Much has been written about the number of ex-Catholics in America - that they make up the second largest "religious" group in our country. The estimate is roughly 30 million folks. That's a lot of people who have walked away from the Church founded by Christ with the ordinary means to salvation. I'm not sure how religious they are as a result for having left, and probably prefer to be called "spiritual".
Every person who left had their reason, or their excuse, or their rationalization for walking away, and I'm sure they feel rather justified in doing so. Well, that's something between them and God. Given the state of our culture, where people switch cable providers or banks over issues such as poor quality, bad customer service or a "better deal" down the street, it's no wonder they use the same approach to what church they attend, if they decide to attend one at all. But Christ didn't set up His Church to be treated as a consumer commodity - it's the way our culture has perverted the process. Belief becomes marketable, and thus, when it's perceived one isn't getting any value out of the product being offered (boring Masses, not enough bells and whistles, etc), folks shop around, and treat Christ's Church worse than they do the local grocer or stripmall nail salon.
And this is nothing new, either. How many Catholics in Europe abandoned the Barque of St Peter to jump into the Protestant rafts? How many English Catholics switched sides during the reign of Henry VIII and the rulers who followed him? (I heard a rather funny, if not somewhat bawdy joke about the Anglican Church....The Catholic Church was founded on the rock of St Peter, while the Anglican Church was founded on the balls of King Henry.) The point is, while the facts are disconcerting, they ought not be surprising. It's been happening since the beginning. In John 6, many left Christ over a "hard saying". Well, the Church hasn't changed the hard sayings, and won't either - and it seems that many Catholics have taken the wide road rather than endure the narrow road. And folks in America aren't even being killed, much less persecuted, for being Catholic - not unlike India or some Middle East countries. They leave because they refuse to, or are unable to, accept and defend the truths of the faith, having decided it's easier to go with the culture and not get their hands dirty, and ultimately, perhaps not get their souls clean.
We are experiencing a crisis of faith in the Church. We see it among our friends and families, we read about it in the news; some of you reading this might even be considering getting out altogether. It would be easy to define the exodus merely in terms of the sex-abuse crisis, but that would be too simplified. Sure, that contributed mightily to some people who left - the final straw, perhaps, or maybe even a pretense - but the drift is nothing new. The media like to play up the numbers in an effort to show the Church's waning influence in the culture, or reinforce in people's minds that the Church never had influence in the first place. However, we must remind people that size and popularity are not what matters - after all, Christ said that those who are persecuted for His sake are blessed. So if the Church were to cease being persecuted by the world...well, I would take that as a Very Bad Sign.
Peter Stenfels at Commonweal wrote a piece titled Further Adrift, in which he looks at the phenomenon of ex-Catholics, and points the finger of blame at the bishops for not doing something about the problem, or even admitting that there is one. He also provides a few ideas on how to stem the tide - "...very concrete, practical items—a quantum leap in the quality of Sunday liturgies, including preaching; a massive, all-out mobilization of talent and treasure to catechize the young, bring adolescents into church life, and engage young adults in ongoing faith formation; and regular, systematic assessments of all these activities—as well as theologically more complex and controversial matters like expanding the pool of those eligible for ordination and revisiting some aspects of the church’s teaching on sexuality."
You know, the sorts of things that Protestants have been doing (that was snark, y'know).
The problem with Stenfel's analysis is that he leaves out the agent of conversion and the ultimate source of the Church's strength - the Holy Spirit. What's ironic is that the Catholycs of the silly American Catholic Council claim to have a hold of the Holy Spirit - which is absurd, of course - and yet, so few of these pundits fail to acknowledge that it's the Holy Spirit that protects and keeps and maintains the Church - through every Sacrament, during every Mass, diffused within every infallible teaching and doctrine. He hasn't left the Church.
In my humble opinion, the exodus is not entirely the bishops' fault. Yeah, the catechesis has been awful for decades - we all know that. And all too often priests shy away from preaching the tough love issues out of fear of offending someone. I had an associate pastor tell me several years ago that he won't talk about abortion because there are women in the congregation who have had them. He didn't want to be "another male jerk", comparing himself to the husband or boyfriend that might have coerced her into having the abortion. I was surprised by his response. There's a right way and a wrong way to broach the subject - any controversial Church teaching, for that matter - but to not talk about it at all tells the people it must not be all that important.
But the pewsitters have to shoulder their portion of the blame as well. Are we living our lives as joyful stewards of the faith, passing it on to the younger generations? Are we faithful witnesses in the culture, not counting the cost - for instance, you might be 'unfriended' on Facebook if you speak up on the evils of IVF or ESCR? What's worse - being unfriended there, or on Judgment Day? And I'm talking to myself here - I know I've fallen short on many occasions, and I make no excuse. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Point is - we can't expect the bishops to do all the work. Yes, they're the shepherds, and they have a grave responsibility. Recently, Archbishop Nienstedt in Minneapolis/St Paul had DVD's distributed to his diocese's Catholics that taught on the issue of so-called gay marriage. An example of a bishop taking his responsibility seriously - more of this is needed throughout the entire world, not just in America.
We are workers in the vineyard, and if we're not doing our part - pursuing holiness, living in joy, making the Gospel real and the Church real to those around us, being 'living stones' rather than stoning the living, praying with groaning souls - then the growing numbers of ex-Catholics are just as much our fault as anyone's. We have to be examples to our weak and weakened brothers and sisters - we have to be saints. We are called to be a light to the world - by our actions, by our words. We are given the grace to do it - but do we have the courage?
On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the apostles, by the strength of their testimony and witness, baptized 3,000 people. They didn't have large screens or creative liturgies or systematic assessments. I believe we really don't need those things either - and reliance on such things will only contribute to faster and further drifting.
Instant "Acts"ess
