As someone who converted in college I feel away a few years after graduation and have been struggling sense. As a convert you fall in love and see how beautiful the ideal of the Church is. But in reality it seems like much of the Church can’t stand being the Church. It’s a dissonance that’s hard to reconcile.
"Stand & Deliver" !! I liked the Math Teacher's Clarion Call to the kids,a street Spanish term"Gano"- ya gotta wanna!!! The"actor" was Edward James Olmos... Great Chat, Gentlemen,btw!!
A recent insight for me on love/mass from Bishop Barron's study of the Mass is Pope Benedict's comment from Lent 2007 '..God's love in which Eros & Agape, far from being opposed enlighten each other.'
Top reasons I encounter are first that people feel that religion is entirely irrelevant and unnecessary and completely undesirable. To them it is like putting on chains that some men came up with in some unfathomably distant past that could not possibly be relevant to them. They think perhaps there are some good moral teachings, but nothing that wasn't already self-evident. Second top reason is they feel unwelcomed due to their situation. Due to things like divorce folks feel they didn't do anything wrong and they don't need to explain their lives to a stranger to be absolved of something they felt they had to do. And even if they did go through that, they feel that they would be never accepted due to their past. Third top reason is the loss of credibility of the Church due to scandal/corruption (they have no authority to stand on due to hypocrisy). These three reasons keep people from even looking at the Church long enough to see the worldliness or banality of the average parish. I've been trying to reevangelize my Irish and Italian catholic family who have all fallen away, but with very limited success due to these issues.
On the power of being hit by a short 'inconsequential' verse. For the first half of my 85 years I struggled to extract a meaning from 'seeing Christ in everyone you meet' until I heard a rabbi debating with a priest about Jesus teaching. A propos of 'love your neighbour' as standard Jewish teaching he related it to Genesis 5:1 'This is the book of the generations of Adam'
This conservation is going nowhere. Most people are damaged; the devout have always been a somewhat small number. Get over it. Yes cast the nets wide, but your expectations are absurd.
Dr. Chapp - I understand the need for shorthand - but please don't succumb to "Right Wing" and probably not even "Conservative". These are terms the secular media has spent considerable effort poisoning. Using these terms will play into right into their hand and people who are now triggered (albeit wrongly) to despise these words will stop listening to your points.
As someone who converted in college I feel away a few years after graduation and have been struggling sense. As a convert you fall in love and see how beautiful the ideal of the Church is. But in reality it seems like much of the Church can’t stand being the Church. It’s a dissonance that’s hard to reconcile.
"Stand & Deliver" !! I liked the Math Teacher's Clarion Call to the kids,a street Spanish term"Gano"- ya gotta wanna!!! The"actor" was Edward James Olmos... Great Chat, Gentlemen,btw!!
A recent insight for me on love/mass from Bishop Barron's study of the Mass is Pope Benedict's comment from Lent 2007 '..God's love in which Eros & Agape, far from being opposed enlighten each other.'
Stand and Deliver! That was the movie. Great movie based on a true story!
Every day I'm asked questions and say "I don't know but we can look it up"
Top reasons I encounter are first that people feel that religion is entirely irrelevant and unnecessary and completely undesirable. To them it is like putting on chains that some men came up with in some unfathomably distant past that could not possibly be relevant to them. They think perhaps there are some good moral teachings, but nothing that wasn't already self-evident.
Second top reason is they feel unwelcomed due to their situation. Due to things like divorce folks feel they didn't do anything wrong and they don't need to explain their lives to a stranger to be absolved of something they felt they had to do. And even if they did go through that, they feel that they would be never accepted due to their past.
Third top reason is the loss of credibility of the Church due to scandal/corruption (they have no authority to stand on due to hypocrisy).
These three reasons keep people from even looking at the Church long enough to see the worldliness or banality of the average parish.
I've been trying to reevangelize my Irish and Italian catholic family who have all fallen away, but with very limited success due to these issues.
On the power of being hit by a short 'inconsequential' verse. For the first half of my 85 years I struggled to extract a meaning from 'seeing Christ in everyone you meet' until I heard a rabbi debating with a priest about Jesus teaching. A propos of 'love your neighbour' as standard Jewish teaching he related it to Genesis 5:1 'This is the book of the generations of Adam'
This is timely as we brace for another rush for the exits following Rome’s latest own-goal.
This conservation is going nowhere. Most people are damaged; the devout have always been a somewhat small number. Get over it. Yes cast the nets wide, but your expectations are absurd.
Dr. Chapp - I understand the need for shorthand - but please don't succumb to "Right Wing" and probably not even "Conservative". These are terms the secular media has spent considerable effort poisoning. Using these terms will play into right into their hand and people who are now triggered (albeit wrongly) to despise these words will stop listening to your points.
he immediately acknowledges the issues with the terms right after he uses it. calm down.
Same with liberal or left wing