Let’s face it squarely. The Catholic Church is in crisis. The largest denomination in America is former Catholics. Numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have plummeted drastically. The priests we do have are old and ready to retire and to replace them we are importing priests from the developing world — from countries that have their own desperate need for priests. Laypeople have abandoned the church in droves. Moral scandal besets us. Financial scandal burdens us. The hierarchy are weighed down by secularism and hamstrung by bureaucrats, money men, insurance bullies and government legislation. Most of all there has been a colossal lack of faith. The beautiful Catholic traditions have been replaced with trendy, crass and shallow substitutes. Once known for sublime music we now deal in pop rock, country Western ditties and Broadway tunes. Once known for soaring architecture and breathtaking art we now have church buildings that resemble a cross between a flying saucer and an inner city parking garage.
What went wrong?
The problems are not simply Vatican 2. Vatican 2. Vatican 2. The rot is much deeper than that and the roots go back 5oo years and further. The essential problem is the clash between a stone age religion and a space age world. The roots of the Christian faith reach right back into the religion of the Hebrews which springs from the…