Decline in Hispanic Catholics a ‘direct challenge’ to the Church in the US
We have forgotten our pre-Vatican II history or it is not being made known for ideological reasons.
For the most part, Catholicism in both South, Central and North America was quite strong prior to the Second Vatican Council.
When it came to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Mass was in Latin and for the most part celebrated the same way in every country. There may have been some vernacular hymns and certainly the homily was in the vernacular.
Inculturation came in the form of popular devotions. These were allowed in the vernacular and borrowed heavily from the culture of the peoples. Mexican and Filipino popular devotions differ greatly from Anglo-North American popular devotions of this period.
After Vatican II, there was a loss of the cohesiveness of what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered to unite culture rather than divide.
Yes, it was true, especially in the northeast, for ethnic parishes to develop in close proximity to each other. But the Mass was in Latin and popular devotions of the culture of the people.
Today, though, we try to set up “ethnic” parishes in the same parish and its facilities thus dividing what could have been united parishes liturgically in term of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into Balkanized subgroups of various Mass times.
Thus the Mass no longer unites but divides parishes with a variety of ethnic realities. The loss of popular devotions forces inculturation onto the Mass further fragmenting parishes.
For example, my parish is beginning to gain quite a number of Hispanics of Mexican origin. There is a desire now to add a Sunday Spanish Mass. But when I see our current Masses in English filled with a variety of ethnic peoples, not just Spanish, but from African, Europe and other continents, I would hate to start segregating our parish according the language groups.
If only we had maintained the Latin Mass and really focused on popular devotions as the means to address inculturation.
Maybe we would not be losing so many of our Hispanics to Protestantism which we have tried to mimick in the last 50 years.
11 comments:
"Will we see even bigger declines in Catholicism?"
Of course Father. As a newly confirmed young man, I was enlightened by the recent videos of the events at the Vatican. I had thought that ordination gave priests and bishops some kind of ability to bless and perform sacraments. The videos show our holy Francis and bishops being blessed by shaman and medicine men. This has not merely happened once, I see it again and again. Also, our holy Francis said that he visits witch doctors when sick.
After learning where the REAL sacred power lies, I am going to find my own medicine man. Shouldn't everybody? I haven't heard any priests saying anything that contradicts what our holy Father is doing and saying.
I guess those "Mariachi Masses" are not packing them in!
When in Chicago, I attend Mass at a parish which is about 50/50 Hispanic and Anglo. It is a pleasure to attend the EF there where we participate in Mass using our common language. The Mass is attended by families with lots of children. Shows that St. John XXIII was correct in stating in Veterum Sapientia that "Latin is the language which joins the Church of today." Too bad the leftists in the Church did not heed his words.
The Orthodox would take great exception, and rightly so, to the suggestion that synodality is based on Protestantism. "AS CATHOLIC IDENTITY AND COHESIVENESS ARE ERODED BY THE RETURN OF THE 1970’S SPIRIT OF VATICAN II PLACED ON STEROIDS BY SYNODALITY, WILL WE SEE EVEN BIGGER DECLINES IN CATHOLICISM TO MATCH WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LIBERAL PROTESTANTISM WHICH SYNODALITY IS BASED UPON?"
Synodality has been with the Church from the beginning, and the practice of such pre-dates the establishment of the Bishop of Rome as the "final" authority for all matters ecclesial.
Bobbie, if you attend a Protestant church service, the minister may call a blessing down upon the congregation. Or if you visit a Hindu temple in the Chicago area, you might be offered a blessing by one of the temple priests. There is no harm in this, and it is no indication that you are rejecting the role of Catholic priests in blessing others.
The Holy Father has not said that he visits witch doctors when he is ill. Reports indicate he was jesting. ".. after joking that it is witchcraft which gives him all his wrecking-ball energy."
"Loud laughter accompanied the joke Francis made in answer to a question posed to him by the journalist Cristiana Caricato of TV2000, who, greeting him, asked him what the doctor gives him to be able to face such long journeys. “We want to know what the doctor gives you so that we can take it too, we who struggle just as you do” — a reference to Bergoglio’s stamina during these trips. “But I do not go to the doctor, I go to the witch!”, he said, laughing heartily.
