Because of the deep hungers of the human spirit and the high claims of Catholic Christianity, there will continue to be countercultural Catholics. For them religion is not simply one department of life. It has an impact on everything they think, say and do. They are not against culture as such, but they refuse to let their religion be defined by the culture in which they find themselves. They firmly believe that faith rests on the truths God has revealed and has a definite content that does not change to suit the culture or the times.
Faith provides a basis for criticizing and even reforming the culture.
With respect to orthodoxy, therefore, we have, and will continue to have, two major camps. Cultural Christians tend to take anti-dogmatic stances. Only the countercultural Catholic can wholeheartedly embrace orthodoxy. In a secularized society such as our own, consistently orthodox Catholics will constitute a minority, not only in the society at large but even, I would say, within their religious community. The majority are carried along by the tide of public opinion, which they receive daily in large doses through the media.