It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic: literally, centuries of Catholics’ hard work and sacrifice is now being squandered by our ecclesiastical paladins, on a global basis. Universities, schools, hospitals, adoption agencies, social services – in many places the entire legacy of the Church is being systematically dismantled and destroyed.
And what of the disinherited? Those now under 40?
Social media has had the effect of literally lifting up the Catholic rock – and the young generation is seeing what comes scurrying out. Here’s a small sampling of what we hear from the under-35 crowd on REGINA Magazine (with more than 50,000 Facebook Fans):
•Flimsy, liberal, heresy-spewing Catholics are a dime a dozen because Church leadership has failed time and time again to bring down the hammer on them. I've been to pro-choice parishes. I've been to parishes that didn't offer regular confessions. I've seen Protestant ministers sit next to priests by the altar in the name of ecumenism. If bishops actually did their jobs as shepherds of the church, all of this would be unthinkable.
•My generation, as a whole, is ignorant of the Faith because of weak leadership, bad catechetics, and humanistic atheism.
Many of my generation are self-indulgent libertines who don't want to be told what to do. Many of the "practicing Catholics" of my generation only attend cheap, feel good, banal masses and services that pander to emotions. Our leadership for our entire lives, save a few good bishops and priests, have strayed away from the traditional teachings and worship, and they were gun-shy when it came to moral theology.
•The bishops' idea of young people was built in the 60s and 70s and hasn't changed since. Their condescension annoys me greatly. A young person myself, kumbaya church songs like 'Shine Jesus Shine' make me cringe...
•I am afraid for the souls of the Faithful, I have read about much error being propagated by some of those who have been entrusted with great responsibility within the Church, and I feel that some of his holiness, Pope Francis', statements have been unclearly worded, and some in the Church have used to push forward their own agenda at odds with the Truth.
•Most cradle Catholics leave Catholicism because they don't know anything about it in the first place. I am a convert to the faith from Islam and atheism in a country with very low Catholic population and very few Catholic resources to learn. Yet I know way more stuff than most of them and it is worrying.
•I went to Catholic parochial and high school, and I can tell you now upon looking at the profiles of all my friends: these schools are nothing more than factories for
fallen-away Catholics.