DGS49
Diamond Member
There is a long list of reasons why the RC Church is rapidly shrinking in the U.S. The pedo-priest scandal gets a lot of attention (less in recent years), but at this late date everyone who left for that reason is long gone. Some factors are seldom mentioned and maybe ignored, but are worth citing.
Previous generations of Catholics went almost exclusively to Catholic parochial schools, being indoctrinated with Catholic beliefs, customs, and pageantry from the time they (we) were old enough to accompany our parents to Church. The explosion of property taxes to pay for public schools made many Boomer parents decide that they didn't want to pay double "tuition" for both public and parochial schools, so they put their kids in the public school system, intending to teach them Catholicism on their own - We failed miserably. The percentage of Millenials who are "as Catholic" as their Boomer parents is pathetic, and of course the subsequent generations are even less likely to be practicing Catholics.
As for the indoctrination, my personal belief is that sending a kid to a parochial grade school followed by public HS is a recipe for failure. Grade school kids are taught to believe without question, and to memorize the Faith by rote. In a good parochial HS, religion is taught in an adult fashion, confronting the questions that are common with sound Catholic apologetics. I've met hundreds of adults who just went to their neighborhood Catholic grade school, and truly have no idea about how adults maintain the faith - which is why they left.
The prevailing culture is not non-religious, it is anti-religious. Immoral lifestyles and life choices are almost universal in scripted television, and the nuclear family is seen mainly as an aberration, not to be expected in "normal" life. Religious people, when they show up at all, are universally portrayed as ignorant, stupid, and irrational. Is it any wonder that kids raised in this culture do not believe in moral clarity or any powers superior to their own ego? My truth? Gimmeafukkinbreak.
My own Catholic experience right now is with a congregation that is stable and growing, albeit with a substantial group of border criminals from south of the border. Our 10-year-old church is paid off and the parish (a consolidation of four previous parishes) is running well in the black. Church attendance is about 60% of what it was before Covid, but the balance seem to be "attending" church through Zoom (and comparable) participation. They are still tithing as before. We have more than 50 forms of "outreach" to the community and more than a thousand volunteers who do what needs doing.
Parenthetically, I go to the Villages (Florida) every Winter, and the churches down there are PACKED every Sunday. You have to get to Mass half an hour early if you want a legitimate parking space (not on the grass or whatever). Of course 95% of us are white-haired geezers, but still...
As a parent, I am an abject failure in this regard, raising a son (43) who says be believes in something, but he's not sure what. Recent conversations tell me that he feels like we pushed him to be a religious fanatic (like us?) by insisting that he come to Church with us while he was in grade school. I guess he compares his experience with the other kids in school, who rarely if ever saw the inside of any church at all.
I have no problem with being a part of a Church that is smaller that what I've known previously, but more focused. But I foresee a time when there are so few priests that they have to be nomads, all covering congregations that live in several counties at once. The Popes never go along with my suggestions on married and female priests. Pity that.
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