Saturday, August 20, 2011

Evangelical Catholics and WYD

John Allen has an interesting piece on WYD and what he calls `Evangelical Catholicism`. It may be of interest to those who are puzzled by why younger Catholics and especially seminarians appear to be what they call `conservative`. He defines it thus

Evangelical Catholicism” is a term being used to capture the Catholic version of a 21st century politics of identity, reflecting the long-term historical transition in the West from Christianity as a culture-shaping majority to Christianity as a subculture, albeit a large and influential one. I define Evangelical Catholicism in terms of three pillars:

A strong defense of traditional Catholic identity, meaning attachment to classic markers of Catholic thought (doctrinal orthodoxy) and Catholic practice (liturgical tradition, devotional life, and authority).
Robust public proclamation of Catholic teaching, with the accent on Catholicism’s mission ad extra, transforming the culture in light of the Gospel, rather than ad intra, on internal church reform.
Faith seen as a matter of personal choice rather than cultural inheritance, which among other things implies that in a highly secular culture, Catholic identity can never be taken for granted. It always has to be proven, defended, and made manifest.

On the other hand I don`t see much evidence of the `Evangelical Catholicism` here among the young in Hexham and Newcastle. The older cultural model seems to be what we do. This was what I found dispiriting about the recent Come Home Sunday we had: the emphasis was on getting Catholics to come back to church simply because it was their cultural inheritance without emphasis on having to believe anything in particular. I remember we used to have an active Youth 2000 group but I`ve not heard much about them in recent years. I hope we do have some Evangelical Catholics among our young but this part of the world has not really been at the cutting edge of Catholic life since the death of Bede in 735.

4 comments:

Marianne said...

Father, in my experience as a catechetical co-ordinator and mother of two young adults who have returned to the Church in the last few years may I suggest that belonging to one of the new movements produces the kind of fruit you are looking for. Both my daughters are at World Youth Day, and both are involved in joy filled youth groups (Youth 2000, Emmanuel Community). They are always on the lookout to share their faith- not argue or impose it. One daughter is now a Youth Worker and aims to provide young people with a true understanding of what it means to be a Catholic. Bishop Mark Davies is very much supporting 'evangelical Catholic' events and groups like Youth 2000, Evangelium etc. He is going to the Youth 2000 Retreat at Walsingham next week and celebrated Holy Mass at the recent Evangelium Conference. In my parish we are blessed to have a Youth Worker who is an 'evangelical Catholic' and belongs to one of the movements, she and I work closely together in Youth initiatives. She has taken 20 young people to WYD. The process of getting the young to come to our initiatives is slow but steady, our groups are growing and prayer, particularly Eucharistic Adoration, catechesis and good social activities are what we offer.

Anonymous said...

'Evangelical' tends to have a perjorative association in orthodox Catholic circles - summoning up images of HTB and the Alpha course. While we should obviously be trying to convert the heathen , it would seem sensible to go first to the lost tribe of Israel and try to get lapsed Catholics to return to the practice of their faith.

Crouchback said...

Yes Father, I to have been thinking about this....how's this for a starter...

Yesterday I was at mass in Carlisle, I guess I was the second youngest person there, there was one woman who looked mid 30's - 40's....the rest were around half a dozen old men and 24 old women.

After mass I e-mailed Lancaster cathedral saying that Cardinal Heenan's famous statement about the New Mass was wrong on two counts. The Cardinal predicted that the New Mass would lead to the churches being filled with old women and children....even the children have deserted and 24 old women is hardly filling is it...???

The thought that came to me during mass was that if...IF... the traditional mass was to be revived we would need these old women to carry the message back to their middle aged sons and daughters that the mass had changed back to a real catholic mass.....and the embarrassing protestant touchy feely so called mass had been binned.....so why not give it a chance what have you got to loose...they might even learn something to their benefit if they give it a chance and don't turn their backs on the mass after 5 minutes.

But can you see our present Bishops and priests putting fire in the bellies of these old women....to save society before it's too late...??

No..??.. neither can I

The church in this country is a disgrace, everyone can see that the 60's experiment has failed utterly....but not one of the Bishops has the guts to do what is needed the re-birth of the Traditional Mass.

I've personally stopped Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop Nichols, and two Lancaster Bishops in the street at Lourdes over the last few years.....but I've been wasting my breath....they are lost in the past, a dreamland where nothing works.

What a disaster.

Crouchback said...

Yes Father, I to have been thinking about this....how's this for a starter...

Yesterday I was at mass in Carlisle, I guess I was the second youngest person there, there was one woman who looked mid 30's - 40's....the rest were around half a dozen old men and 24 old women.

After mass I e-mailed Lancaster cathedral saying that Cardinal Heenan's famous statement about the New Mass was wrong on two counts. The Cardinal predicted that the New Mass would lead to the churches being filled with old women and children....even the children have deserted and 24 old women is hardly filling is it...???

The thought that came to me during mass was that if...IF... the traditional mass was to be revived we would need these old women to carry the message back to their middle aged sons and daughters that the mass had changed back to a real catholic mass.....and the embarrassing protestant touchy feely so called mass had been binned.....so why not give it a chance what have you got to loose...they might even learn something to their benefit if they give it a chance and don't turn their backs on the mass after 5 minutes.

But can you see our present Bishops and priests putting fire in the bellies of these old women....to save society before it's too late...??

No..??.. neither can I

The church in this country is a disgrace, everyone can see that the 60's experiment has failed utterly....but not one of the Bishops has the guts to do what is needed the re-birth of the Traditional Mass.

I've personally stopped Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop Nichols, and two Lancaster Bishops in the street at Lourdes over the last few years.....but I've been wasting my breath....they are lost in the past, a dreamland where nothing works.

What a disaster.