B16's Waiting Room

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a sobering study about two months ago. Among many items in the study, this was very significant for us here: No religion in America has seen more members lapse than the Catholic Church. While Roman Catholicism remains the largest religious denomination in the USA, roughly 10% of all Americans are ex-Catholics. The analysts have been busy at work conjecturing as to the causes of these alarming but hardly shocking numbers. Predictably, those on the left are blaming the Church’s reluctance to institute great change, while those on the right are citing the Church’s progressive changes as the rationale behind the disappointing figures.

We at Saint Patrick High School are not an island unto ourselves, but are part of the “continent.” We cannot afford to deny the reality that there is a probability of an erosion of faith in our towns, our families, even in many of our hearts. Our school has a responsibility to address these issues, for we esteem “the faith once delivered to the saints.” Our vision seems to be that we need to return or connect to Christ more profoundly. As Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States, one of the hottest tickets is for his public liturgies in Washington and New York. Even as the press reported fewer Catholics staying in the pews, it noted an explosion of interest among them in attending one of these Papal Masses. Perhaps as he visits, we can remember that the Holy Father comes to America as a successor to Saint Peter, Vicar for Christ on earth. Pray that his visit will help rekindle the faith of American Catholics, revitalize our Christian spirit of love, and offer a springtime of hope that offers ailing American Catholics “a shot in the arm in this modern time dominated by a spiritual malaise.”