Before Saving Mother Earth, Let’s First Save Holy Mother Church
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In Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, the new environmental encyclical by Pope Francis, the Holy Father speaks in part to the need for good stewardship of the earth, as well as the current generations obligation to the next:
- Weekly Mass attendance has declined from 55% in 1965 to 24% in 2014
- Total priests in the U.S. decreased from 58,632 in 1965 to 38,275 in 2014
- While parish affiliated Catholics increased during this time from 46.3m to 66.6m…
- Those indetifying as former Catholic adults has increased from 7.5m in 1975 to 28.9m in 2014
- Finally, a 2008 CARA survey found that over 40 percent of Catholics questioned view the Eucharist as only a symbol of Jesus
Let me be clear: none of this is meant to dismiss what the Holy Father has presented to the Church inLaudato Si. While I have read excerpts from it, listened to analysis of it, and read others opinions about it, I have yet to read the entire encyclical myself.My point is simply this: before the U.S. bishops rush off to find new and exciting ways to incorporate this Eco-encyclical into the life of the Church, possibly they could first look to recover what the Vatican II generation failed to preserve. Is it asking too much for our bishops to be good stewards of the Church first? Shouldn’t the priority be more on saving souls and less on saving trees? The simple fact is this: a generation of the faithful (bishops, priests and laity) were given a faith that filled pews, rectories, convents and confessionals. A generation of Catholics were given a liturgy that had organically developed over 2000 years, largely unchanged for 1400 years in the Roman Rite, one replete with an aura of the sacred and beautiful sanctuaries that lifted our eyes and our hearts heavenward. This same generation was given Catholic schools that were Catholic, staffed by religious sisters and brothers, who taught the Catholic faith to Catholic children. As the CARA data confirms, the ecclesial environmental degradation of the last fifty years has been staggering. Truth, beauty and goodness were replaced with ambiguity, minimalism and indifferentism. We have become, as Dietrich Von Hildebrand declared decades ago, a “devastated vineyard.” Before we look to heal “Mother Earth”, shouldn’t we first look to heal Holy Mother Church?
PRIJEVOD NA HRVATSKI
U Laudato Si, novoj papinoj enciklici o okolišu, Sveti Otac govori o potrebi dobrog upravljanja zemljom, kao i obvezi današnje generacije prema sljedećem:
“Zamisao o zajedničkom dobru također se proteže na buduće generacije. Kriza vjereje bolno pokazala posljedica zanemarivanja naše zajedničke sudbine, iz koje ne možemo isključiti one koji dolaze poslije nas … Kada počnemo razmišljati o tome kakvu ćemo vjeru ostaviti budućim generacijama, gledamo na stvari drugačije; shvaćamo da je vjera dar koji smo slobodno dobili i moramo ga dijeliti s drugima. Budući da nam je vjera dana, više ne možemo promatrati stvarnost na čisto utilitaran način … međugeneracijska solidarnosti nije opcija, nego temeljno pitanje pravednosti, jer vjera koju smo primili također pripada onima koji će nas naslijediti … “
U gore navedenom odlomku namjerno smo zamijenili riječ zemlja s vjerom.
Poanta je jednostavna: prije nego što biskupi odjure pronaći nove i uzbudljive načine kako bi ugradili novu eko-encikliku u život Crkve, mogli bi također razmisliti o obnavljanju onoga što prethodne generacije nisu uspjele sačuvati. Tražimo li previše ako želimo da naši biskupi prvo budu dobri upravitelji same Crkve? Ne bi li prioritet trebao biti spašavanje duša, a manje spašavanje stabala?Ovo su jednostavne činjenice: generacije vjernika (biskupi, svećenici i laici) su naslijedile vjeru koja je punila crkvene klupe, župe, samostane i ispovjedaonice. Generacije katolike su naslijedile liturgiju koja se organski razvijala više od 2000 godina, uglavnom nepromijenjena u zadnjih 1400 godina, prepuna svetih i lijepih svetišta koja su nam uzdizala oči i srca prema nebu.Istina, ljepota i dobrota su zamijenjene s dvosmislenošću, minimalizmom i ravnodušnošću. Postali smo kako je Dietrich von Hildebrand izjavio “devastirani vinograd“. Prije nego što počnemo liječiti “Majku Zemlju” zar ne bismo prvo trebali liječiti Svetu Majku Crkvu?
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