Should the Church follow society, or should society follow the Church?

James N. writes:

This Newsweek / Washington Post article caught my eye over the weekend. It struck me at first as typical drivel.

I read it twice, and this paragraph stood out:

The problem goes deeper than difficult doctrines or antiquated structures, problematic though these may sometimes be. Our children and grandchildren are abandoning the faith because they perceive—rightly—that its demands are at fundamental variance with the lives we have prepared them to lead. We have raised them to seek lives characterized by material comfort, sexual fulfillment, and freedom from any obligations that they have not personally chosen. Should it surprise us that they fail to take seriously our claims to follow one who embraced poverty, chastity, and obedience to the will of God?

Of course, the reason I am sending this to you is that the author does not consider the obvious: It’s not the survival of the Church that’s in question, it’s the survival of nations which are populated by people who are prepared only to lead lives “characterized by material comfort, sexual fulfillment, and freedom from any obligations that they have not personally chosen.

It’s MUCH more likely that a population obsessed with material comfort and sexual fulfillment, and freed of any obligations exterior to the self, will disappear, than it is that Christ’s Church will do so.

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James P. writes:

“Our children and grandchildren are abandoning the faith because they perceive—rightl—that its demands are at fundamental variance with the lives we have prepared them to lead. We have raised them to seek lives characterized by material comfort, sexual fulfillment, and freedom from any obligations that they have not personally chosen.”

Who is “we”? I am certainly not raising my children to seek lives with those characteristics! Is that what “award winning Catholic writer” J. Peter Nixon is doing? If the demands of the Church are at fundamental variance with the depraved, materialistic values of liberal society, that is a good thing that should be applauded, not a bad thing we should strive to change.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 26, 2010 09:18 AM | Send