...a warm welcome, and everyone v. friendly and courteous, pupils smart in their uniforms, a pleasant sense of purpose around the place. But...a rather depressing experience in the RE group I addressed: the only thing, really virtually the ONLY thing the pupils seem to know or understand about the Catholic faith is that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, and IVF! A glance at the RE work on display revealed that they had been studying something of the Trinity, and the Incarnation, and the Mass, and there were some posters showing glowing candles, altars, incense...but none of this seems to have stuck. Nor did they seem to know much about the Church's work for the poor, for the imprisoned, the hungry, refugees. They just get one shouted message from the mainstream mass media, and from the sub-culture of their lives, and from speakers and campaigners: that the Church opposes abortion, contraception, IVF, and same-sex unions.
I was giving a talk about St John Paul II. It is a life-story of courage and adventure, of responding to the glory of God's call and the thrill of being part of his great mission of love and hope. Good response from the pupils: they were rapt and interested throughout. But when it came to questions, they were awkward, shy, didn't know what to say. Then one boy raised his hand "What do you think about IVF?" It took a moment to register. I hadn't mentioned sexual ethics particularly in the talk, which had ranged from the wartime occupation of Poland through Stalin's grip on Eastern Europe, the Mass, poetry and theatre, Rome, the drama of John Paul I's sudden death, the events of 1978 and 79, and on through the assassination attempt, missionary journeys, World Youth Day, the Rosary, mysticism, healings, 2005, and more...
So I answered the question on in-vitro-fertilisation and gave a brief, vigorous, and I hope useful explanation of why it is wrong...but I don't think he was convinced, and then another pupil asked "But isn't the Church unfair on couples who long to have children?" and another asked "What about abortion in cases of rape?" And then when the lesson had finished a lad came to complain about "girls who get pregnant and then get a flat and all that money from the Government"...
Oh dear. OH DEAR.
In fairness, some of the boys afterwards asked for a booklet about St JP and wanted to know more about him. So I think there is a lot of interest...but... it is tragic that young people's view of the Church is conditioned solely by one main message: that the Church opposes abortion and contraception. They just get propaganda about this the whole time. The Church's great "yes" to God's offer of life is glorious, and needs to be presented with vigour...but it's clear that we can't teach it by simply joining in the general din on the subject in the current porn-saturated and ugly culture of our country.
Saint John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI showed us another way: at World Youth Day they did not moralise, did not get gloomy, but instead lifted young hearts and minds to great, noble, glorious things, focusing on Christ, on the splendour of unchanging truth, on the Eucharist, God's great mercy, on the joy of it all. And Pope Francis is doing this too. This is the way ahead.
I get a bit tired of people saying "Our bishops should speak out more about abortion". Actually, being anti-abortion is the one thing that people do know about the Catholic Church. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH THAN THAT!
I think we should focus strongly on sending in to Catholic schools faith-filled troops with strong lively presentations of the Catholic Faith in its truth and its glory: God taking human flesh and living among us, our salvation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the magnificence of it...facts, beauty, inspiration, a message of hope. Barron's CATHOLICISM, the DVDs from St Anthony Communications, the New Movements, EVANGELIUM, materials from the CTS and more, and more...
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5 comments:
I wrote 12 Common Atheist Arguments (refuted). One comment I sometimes get is that it's obsessed with sex.
Actually only one of the chapters is largely concerned with sexual ethics, and they get hardly a mention in the rest of the book. One chapter out of twelve is hardly "obsessed". But that's hat people are interested in hearing.
Whilst sexual ethics are important, consumerism is as much of a threat, and it's a reality in every child's life, whilst divorce still, mercifully, only a reality for a minority.
Looks like the Pope had a point then.
Given that these are students at an RC secondary school one cannot simply blame the "mainstream mass media" for their lack of knowledge or engagement. Where are their teachers, their parents, their local priests? In North America the bishops shout the loudest on issues of sexual morality (specifically to condemn abortion and same sex marriage, often couched in terms of "religious freedom and liberty," at least in the US), so it's no wonder this receives the most press coverage and generates the most annoyance. One has to look to the Pope in many instances to find meaningful messages about social justice.
One wonders how much they learn of spiritual art and music, what they stand for and what inspired them. I once worked with a broadcaster who had been raised by American atheists, and she couldn't guess the number of persons in the Trinity! Any religious metaphor was of course lost on her; 2,000 years of Wetern art was merely pretty pictures.
So very sad, Joanna!
The problem must be attacked on so many fronts, one of them being quality, uplifting book choices in school literature study.
Annette Young and I were delighted to meet you some months ago in Sydney, Australia.
Annette's first novel was prominently reviewed in this week's Catholic Weekly, and would make a fine upper high school text. If you can privately send me your address, I would love to send you a copy, as I promised when you were in Australia.
Just read Dr Susan Moore's startling review of A Distant Prospect:
http://adistantprospect.com/blog/2014/07/susan-moore-book-review-suffering-and-its-aftermath/
God bless you for the fine work you are doing on many fronts, Joanna.
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