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Post by Sons of Vaval on Dec 11, 2023 7:41:17 GMT -5
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Post by alum on Dec 11, 2023 8:27:06 GMT -5
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Post by sader1970 on Dec 11, 2023 8:29:25 GMT -5
Ah, one of the millions of people I call a “Convenient Catholic.”
You know, maybe show up for Mass at Christmas, possibly Easter, Palm Sunday for sure because you get to take home proof you are a Catholic (though other Christians have them too) bringing home some vegetation. 😂
If we thought less of every alum who thought this way, we’d have a very small pantheon of heroes among Crusaders.
Might be that Jesuit education?😉
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Post by rf1 on Dec 11, 2023 9:57:39 GMT -5
Not surprising that Fauci is much like the rest of the great majority of Americans baptized into the Catholic Church.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Dec 11, 2023 11:18:32 GMT -5
Well, I'm at the point in life that I don't judge another's approach to religion (unless they use religion to promote hatred and bigotry). My own journey has been circuitous, and while I go to church, it's not a Catholic church.
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Post by Chu Chu on Dec 11, 2023 13:46:24 GMT -5
A very good article, IMO. He has the same misgivings that many do.
"he didn’t agree with the hardline positions he heard later as an adult from Catholic leaders against rights for women, gays and people who might not fit neatly into the categories they seemed to believe were essential to a moral life."
"He eventually stepped back from the church and he no longer practices his faith in a traditional way, but he supports Catholic immigration and educational ministries. He also credits the Jesuits with instilling in him an intellectual honesty and a sense of compassion for the marginalized. He wonders how history might have looked had more church leaders lived out those values in the public square during the height of the AIDS crisis."
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Post by mm67 on Dec 11, 2023 16:08:05 GMT -5
The Church I experienced in local parishes was very different from the church I was exposed to by most, not all, Jesuits at HC. There are numbers of Catholics who find themselves in the same position as Dr. Fauci.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Dec 11, 2023 20:11:13 GMT -5
Very sad
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Post by rgs318 on Dec 11, 2023 22:04:43 GMT -5
If all these evaluations are true about "vast numbers" of Catholics not attending Mass, from where do all the folks we see at Sunday Mass come? I have known about "A+P Catholics" (or "lapsed Catholics") for many years. However they are the ones who say there are so many like them. Lowering attendance is an issue, but perhaps a bit of exaggeration from their point of view...at least in NJ. We had a good friend who moved to Vermont., She went to Mass 5 days a week - but not on the weekend. She said it was because the Church was too full of tourists.  |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Dec 11, 2023 22:12:31 GMT -5
I believe weekly mass attendance stands at about 30% among registered Catholics…..
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Post by bfoley82 on Dec 11, 2023 23:22:45 GMT -5
If all these evaluations are true about "vast numbers" of Catholics not attending Mass, from where do all the folks we see at Sunday Mass come? I have known about "A+P Catholics" (or "lapsed Catholics") for many years. However they are the ones who say there are so many like them. Lowering attendance is an issue, but perhaps a bit of exaggeration from their point of view...at least in NJ. We had a good friend who moved to Vermont., She went to Mass 5 days a week - but not on gthe weekend. She said it was because the Church was too full of tourists. I thought I heard that churches were closing across the country at a record pace... |
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Post by sader1970 on Dec 12, 2023 9:36:17 GMT -5
So happy to see that you've expanded your targets to include the Catholic Church and not just Holy Cross. Who says you're a one-trick pony?
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Post by rgs318 on Dec 12, 2023 9:38:28 GMT -5
I learned from my studies in psychology that all belief is ultimately voluntary. Each of us truly believes only what he/she chooses to believe. Each of us has a different path through this life and different reasons for our choices. So, in short, I respect whatever choice people make in practicing their religion/faith. Heck, I have even served (with my wife) as a Unitarian minister on Star Island and am an extraordinary eucharistic minister in our Catholic parish. I hope that for each of you that your choices about the practice of faith bring you whatever answers you may be seeking in this world. May this time of year strengthen your faith and may it help you to be there for others.
Merry Christmas!
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Post by Tom on Dec 12, 2023 10:22:11 GMT -5
I believe weekly mass attendance stands at about 30% among registered Catholics….. I have heard that percentage. I also think that is a long standing thing. True today, but also true 30 years ago |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Dec 12, 2023 11:12:24 GMT -5
Fauci's comment unintentionally comes off as a little smug. But I think a lot of my generation feels the same way, including me. Church can be great as a community pillar, but "going through the motions" of attending mass every Sunday doesn't give you any kind of moral licensing.
Regis basketball off to a 4-0 start, with an average margin of victory of 20+ points so Im sure Fauci must be happy about that!
