Was just responding to a friend’s blog post, and thought I’d post this here, since it more or less sums up my feelings about the new pope (aside, of course, from great disappointment, apprehension, disgust and red-hot hate for the entire Church.org).
(…which should not be confused with my attitudes towards the faith itself, and towards its devout followers. Okay? Okay.)
Anyway, the blogger said:
the Church needs to be willing to talk about social issues realistically if it doesn’t want to become increasingly irrelevant in the face of massive drop-offs in churchgoing across Europe.
I believe that process is already well under way. In Italy, Italy!, not many people are going to church on a regular basis:
“A Frank Bruni article in The New York Times on October 13, 2003, pointed out that 33 percent of Italians described religion as “very important” but as few as 15 percent are going to church every week, according to recent polls.”
The institution of the Catholic Church needs to get even more ridiculous before real change can be effected. Either that, or it will lose its power, and you know what? That’s not a bad thing. Devout Catholics might be heartbroken, but they really need the courage, and the incentive, to find their way to their God despite the corrupt, backwards, power-hungry and actively harmful people who stand between the populace and their faith.
It’s not that I don’t believe anything good can ever come out of the Vatican. It’s that it usually doesn’t. Quite the contrary.
Down with the corrupt Church! Viva la fede!!1!
But really, what do you mean by “the faith itself”? Do you include dogma therein?
Either that, or it will lose its power
One problem is that there actually seems to be an inverse relationship between how “relevant” a church is to first world sensibilities and its ability to attract and retain members. Primarily in the third world, but in the first world as well, the more accomodating denominations become to liberal/libertarian secular society, the more they hemmorage members. I think the Vatican has watched the struggles within the Anglican communion and ECUSA over the past couple of decades and drawn the conclusion that doctrinal and disciplinary rigidity is in fact the way to increased growth, and that the more liberal/modernist critics of that rigidity wouldn’t be attending church anyway, even if their wishes were granted.
A little interesting discussion of this took place on Cliopatria between Johnathan Dresner and Ralph Luker in this post and its comments.