Reading this Harold Meyerson post over at TAPPED provided the catalyst I finally needed to write a post dealing with the Catholic Church and the decline of Catholicism, particularly in the U.S. Meyerson's post is a commentary on the self-proclaimed "Prince of Darkness" Bob Novak's column criticizing the Archbishops of Washington D.C. and New York allowing pro-choice elected officals (most prominently Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, and Teddy Kennedy) to receive communion at the Papal Mass celebrated in DC a couple of weeks ago. Essentially, Novak is upset that these sinful politicians are allowed to receive the body and blood of Christ despite their support for abortion rights. Novak notes that the Archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, forbids pro-choice elected officials from receiving communion, and this is the "proper" course.
It's stuff like this that signals the death of the Catholic Church in America. When a church is in a period of growth, as the Catholic Church repeatedly states it is, the goal is to attract as many new members as possible. However, when prominent Catholic columnists like Bob Novak make a fuss over pro-choice Catholic politicians receiving communion, it turns people off. Now I don't really know anything about this Archbishop Burke, but it seems to me like his decision to in effect regulate communion, will have the exact opposite effect he's hoping for. The Catholic Church seems to be trapped in an effort to reshape the world around its own viewpoint. Most religions in the 21st century have taken the opposite approach, and sought to adapt in order to fit with the times. For example, Evangelicals are beginning to focus more on combatting poverty and global warming than their old culture war crusades. The Catholic Church either doesn't get this, or it stubbornly refuses to change. While a lot people believe the culprit is the former, I believe it's the latter. Look, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is not made up of a bunch of idiots, these guys know their numbers in the States, and Western Europe are shrinking. They attribute this phenomena to declining morality as opposed to the rigidity of the Church. In essence, the problem is the people, not the Church. The Catholic Church needs to understand that social norms and expectations vary over time. An institution, in this case the Catholic Church, with few exceptions, cannot hope to reassert its moral principles on the American public. Today the Church would need the cooperation of the government and the media to accomplish such a task. While certain elements of both estates are in alingment with the Church, there is not enough strength to push this agenda through.
It should also be mentioned that the sexual abuse scandal hasn't helped the Church either. Hypocrisy is poison in 21st century America. It doesn't matter how much people love you, they will adore watching you burn after you've been proven to be, or even just accused of being, a hypocrite. Plus, the cover up that ensued, eminating from the highest levels of the Vatican, only made things worse. The sex scandal killed the Catholic Church in the eyes of millions of Americans. Now Catholic priests are the butts of many a joke. Desptie being born and raised as in a Catholic family, I was never offended by these jokes. They were deserved. When you have thousands of priests abusing little boys and then launch a massive cover up operation, you deserve to be the butt of a few jokes. Bill Maher said it perfectly, the Catholic Church is the Bear Sterns of organized religion. If a day care company with thousands of employees abusing children was discovered, and the the corporate board attempted to conceal this, the perpetrating employees along with the entire board would've been thrown in prison and the company would've been sold. But if your the Catholic Church, the same rules don't apply.
Chances are the Catholic Church could gain more members or at least hault its slide by doing some of the following:
- Allow priests to marry
- Accept gay men into the priesthood
- ALLOW WOMEN TO BE PRIESTS
- The Catholic Church is nearly unparelled in its dedication to social justice, this is an invaluable asset, focusing more on this trait as oppossed to tired old culture wars would likely catch the eyes and ears of many socially conscious and impressionable people
Sadly, I think the chance of any of these things happening is pretty much zilch. An institution that fails to reorient itself in order to be fit with the times is doomed to a gradual and final exit.
