.

The essay concludes with a call for unity. I'm all for unity if we accept the Truth but I will not unite with those who will pervert the Truth, nor should anyone. Remember what was said of sex with prostitutes - if you join together with a prostitute you will be one flesh with them, something not to be desired. The same holds true for unity with an apostate or an heretic.

Catholicism and Christianity in general will only find renewal when they return to their first love. Now they chase after another love, a scarlet woman riding on a fierce beast, salivating in lust after her that they may fornicate with modernity. First things must be relearned and applied and spoken boldly. Right now the Church squeeks like field mice and licks the boots of the worldly masters. It is little wonder we are seeing things go to hell.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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