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Post by Chu Chu on Dec 12, 2023 12:16:54 GMT -5
I learned from my studies in psychology that all belief is ultimately voluntary. Each of us truly believes only what he/she chooses to believe. Each of us has a different path through this life and different reasons for our choices. So, in short, I respect whatever choice people make in practicing their religion/faith. Heck, I have even served (with my wife) as a Unitarian minister on Star Island and am an extraordinary eucharistic minister in our Catholic parish. I hope that for each of you that your choices about the practice of faith bring you whatever answers you may be seeking in this world. May this time of year strengthen your faith and may it help you to be there for others. Merry Christmas! I agree. Faith is not something that descends upon you. Not some thing that you wait for. Rather, it is an action that you take. I like to think of it as a verb, and not a noun. |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Dec 12, 2023 13:34:19 GMT -5
Of all the people I know, of different faiths, only a small number attend services regularly. I am one of four children and I am the only one who attends church services with any regularity. Of my four children only one attends services. I have many Jewish friends who consider themselves "cultural Jews", attending services on the holy days and otherwise living their lives according to what they believe are important aspects of the faith (education, hard work, family). I don't judge anyone (my siblings, children, and friends are all really good people), but I also feel sad that church attendance, across many religions, has declined so rapidly.
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Post by td128 on Dec 12, 2023 13:41:04 GMT -5
I welcome sharing the fact that I am the regular lector at the 7:30am Sunday Mass at our local parish. I am not hesitant to stand up and speak out if/when I see issues within the Catholic Church that I believe need to be addressed. That said, I treasure my faith, my relationship with Christ and with my Church despite any failings on the Church's part AND also my own shortcomings. I am a sinner as we all are.
I personally believe we are in the midst of a Spiritual War for the future of humanity. As such, I read and research issues largely of an arcane nature that impact the public at large with real vigor. I keep a watchful eye out on those whom I consider to be False Prophets and meaningfully conflicted.
I welcome being a soldier for Christ and find sustenance in visiting Him in His Home regularly.
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Post by DFW HOYA on Dec 12, 2023 14:09:26 GMT -5
If all these evaluations are true about "vast numbers" of Catholics not attending Mass, from where do all the folks we see at Sunday Mass come? I have known about "A+P Catholics" (or "lapsed Catholics") for many years. However they are the ones who say there are so many like them. Lowering attendance is an issue, but perhaps a bit of exaggeration from their point of view...at least in NJ. We had a good friend who moved to Vermont., She went to Mass 5 days a week - but not on gthe weekend. She said it was because the Church was too full of tourists. I thought I heard that churches were closing across the country at a record pace... And opening new churches elsewhere: www.catholicextension.org/us-census-data-and-what-it-tells-us-about-catholic-dioceses/Lapsed Catholics don't get a free pass because they think they're too good for Mass. But this is not exactly new: the parable of the sower speaks of those seeds fell on the path and the birds ate it. The message given to the Apostles was clear: " I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." |
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Post by nhteamer on Dec 12, 2023 15:06:54 GMT -5
I welcome sharing the fact that I am the regular lector at the 7:30am Sunday Mass at our local parish. I am not hesitant to stand up and speak out if/when I see issues within the Catholic Church that I believe need to be addressed. That said, I treasure my faith, my relationship with Christ and with my Church despite any failings on the Church's part AND also my own shortcomings. I am a sinner as we all are.
I personally believe we are in the midst of a Spiritual War for the future of humanity. As such, I read and research issues largely of an arcane nature that impact the public at large with real vigor. I keep a watchful eye out on those whom I consider to be False Prophets and meaningfully conflicted.
I welcome being a soldier for Christ and find sustenance in visiting Him in His Home regularly.
POST OF THE YEAR |
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Dec 12, 2023 16:14:14 GMT -5
In 2017, a Jesuit panelist at BC said this, "there are currently 2,150 Jesuits in the U.S. today. Yet, 81 Jesuits passed away last year, and only 35 entered priesthood." In 2023, 17 Jesuits (total) were ordained in the U.S., Canada, and Haiti. www.jesuits.org/profile-year/2023-ordinands/Of the 17, one is a native of Canada, one is a native of Haiti, one is a native of Puerto Rico, one is a native of Italy. One graduated from Holy Cross, and is a resident of Washington state. The ever-shrinking number of Jesuit vocations, and the ever-diminishing number of priests, both secular and religious, raises the question of whether congregants have simply left the church, or the church's direction has left the faithful behind. notesfrompoland.com/2023/01/14/dramatic-fall-in-church-attendance-in-poland-official-figures-show/ |
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Post by nhteamer on Dec 13, 2023 8:52:40 GMT -5
CS Lewis said it perfectly. "There are only two choices: it is either of the greatest importance or it's not important at all."
There is no middle ground.
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Post by rgs318 on Dec 13, 2023 8:56:43 GMT -5
I admit to always having liked CS Lewis, ever since I read his science fiction and the Screwtape Letters...a brilliant mind.
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Post by alum on Dec 13, 2023 9:11:49 GMT -5
CS Lewis said it perfectly. "There only two choices: it is either of the greatest importance or it's not important at all." There is no middle ground. Who gives a damn what CS Lewis says? He obviously didn't take Logic at Holy Cross or he would have recognized that his statement was an example of the binary choice or false dilemma fallacy. There is nothing in Church teaching which excludes those imperfect Catholics who only treat their religion as moderately important. P.S. I think this is the actual quote you are referencing: "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." |
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Post by nhteamer on Dec 13, 2023 9:28:59 GMT -5
Thank you
At least my imperfect paraphrase did not chance the message.
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