Great WSJ article re: growth in Seminaries

Re: Great WSJ article re: growth in Seminaries

• lalaith50 member

  

  May 2012

  I often wonder when I hear things like, "the traditionalists are winning!" if that's really true, since I am fully aware that I live in a bit of a Catholic "bubble," so most of my news sources and conversations come from that! (Most of my friends are devout Catholics, and pretty much all are at least Christian; I even work for the Church!)

  So, it's nice to hear that confirmed in a secular source!  :-D

  

  Report0 Reply
• newlyseliski member

  

  May 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_great-wsj-article-re-growth-in-seminaries?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:5625ab13-b68a-42ae-acd4-e116eabef68bPost:841c29d7-64d6-41da-b960-b8a863f1f98f">Re: Great WSJ article re: growth in Seminaries</a>:
  [QUOTE]I often wonder when I hear things like, "the traditionalists are winning!" if that's really  true, since I am fully aware that I live in a bit of a Catholic "bubble," so most of my news sources and conversations come from that! (Most of my friends are devout Catholics, and pretty much all are at least Christian; I even work for the Church!) So, it's nice to hear that confirmed in a secular source!  :-D
  Posted by lalaith50[/QUOTE]
  
  <div>That gladdens me... but worries me, sometimes, too, if situations like <a href="http://redcardigan.blogspot.com/2012/05/platteville-again.html" rel="nofollow"><u><font color="#339966">this</font></u></a> arise where so-called traditionalists swoop into a parish with a lot of liturgical and catechetical challenges and aren't pastoral and measured in their approach to correction.  I know a lot of well-balanced seminarians... but I also worry about a few that tend to approach evangelization in a more "slash and burn" sort of way.  I hate to see a parish crumble if they turn into battlegrounds...</div>

  Report0 Reply
• caitriona87 member

  

  May 2012

  It is hard to tell from that blog post & comments exactly how things really are at that particular church, but in my experience (much further south) many parishes have been left in such ruin by modernist priests, and the people become so accustomed to it, that there is no way back to orthodoxy except a painful one. For one small example, a new pastor in my old town replaced this ugly, faceless, unidentifiable "Risen Christ" statue above the altar with a proper crucifix, and they reacted as if he had bombed the church...

  Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml

  Report0 Reply
• bibliophile2010 member

  

  May 2012

  I think that any time new leadership comes in with a slash and burn mentality, it's hard on the led, either in the parish setting or elsewhere. Change is hard, but it can be handled gently.
  
  My parish has undergone a lot of change in the last 2 years under new leadership, but I feel like it has been gradual, rather than a total upending of what the faithful knew. I'm sure in another couple of years, things will look very different still, but it is not being pushed to happen tomorrow. I see the faithful following suit. For example, I'm seeing a lot more people dressing up for mass, instead of coming in whatever jeans/shorts/t-shirts/tank-tops/etc. that they would be wearing otherwise. Not a word on appropriate dress has been issued from the pulpit, though. It's just the overall change in climate.
  
  Did we lose some parishoners? Sure. Some are attending other "liberal" parishes. Some have left the faith. But on Sundays, I still see lots and lots of the faces I've seen for years (and plenty of new ones, too). I'm sure it's not a popular opinion, but I think the parish is stronger now than it was before, and will be even stronger in the days to come.

  

  Report0 Reply
• newlyseliski member

  

  May 2012

  I think you guys are definitely right that it depends as much on the parish as on the approach by the priests!  My parents' parish came back to orthodoxy very slowly and there was another parish that was pretty far gone where they replaced the pastor and a lot of the parishioners up and left to create their own church outside the authority of the diocese.  The other parish would have been challenging to make more gradual changes to, though, because they were so entrenched in dissent.

  Report0 Reply