• About

Saint Louis Catholic

~ Unabashedly Catholic News and Views

Saint Louis Catholic

Daily Archives: April 7, 2011

Finding a Cure: Catholic Schools and the Alzheimer’s Analogy

07 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by thetimman in Faith Matters, General Catholic News/Opinion, Local Catholic News

≈ 8 Comments

I have been postponing writing my thoughts on the new Archdiocesan school plan until I could think it over for a long time, and talk with others about it.  Lots of people are interested in the plan, and I have heard some really great opinions.  I want to support the effort of the Archbishop to address and overcome the tough future facing Catholic schools.  I certainly pray the effort succeeds.

So, I want to be clear that my post today is not about shooting holes in the plan, but is just my attempt to give my own take, with which some will agree and some will not.  I hope to spark a discussion that will enlighten us who engage in it and (who knows?) may give those tasked with the plan help in implementing and improving it. 

Thus, I can sum-up my analysis of the Pastoral Letter by saying this: it is obviously better than nothing, and represents a good start to finding a solution– but it may only be able to treat the symptoms, not the cause. Nobody should be surprised when we still have problems in the future. Everything we do is like trying to remind an Alzheimer’s patient what day it is; the problem is that the overall loss of memory cannot be compensated for by constant reminders.

The skyrocketing costs of Catholic education cannot be compensated for by tuition assistance programs or by enhancing curricula to make Catholic schools more appealing, because the trend in Catholic parenting is firmly set in motion. The bottom line is this: there is a decreasing population of practicing Catholics, an increasing number of “semi-practicing” or non-practicing Catholics, and more importantly, low birthrates among Catholics.

But even this is still not the root cause.

The real cause is the secularization of the laity, clergy, and religious. This has its side effects — doctrinal confusion, moral relativism, lack of priestly and religious identity, decreasing vocations, an acceptance of a culture of contraception, and the abandonment of a sacramental lifestyle. It erases our Catholicity like an Alzheimer’s patient loses memory, while leaving the “empty” body to care for but only with ever increasing difficulty.

I say it again:  the secularization of the laity, clergy and religious has erased our Catholicity like an Alzheimer’s patient loses memory, while leaving the shell of the body to care for only with great difficulty.  It needs the constant reminders and a constant addressing of mere symptoms, all the while we seek against temporal hope for a cure for the cause of it all.

Due to secularization, we already know there is a crisis in Catholic sacramental marriage in all its parts as it is lived, from disregard for the sacredness of conjugal love to a day-by-day family life that is indistinguishable from non-believers; this is leading to Catholic education’s foreseeable extinction.

The trend can be slowed but not turned around by introducing programs and the new initiative may succeed in slowing the trends. And by the way, the mangling of the faith and liturgy in the aftermath of Vatican II is not the only problem, as the inevitable secularization would have happened anyway.  By saying this, I do not (as some do) let the manglers off the hook and imagine that the changes did not do incalculable damage that would not have been done anyway.  Far from it.  I think that the ancient liturgy would have been a much more effective bulwark against the tide of secularism, perhaps if not stopping it cold at least greatly limiting the damage so that the solution could be sought much earlier and with more hope of success.  Yet in the Church’s history there have indeed been times when secularization made inroads despite the presence of the Mass of All Ages.

At certain times, only saints like Louis de Montfort or Hildebrand (Pope St. Gregory VII) could change the local trends.

Faithfulness is the answer, not a bureaucratic overhaul.  Unfortunately, bishops and pastors deal primarily in bureaucracies all week and only get to preach faithfulness on Sundays. But that is not enough time and there are no easy answers. Promotion of the sacraments helps. The Traditional Mass can change hearts, but again, more is needed, for the ancient Mass has seen its share of unfaithful times and places.

As I posted earlier, this liturgy, when combined with the use of the Baltimore Catechism, would stand as a clear expression of the Faith to students, faculty, parents, priests and faithful alike, but like the seed scattered in the Parable, today there is a lot of rocky soil out there and little to chance for it to take root.

So, I applaud the Archbishop’s school plan as a serious step to addressing the issues.  But again, there are no easy answers to the root problem, a problem that no amount of mere marketing can address.

We really need a saint to show us what Faithfulness looks like and who inspires others to be Faithful, too.

Unabashedly Catholic News and Views

This site is dedicated to our Blessed Mother, and I ask for her maternal help and protection.
cestello Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis, et timoris, et agnitionis, et sanctae spei. In me gratia omnis viae et veritatis: in me omnis spes vitae et virtutis.

Blogroll

  • Archdiocese of Saint Louis
  • Barnhardt
  • Bongino Report
  • Canon 212
  • Catholic Movie Guy
  • Children of God for Life
  • Fisheaters
  • Fr. Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment
  • Gab Trends
  • Ignatius His Conclave
  • Latin Vulgate/English Translation Site
  • Rorate Caeli
  • Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
  • STLToday
  • Stumbling Block
  • The Badger Catholic
  • The Remnant
  • Thesaurus Precum Latinarum

Recent Comments

thetimman on Strike Another Match, Go Start…
SJ3 on Strike Another Match, Go Start…
thetimman on Strike Another Match, Go Start…
Mjh on Strike Another Match, Go Start…
thetimman on Strike Another Match, Go Start…

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 81 other followers

Recent Posts

  • Strike Another Match, Go Start Anew
  • Breaking: Approved Content Now Available
  • 2021, Fatima, and Right Reason
  • The Truth Indeed
  • Katie Hopkins Posting from D.C.

Blogs I Follow

  • TxTradCatholic
  • Catholic Movie Guy
  • actions speak louder
  • Local Travel Junkie
  • The Party's Over
  • Saint Louis Catholic
  • WordPress.com

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007

Top Posts

  • Strike Another Match, Go Start Anew
  • 2021, Fatima, and Right Reason
  • Katie Hopkins Posting from D.C.
  • Breaking: Approved Content Now Available
  • Epiphanies
  • Truth Exists and Will Triumph
  • Archbishop Carlson Names Canon Michael K. Wiener as Archiepiscopal Delegate for the Implementation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum
  • Alice von Hildebrand and Christopher West
  • Jesuit Father John Horn Named New Rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
  • “Auspice, Maria!”

Blog Stats (add 2,240,581 from blogspot, 2007-18)

  • 186,886 hits
April 2011
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« Mar   May »

“YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE HAPPY; YOU WHO REMAIN WITHIN THE CHURCH BY YOUR FAITH, WHO HOLD FIRMLY TO THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE FAITH WHICH HAS COME DOWN TO YOU FROM APOSTOLIC TRADITION. AND IF AN EXECRABLE JEALOUSY HAS TRIED TO SHAKE IT ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS, IT HAS NOT SUCCEEDED. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE BROKEN AWAY FROM IT IN THE PRESENT CRISIS. NO ONE, EVER, WILL PREVAIL AGAINST YOUR FAITH, BELOVED BROTHERS. AND WE BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL GIVE US OUR CHURCHES BACK SOME DAY.”

— ST. ATHANASIUS

Blog at WordPress.com.

TxTradCatholic

Catholic Movie Guy

Because Catholics Like Movies Too

actions speak louder

a blog stating actions speak more loudly than words. go figure.

Local Travel Junkie

Addicted to travel, not the tour groups.

The Party's Over

The Blog with Less and Less to Say

Saint Louis Catholic

Unabashedly Catholic News and Views

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is the best place for your personal blog or business site.