Post by sonofbarcelonabob on Jul 26, 2004 23:13:31 GMT -5
Agent said:
The reason the Catholic Church can survive today is because it (quietly) allows a range of beliefs, while focusing on the big picture. If it starts taking a hard line on things, it is going to be in trouble. Baptists and other hard line protestant churches are splintering all the time, and it is because of this reason. They set the rules and if you don't accept them, you don't stay. But Catholics allow far more diversity (sometimes to a fault - note that the RCC never even excommunicated Hitler, for pete's sake).
Interestingly, we studied this issue of Catholicism in my "Religions of the World" class in college 10 years ago. The question was, will the catholic church survive? It gave all these examples of issues that catholics have a wide range of opinions about. Most of the non-catholics thought it was going to be dead in 10 - 20 years given all the division, which is definately found. However, I was the only catholic in the group and I said it's not going to be an issue as long as the church remains focused on the big picture. It's not the details of the rules that make Catholics catholic.
Now, that being said, I think the church is going to have to make some changes to survive a long time. For one, the loss of the clergy is really catching up; can they really keep priests serving three separate parishes at once, which is currently happening? How do they plan to address that problem? Recruit priests in poor countries with the opportunity to get out? That's one approach they are using now (getting priests from Africa). There are other options, too, but the church is unwilling to consider them.
How is the next generation going to respond to a church that does not have enough clergy to serve them?
I think another reason the Catholic Church continues to survive is that it is a comparatively less-high-pressure-sell than alot of the Fundamentalist Christian chruches that are popping up all over the country. The need to Evangelize and get people into these independent churches is extremely high, whereas the Catholic Church went through that centuries ago.
I was surprised by the number of adults who continue to go through RCIA each year and become members of the Catholic faith. Some did it because of their spouses, while others came seemingly out of the blue.
I will say one thing, though. I have been attacked numerous times by these Jesus-freak Fundamentalists just because I am a Catholic. Highly irritating. So now I carry in my head counter-arguments for just about everything they can throw at me. LOL.
