“The Roman Catholic Church is in the midst of the greatest church crisis since the Reformation, which is not triggered by the worldwide abuse scandals, but finds a focal point in them.” That sentence, opening a very long article in The Tablet, expresses a thought that I voiced fifteen years ago, in my book The Faithful Departed. The Tablet authors and I agree (or so it would seem) that the sex-abuse scandal was an effect, not the cause, of the crisis in the Church.
Our agreement ends there, unfortunately. The Tablet lays out a long, long argument that the crisis is caused by outdated teachings, and the Church can only escape irrelevance by following the Synodal Path blazed by the German bishops’ conference. The authors (Sigrid Grameier and Christian Weisner) fear a pastoral disaster if the universal Church, at the coming Synod on Synodality, fails to endorse the German initiative.
There’s just one problem with that argument. (Well, actually there are many problems, but one stands out.) The German bishops have already produced a pastoral disaster. Their track record in recent years is the most compelling argument against accepting their leadership.
Acknowledging that the Vatican does not seem ready to accept instruction from the German hierarchy, Grameier and Weisner lament the “estrangement between the world headquarters in Rome and a theologically and financially relatively strong local church.” It’s certainly true that the Church in Germany is financially strong, thanks to the tax power of the German government. As for the theological strength of the German hierarchy, that’s the subject for the current debate. But there is something crucial missing from this appraisal. What about the pastoral strength of the German Church? How successful have the German Church leaders been in their efforts to bring people into the Catholic fold?
Not very. On the contrary, the most remarkable trend in German Catholicism is the mass movement of Catholics leaving the Church. More than 2 million Catholics have formally renounced their faith in the past decade, and the trend seems to be accelerating. In 2010, about 181,000 Germans removed themselves from parish rosters. In 2020 that number was 221,000. And in 2021, as the bishops embarked on their Synodal Path, a record-breaking 359,000 Catholics left the Church. With only about 1 million Germans attending Mass regularly, the number of ex-Catholics is double the number of practicing Catholics.
The Tablet essay skips over that unfortunate track record, to concentrate instead on the “hot-button” Church teachings that earn the scorn of secularists. The authors want us to recognize “what a gap there is between the reality of life today and the Church’s teaching on sexual morality.” Yes, there is certainly an enormous gap between the teachings of the Church and the everyday lives of men and women living in the secularized societies of the Western world. But are people happier—let alone holier—on the secular side of that gap? The authors see a marked difference between traditional Catholic thought and the “enlightened” opinion of contemporary Europeans, and conclude that because this difference exists, the Church teachings must be wrong. Non sequitur. From a strictly logical perspective it is equally possible that contemporary European attitudes should change. Add the hard evidence provided by the miseries of life in the “enlightened” societies—the breakdown of families, the alienation of generations, the epidemics of emotional and sexual dysfunction—and the case for Catholic teaching appears much stronger.
Full story at Catholic Culture.
They would if they’re gay and want to destroy the church.
Secular Modernism has been slowly killing Western Civilization for over a century. People are in desperate need of the True Christ, whether they realize it or not. The wayward, sinful German Bishops’ Conference is notorious for lying and fraudulence on the Catholic Faith, and robbing their constituents of the True Faith. The Vatican should stop playing games, and get down to business, with a good plan to re-evangelize Western countries, like Germany. We need good Vatican leadership, to do this.
99/100 young people look at that pic and think, “irrelevance and corruption”. If that’s the public image of the church, it deserves to decay.
John 15:18
If you are enrolled in a Church in Germany, you are legally required to pay the Church tax. So why would anyone enroll? You can still contribute to church and go to church and not have to pay the tax if you unenroll.
Do those who unenroll still attend?
Because if you do not pay your church tax, the German church will deny you the sacraments. They have their priorities.
I verified that. You are correct. Unbelievable.
If people do not go to Church, it is because of a lack of faith. Period. It does not matter what stumbling block they fall over.
