After visiting several other parishes, I began to despair of ever finding a satisfactory place of worship. I now wondered if the people leading and participating in Catholic worship actually believed what the Church taught. The informality and anthropocentricity of religious folk music help create an atmosphere in which the questioning of tradition and authority seems only natural. Since much of Catholic worship has ceased to reflect the mystery, splendor, and otherworldliness of the Church, it is hardly surprising that Catholics begin to wonder why the Church cannot reflect more of the surrounding culture. Most of the problems with worship, both Catholic and Protestant, stem from attempts to adapt worship to a therapeutic culture in which the individual reigns supreme.
Pastors cater to the perceived needs and feelings of their parishioners.
Most of the pastors I know are not on ego trips, but they are under great pressure to make worship relevant and meaningful for people such as my friend. However, the accommodation of Christian beliefs and practices to a culture fundamentally opposed to Christianity has gone too far. By now, the over accommodation of Catholic worship to modern culture the hi jacking of the good intentions of Vatican II by liberal liturgists has been well documented. In the meantime, I still faced the problem of finding a way to live with the present reality of worship within the Church. The answer finally came after I resolved to speak to a visiting priest at the church where I attend daily Mass.