(Andrea Tornielli, “Che medicine prendo? Vado dalla strega!”, Vatican Insider, Jan. 15, 2018; our translation.)
"Of course, Francis said this as a joke, that much is clear." https://novusordowatch.org/2018/01/francis-doctor-witch/
"Latin is the language which joins the Church of today>"
Uh, maybe not in the Eastern Catholic Churches. The Lord spoke Aramaic and the New Testament was written in Greek. So why don't we use either way as our "universal langauge."?
The decline in Hispanic Catholics may be in part due to all the controversies to our South over liberation theology, land battles, differences between upper classes and the poor. Clergy siding with one side over another.
The Eastern Orthodox can live with different languages and so can we.
Is the blessing by hindhu, buddhist, wiccan, etc REAL anonymous?
That is, are there gods, or goddesses, or spirit, that actually bestow some type of 'blessing' through the officiant? Or are you suggesting that theirs are real, but the Catholic ones are? Or perhaps you are saying that they are both the same. I sure don't know based upon your apparent indifference to religious faith.
You seem to be giving Bobbie the idea that it doesn't matter where he goes for a blessing. This is of course what he has come to believe, but I dont think that this is the Catholic way of thinking.
Seems like the rumors are true - you are a priest.
"Is the blessing by hindhu, buddhist, wiccan, etc REAL anonymous"?
I suspect that by "real," you mean is it a blessing from a Catholic priest, or maybe an Orthodox priest, or, maybe in your most free-thinking moments, a Protestant minister.
If you were blessed by a rabbi who, in your estimation, does not worship a "real" God since, of course, God is Trinity and no rabbi worth his or her salt would profess belief in a Trinity, would that be a "real" blessing?
Or maybe your atheist neighbor, knowing your are headed for the ER to re-attach a severed arm suffered in a chain saw accident, says, "I'll be thinking of you and wishing you all the best!", are you going to say "Well, those good wishes aren't "real" since atheists don't have any sense of what is real of unreal, and I know this since this neighbor is an atheist and rejects the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing God who offers us adoption through Baptism, salvation through Jesus, and membership in the Church which can lead, if I am found worthy, to the Beatific Vision in the life to come?"
Many people say to me each day "Have a blessed day." Is that blessing only valid if these people believe in the Trinity. I hope not, and I appreciate their positive message and kindness and don't worry about investigating their religious pedigrees.
You speak often of the "Balkanization" of parishes.
Isn't that precisely what is going on when one small sub-group of Catholics in a parish, with the assistance of the pastor, separate themselves into the EF "authentic" Mass crowd? Hmmm...?
If it's good enough for the traditionalists, why isn't it good enough for those who prefer a Mass celebrated in Spanish?
Anon @ 10:44, Latin is the language that unites the Roman Rite of the west. If you wish to attend a Catholic rite in Aramaic, you need to attend Mass at a Maronite Rite Catholic Church.
Carol H. Latin does not unite the Roman Rite anymore than we would be united if it were decreed that Russian or French or Japanese should be used exclusively in the liturgies of the Church.
I don't wish to attend mass in Aramaic since I would prefer to understand the prayers of the mass and I don't understand Aramaic.
And.... "Having developed from the ancient traditions of Antioch, the Qurbono (proper name for Mass in the Maronite Rite) was for centuries celebrated in Syriac, an Aramaic language related to the language of Jesus. Though some prayers are still said in Syriac, today most of the liturgy in the Middle East is celebrated in Arabic, the first language of almost all Maronites there. In the diaspora, the local vernacular – English, Portuguese, French or Spanish – replaces Arabic. The liturgy was revised in 1992, with the aim of undoing some of the Latinization of liturgical practice that had come into force after the Council of Trent."
So if I were to attend a Maronite Mass it is highly unlikely that I would encounter much, if any, Aramaic.
Anonymous said..."Carol H. Latin does not unite the Roman Rite anymore than we would be united if it were decreed that Russian or French or Japanese should be used exclusively in the liturgies of the Church."
This comment flies in the face of no less than 1500 years of history. Latin united the Roman Rite for the overwhelming majority of the Church's existence.
To say that it cannot continue to do so is absurd.
I see that papalotors of PF are now denying St. John XXIII the deference his statements deserves. No surprise, they are lefties and facts, logic and decency have no place in their world
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