Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
James Martin, S.J.June 30, 2010

In case you missed the Bustedhalo.com talk on Summer Spirituality.  The Q&A at the end (around the one-hour mark) was a especially fun.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
14 years ago
Nice talk; there are some good laughs in there.
 
As for explaining the absence of young adults at mass, I think there were contradictions in your two part comment:
 
You say that Catholic churches are losing this group because they do not provide personalized service/welcome, that the music is bad, that individual needs are not met.  However, you then go on to decry the fact that the "it's all about me" attitude of the young adult (or baby boomer, for that matter) is the real root of this problem. 
 
I think your second instinct is the correct one; however, the problem is not fixed by adopting to the individualized, self-help syle consumer culture as the Evangelicals do (and most post-Vatican 2 masses do).  It is addressed by being uniquely Catholic - with focus on the sacrifice of the mass, on chant, on the mission of the Church.  I attend a latin mass and there is a preponderence of young adult males (and females) present who are exiled from the bad aesthetics and stripped alters of the new mass.
 
Here is an interesting take on the two approaches (church as a cruise ship vs. battle ship):
http://vimeo.com/1986489
 
PS - people get heated when discussing liberal vs. traditional because there are important philosophical differences between the two (and this difference is not about mere politics) - i.e. the Progressive ideology of human "progress"/ perfectablity and focus on individualism goes directly against the Church's traditional understanding of human nature...(one proven correct by history again and again)
 
 
14 years ago
Here is a great, quick summation of Progressivism by a Catholic professor, Patrick Deneen at Georgetown:
 
"Progressivism sought the replacement of “local knowledge” with “expertise”; its central emphasis was upon “growth” in every form (you can’t read a page of John Dewey without recognizing the emphasis upon “growth”); and, it was impatient with invocations of human falleness, sinfulness, and iniquity, instead preferring to re-describe human failings in therapeutic terms and recommending various therapies for their cure."
 
http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/06/progressivism-vs-conservatism/
14 years ago
Father,
 
This is off topic but since I believe you said you were from Philadelphia, here is a different kind of spirituality, Philadelphia style.  Thought you might enjoy it.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zmwRitYO3w

The latest from america

A statue of Mary giving birth to Jesus was beheaded by an anonymous group of vandals, garnering support from traditionalist Catholics who have criticized the statue's depictions.
Some polls are going as far to predict that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might lose his own seat on July 4. He would be the first Conservative prime minister to suffer such a humiliation.
David StewartJuly 01, 2024
“The Eucharist is the food that makes us hungry,” says Eucharistic Revival preacher Joe Laramie, S.J., so when he preaches, he hopes to stir his congregation “to deeper hunger for the Lord, to grow in deeper devotion to him.”
PreachJuly 01, 2024
The Vatican’s first auditor general, Libero Milone, who was forced to resign in June 2017, claims he was framed and says Pope Francis was deceived by Cardinal Angelo Becciu.
Gerard O’ConnellJuly 01, 2024