Out of Touch
A poll conducted by social networking website MySpace has branded the Catholic Church "out of touch" with young people, just ahead of its World Youth Day event in Sydney.
Of course what most of these poll indicate is that people think that the Church is out of touch with the morality of the modern culture, that it is not an echo chamber for current societal ethics. The only thing the Church needs to be in touch with is the Holy Spirit.
Though a poll such as this also points out the work the Church has to do in evangelization since this wrong perception needs to be addressed to be able to spread the Gospel. But no poll ever asks if people are out of touch with the Catholic Church.
The Church often gets the rap that all it talks about is sex and that it is fixated on the issue, when the truth is that it is her distracter that are hung up on this. The protesters at World Youth Day are not wearing shirts attacking the Church for its teaching on helping the poor. No protest signs against loving your neighbor. There is no "1, 2, 3, 4, we don't want saints no more." No all of the protests are about sex in on form or another. Whether it is passing out condoms or homosexual ranting against the Pope calling him a homophobe the topic is always sex. Scratch a dissenter and you will always find someone upset about something in the Church's teaching on sexual morality.
I do think there is something we need for all World Youth Days. A massive incinerator at the entrance points. That way people can grab all them condoms being given out and anti-Catholic tracts and immediately dispose of them. Let our enemies waste their money so that they will have less of it.
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Well, I've branded MySpace as out of touch with smart people.
So HA.
Scratch a dissenter and you will always find someone upset about something in the Church's teaching on sexual morality.
I hereby dub this, "Miller's Law".
Scratch a dissenter and you will always find someone upset about something in the Church's teaching on sexual morality.
Yep - anytime something interfers with someone's self-appointed "right" to do whatever they want, with whomever they want, whenever they please, it's "out of touch" or otherwise oppressive.
Look at the crowds in St. Peter's square, or at WYD. Tell those excited faces the Church is "out of touch."
Me, I'm perfectly happy living with the realization *we're* the counter-cultural ones and it's the world that's out of touch with the Truth.
Exactly, brother! Amen!
The concept of "BFD" comes to mind. Obviously all those youth wouldn't be coming if they thought the Church was out of touch.
Miller's Law translated into Fr. Philip's 10 Rules on How to Dissent from the Magisterium is: "When the Church pronounces your Favorite Sin a sin, dissent." As a name, "Miller's Law" types much more quickly...Fr. Philip, OP
I'm on myspace. I never recieved invitaiton to do a poll on catholic anything. Who did the poll?
In 1993 at WYD in Denver we used to take all the handouts the anti's would pass out and trash them. Many pilgrims did the same thing. I once asked if I could have a whole bunch of pamphlets to hand out at home. The protestor looked at me really strange and said, "You can have ONE."
Guided by love: portrait of a young Catholic
Rachel Patterson
July 15, 2008
I am a young Catholic and I would like to apologise for my faith. By apology I do not mean an expression of regret. Rather, I am referring to the Greek origin of the word, meaning to defend.
To modern sensibilities, Catholic moral teaching can come across as rigid and non-inclusive. In this regard, Catholic teaching is often misunderstood. In contrast to modern secularism, which tends towards relativism, the Catholic Church unapologetically teaches that there are absolute truths.
At the core of Catholic faith is the belief that Christ is God and God is love. As followers of Christ we are called to love God and one another. As such, for Christians, life is not a meaningless experience but a beautiful, sometimes difficult thing to which there is a purpose other than mere self-satisfaction.
At the heart of Catholic moral teaching is an understanding of freedom that contrasts sharply with popular notions of choice. For most people, freedom is simply the ability to do what they want. For the Catholic Church, freedom is the ability to do good. It is easy to do what we want. It isn't always as easy to do what is right. And when we choose to do right by another, especially when it isn't our inclination or in our interests to do so, we exercise our capacity for love. In other words, love is not just some gooey emotion we feel for our parents, children or significant other - it exists most fully when we act in a way that is loving.
It is difficult to understand Catholic morality without first appreciating this context. Still, some people accept all this but question why the church persists in having so many rules - especially when it comes to sex. The church is not a 2000-year-old killjoy obsessed with ruining our fun in the bedroom. As the largest provider of health care and education in the world, it is focused on plenty of other things, such as helping the poor. But it does ask us to keep sex within marriage. Why? Not because the church is scared of human sexuality. Sex is understood as something created by God and, therefore, a fundamentally good and beautiful thing. It can, however, be misused and when it is, we can hurt other people and ourselves. Far from being oppressive, church teaching on sex is meant to be liberating.
One of the most common things I hear is that Catholic teaching on sex is impossible to live up to and that those who fail are condemned or hated by the church. After Pope Benedict visited Brazil last year, the Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen announced that today "no one is a virgin when they get married". This is wrong. There are many Christians committed to living a life in line with church teaching. Despite my reservations about sharing this information, for the sake of proving my point I will admit that I was still a virgin when I married earlier this year.
This was something that I chose. It was not because I was ashamed of my body, scared of sex or frigid, and it was not because I lacked opportunities. I committed to it for myself and for God, and I do not regret it. I spent my teens and 20s not having to worry about pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases, and I did not have to digest artificial hormones by taking the pill. Surprisingly, the older I got, the easier it was - primarily because the discipline became habitual.
I know many young Catholics who made the same choice. Others did not. Do I judge them for this? Does the church? The answer is no.
I am very far from perfect, and the church distinguishes between judging actions and judging people. Everyone is to be loved even though we might not agree with or stand for what they are doing. In contrast, I found that it was often I who was judged - especially in legal and academic circles - for being Catholic. Some people, before getting to know me, assumed I was judgmental and, ironically, judged me for this. Others associated my faith with a lack of intelligence or sophistication.
It can be lonely leading a life that is counter to the prevailing moral norms. For many of the young adults making the trip to Sydney for World Youth Day, it is one of the few times in their lives that they will be surrounded by other young Catholics in a decidedly Christian atmosphere. To them I say, enjoy. Your faith is a gift and you do not need to apologise for it or isolate it from the rest of your life.
To the rest of Australia, a sincere thank you for your hospitality.
Rachael Patterson is an Australian lawyer working in New York. She will begin a doctorate in comparative constitutional law on church-state relations at Oxford University later this year.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/07/14/1215887535965.html
Great post. I agree, looking around at young people today (I thought I still was young, but have been told by my children that 28 makes me old), I definitely want to be in the church that is the LEAST "in touch" with MTV.
I'm totally out of touch myself, Jeff. I have no idea how to trackback and I referenced your post in one of mine.
"Desmond Morris says the Lepchas are obsessed with sex. (The Lepchas say Desmond Morris is obsessed with sex.)" -- John Sack, REPORT FROM PRACTICALLY NOWHERE
These "dissenters" are in sharp contrast with poor Auden: "Of course it's a sin, and we can only hope God will forgive."