WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?
There is an article in the latest issue of Portsmouth People. It concerns those who are non-practicing Catholics and asks them to tell the Bishop why they are not practicing the Catholic Faith. I am afraid it made me smile for I have been asking that question for over 40 years. In earlier times I usually got the answer that they "all come back eventually" Nobody was interested in the sudden overnight falling away of our young people. Our 'New Church' had got rid of that guilt and hell and priestly domination of the pre-vatican Church. Then there was the 'Only Catholics go to Heaven' of that old Church and great efforts were made to apologise to Protestants for this awful claim. As those who are following my Penny Catechism course will be aware it is full of good teaching and there is very little of hell there but heck, if you want something new what is a little lie among friends.
So I worried myself and prayed for all those young people who were going forward for Confirmation who really did not want to do so, but there was almost 'the show must go on' nature about things and we pretended all those youngsters were committed to Christ. Good Catholic Education had been thrown out the door by the new 'experts' and this was the result. I remember a Protestant friend phoning me in shock because Johnny across the road was going to be confirmed, surely this was not true. "No" I replied "it is true. His parents believe he is receiving a good Catholic education, the parish need to show some signs of success, so the show must go on whatever Johnny may want" What a revolution must not do is measure its success. So as the ship sank around them terrible stories were told of the bad old days. One bishop invited us to follow him, abandon our safe little huts, and walk with him into a strange new land. Those who refused this brave new world were scorned as 'living in the past'. Some of us were indeed living in the past, it was the only way we could keep our sanity.
But since the old Education system which had kept about 50% of young people was thought inappropriate from where was the new education or should I say 'enlightenment' coming from? I went to a teachers' Training College once with a friend to hear a speaker address the would be teachers. She told them how out of touch the Catholic Church was on morality and really today we were more enlightened. This lecture was in the Chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament, but then Jesus was never mentioned by our speaker she had learned what she knew form 'the experience of life' "Perhaps that was why we were all so backward" I concluded "we are following a man who had no real experience of life, just read the Gospels" Trained by such Colleges they passed their graduate teachers onto our schools.
The last part of the article by the Bishop was then hilarious. If the people then write and explain why they do not attend Church their letters will be submitted to St Mary's College, Twickenham. Now if you think the college I spoke of was bad I can only assure you that the teaching staff at St Mary's were marginally worse. So whatever the outcome of the survey it will be a dishonest one since they will certainly no be looking at themselves.
So I worried myself and prayed for all those young people who were going forward for Confirmation who really did not want to do so, but there was almost 'the show must go on' nature about things and we pretended all those youngsters were committed to Christ. Good Catholic Education had been thrown out the door by the new 'experts' and this was the result. I remember a Protestant friend phoning me in shock because Johnny across the road was going to be confirmed, surely this was not true. "No" I replied "it is true. His parents believe he is receiving a good Catholic education, the parish need to show some signs of success, so the show must go on whatever Johnny may want" What a revolution must not do is measure its success. So as the ship sank around them terrible stories were told of the bad old days. One bishop invited us to follow him, abandon our safe little huts, and walk with him into a strange new land. Those who refused this brave new world were scorned as 'living in the past'. Some of us were indeed living in the past, it was the only way we could keep our sanity.
But since the old Education system which had kept about 50% of young people was thought inappropriate from where was the new education or should I say 'enlightenment' coming from? I went to a teachers' Training College once with a friend to hear a speaker address the would be teachers. She told them how out of touch the Catholic Church was on morality and really today we were more enlightened. This lecture was in the Chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament, but then Jesus was never mentioned by our speaker she had learned what she knew form 'the experience of life' "Perhaps that was why we were all so backward" I concluded "we are following a man who had no real experience of life, just read the Gospels" Trained by such Colleges they passed their graduate teachers onto our schools.
The last part of the article by the Bishop was then hilarious. If the people then write and explain why they do not attend Church their letters will be submitted to St Mary's College, Twickenham. Now if you think the college I spoke of was bad I can only assure you that the teaching staff at St Mary's were marginally worse. So whatever the outcome of the survey it will be a dishonest one since they will certainly no be looking at themselves.
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