Catholics Come Home

Good idea, but “We are Catholic”? Come on! Just what we need, encourgament to the that crowd.

jmm is exactly right. While it’s good to keep an open door, this campaign is going to bring in more of the kind of people you orthodox guys already don’t want in the Church.

Better to spend your money publicizing exactly what you do believe and building from a base of true believers. Also, if you’re serious about rebuilding the Church, you need to clean out the ranks of those with religious vocations. As far as I can tell a large number of the men and most of the women do not believe much of the party line and their differences with it are not minor ones.

I call your attention to Fr Peter Kennedy in Brisbane, Australia. An old RAN chaplin, he built up the largest and most active parish in the region out of a largely abandoned Church in a “bad” area, attracting educated young urban professionals, traditional working class whites and aboriginals in equal numbers. My understanding is that this is quite unusual in Queensland. All of what he did, was no different than the kinds of activities commonly seen in “progressive” American Catholic outreach since the late Sixties. When the local diocese clamped down on him, he dug his heels in. He eventually was sacked and locked out of his church.

Now there is schism, his still growing congregation meets in a local union hall, televised throughout the country, while down the street, the old church is derelict. Outreach only works if you have a product the public sees value in. Any good salesman will tell you that.

Most of the Catholic World was converted at the tip of a lance, just like the one that pierced side of the Savior and most of those converted were happy with the traditional spirituality of their cultures. Those days are gone.

I’m not suggesting that Catholicism compromise, just pointing out that the playing field of evangelization is now level. Maybe it’s better if you concentrate on proven techniques, full rice bowls in Africa and kidnapping orphans on the mean streets of Calcutta.

Reddog, as an Australian, I feel that I should clarify a few points on the Peter Kennedy issue. Unfortunately, the reports in the media made it seem that his efforts in reaching out to the community was the reason for his excommunication, but this was not the case. Among other things Kennedy took part (and encouraged) blatant liturgical abuse and appeared on television numerous times denying the divinity of Christ (plus a good many other Christian doctrines.) While his work with the poor and marginalised is admirable, the Church should never be used as a means to an end.