Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Date:         Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:35:45 EST
From:         DICK HAROLD <ITNEWS@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Altar Girls Documentation

On Mon, 9 Nov 1992 15:24:51 GMT Bryan D. Boyle said:
>70's.  Have you read what passes as a religious instruction book or set

-----some text de;eted-----

>of beliefs lately?  It is a lot of relativist feel-good, touchy-feelie
>oatmeal.  IMHO, you can not move to a relativist examination without
>first providing the boundaries of the issue you are discussing.  There
>have to be some definitive statements made so that everyone knows or
>understands the baseline from which the argument will be made.  And,
>that has been lacking.  The Woodstock/Georgetown axis of Jesuit
>"intellectuals" has been fighting AGAINST publishing any sort of
>catechism with Rome's approbation.  Probably because you will then
>be able to judge statements against orthodoxy, and that is the last
>thing that any academic wants: to be held accountable for their
>statements.

-----some text deleted-----

Bryan

I guess this is where I get some of my discontect with the "modern"
church.  There is, for me, a lack of a clear cut path.  I knew where
I was in the Latin days.  Now so much seems to be left open.  I feel
a lack of direction.  Where is the balance between blindly following
and being open to new points of view?

Because of Mass schedules I attend three area Catholic Churches.  The
parish we belong to and support has good attendance and participation.
The congregation is made up of a cross section of people.  The second
parish is upper middle class with fairly good attendance and lots of
singing from the time I walk in the door.  There is an aloofness with
"clicks" operating the various committees.  (I once belonged to this
parish and still am vary active in its Scout troop.)  The third parish
is an old and very beautiful church located at the edge of a poor section
of the city.  The congregation is small but participation at Mass is
enthusiastic and the people are warm and friendly.

I like a little of each parish but prefer the older church because I
attended school there and because it brings back memories of the church
I grew up with and was comfortable with.  In those days I followed the
rules - I knew where the lines had been drawn.  Yes, I did have my
list of grievances and reforms I wanted to see addressed.  I welcomed
change when it came but soon was overwhelmed by it all.  For me, it was
a little like asking for a bath and then being thrown into the ocean!

Could it be that this lack of rules, lack of direction, is a cause for a
lack of interest by many young people?  I have a deep faith that seeks its
own way in spite of the church building I'm in or the singing or lack
thereof etc.  I still sometimes pray the Latin prayers and long for the pomp
and ceremony that was all part of getting us (or at least me) into a frame of
mind that was receptive to listening to God's word.  (But then, I don't
like fast food restaurants or quickie oil change centers.)

I'd like to see more stringent rules within the church while keeping
open the avenues for change and flexibility.  Is this too much to ask or
expect?  Am I out of line, too old fashioned or just round the bend?

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