The State of Florida now mandates a yearly training for all school librarians and all teachers with classroom libraries, to eradicate all sexually-explicit books, including all LGBT books, and CRT books. This should happen nationwide, in all 50 states.There actually needs to be a national law against all of this horrifically filthy, abusive, subversive and dangerous material, especially for minors, both children and teens.
Why do they always blame the failure of lay people to live their baptismal and confirmation vows on the clergy?
If we clergy teach Jesus crucified for forgiveness of sin, for eternal life, and for communion with God and one another according to His revelation, come to Him humbly in reverent liturgy, and stop substituting diversity, equity, inclusion and other people’s gospels of climate, lgbtq, others’ definition of fairness, justice, equality, and rights, immigration, and every other thing the world and the devil offer to deceive, distract, divide, and destroy us, then people will come and will stay. Jesus is the only way to the Father, and the Catholic Church has the fullness of faith in Christ. I am unable to provide answers to those who challenge why the church’s hierarchy trumpet these things and distract with “tribalism” “women clergy”, and on and on. These are wasted words. Every person does not get to have everything that one wants in the church. Why can’t I be a bishop or pope? God has not called me. Why can’t I be intimate as my desires dictate? God has not ordained such behaviors outside of Holy Matrimony. Focus and talk in these worldly terms distract from Jesus and His offer of salvation to those who believe in Him. My fellow clergy, get back to Christ and leave the nonsense behind. People will come; people will stay.
Thank you for these deep and much-needed words. This would be a good message for the bishop’s Eucharistic Revival or as a substitute for the rascal Fr. Radcliffe for the Synod retreat.
Thank you, Father. To me, the most basic issue is: Shall we discern and follow God’s Way or Man’s Way?
I am fortunate in that I have been given an understanding of God’s Way well enough to motivate me to continue to follow His Way. I am most thankful for the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
To those who would try to push Man’s Way into Catholic Teaching changing it dramatically, please be honest. Defend your views with reference to Holy Scripture and time-honored theologians such as St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Pope John Paul II.
The personal impact of grave sin needs to be taught. The loss of grace, the loss of God’s life in the soul was described very graphically to us as children. We were taught that venial sin is like getting little black marks on your soul. Mortal sin turns the whole soul black. It is dead. That is why you cannot get communion when in mortal sin. You cannot feed the dead. If you try to feed the dead, it does not work.
Because the life of God is no longer in your soul, there is no faith, no hope and no love. You must confess a mortal sin as soon as possible, if you fall. Not attending a Catholic Mass on Sunday without a dispensation is a mortal sin.
A person cannot bring themselves out of mortal sin. Please pray every day for the conversion of sinners.
The ship, in Germany, is sinking, and the German bishops persist in bailing from the wrong side of the hull.
Perhaps Pope Benedict XVI can do more from heaven to help his erstwhile fellow countrymen (and all the rest of us) to mend our ways.
Most people do what they want. They don’t care what bishops say. Many people could not even tell you the name of their bishop. Or what the role of a bishop is. Most Catholics know the Pope. They know their parish priests. They know and live whatever variety of Catholicism their parents or their college or their spouse lives.
I appreciate Catholics who really take the time to learn the entirety of the Faith. You do have to do it yourself. You cannot rely on other people to teach it to you. Read the Bible. Read the Catechism. Read as much of the Papal documents and the writings of the saints as you have time for. If you just spend a half and hour a day, over the years, you learn a lot. It is time worth spent. Don’t hyperfocus on one thing. Learn it all.
The German bishops are supported by a government tax. They’re rich materially, but have few faithful. The African Church is poor, but has many faithful. And, the German bishops have told the Church to not pay much attention to those poor Africans. Might we consider following the example of the faithful bishops, other clergy and lay faithful of Africa? They know Christ and how to share Him with others. Who’s really rich? Ask Saint Teresa of Calcutta.