Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Women in Religion
Catholic Identity versus a Secularized Environment

Catholic Identity versus a Secularized Environment

Last updated on: February 9, 2022 at 8:59 pm by Lois Kerschen

Catholic Identity versus a Secularized Environment 2022-02-09T20:59:53-08:00 Lois Kerschen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A headline in the Angelus News on September 23, 2021 read: “Pope Francis to bishops: The saints spread the Gospel, not a ‘social program.’”

The saints, the pope said, “lived the Gospel, without worrying about relevance or politics. . .. They did not have a ‘social program,’ but the Gospel alone.’” https://angelusnews.com/news/vatican/pope-francis-to-bishops-the-saints-spread-the-gospel-not-a-social-program/

These remarks were made in connection with the concern over the secularization of society. Every Catholic and Christian publication has noted that the newest generation is the most secular so far in terms of not belonging to any particular religion and not attending church.

The Secularization of the Church

Photo by Ashwin Vaswani on Unsplash

The pope’s answer to this problem is, of course, evangelization. I agree, but we also might want to take a look at not just secularization within society but also secularization within the Church.

The words “social program” in the pontiff’s speech really struck me. Have we toned down our religion until it looks like all the other religions? Are we just a particular group of nice people who do a lot of charity work? Is the Catholic Church just another nonprofit association that provides services to the poor?

What sets Catholics apart, and how do we highlight rather than hide that?

I’ve read about Catholic schools that have removed religious statues from the campus because more of the students are Protestant than Catholic, and they don’t want to make these paying customers feel uncomfortable. In other words, the parochial school has become a private school attempting to satisfy majority opinion rather than maintaining the hallmarks of a Catholic education.

When I was in parochial school, Protestant parents were told that one of the subjects was religion, so if they didn’t want their kids to study the catechism, they could go elsewhere. Some schools allowed non-Catholic kids to go to the library during religion class, but that was the only concession.

In recent decades, many Catholic colleges have been anything but recognizably Catholic, in my opinion. I have been dismayed by the lack of attendance at Mass, the lack of pro-life education and activities, the lack of any appearance of being Catholic except for an occasional statue and the name of the school.

Surely that is a failing of the administration and its priorities. They seem to have accommodated cultural changes (the “relevance and politics” Pope Francis alluded to) rather than continuing to prepare the students to be Church leaders.

Catholic Identity

Photo by Anna Hecker on Unsplash

A recent article about the retirement of Dr. John Garvey as president of Catholic University of America reported that his time in office “has widely been recognized as a period of strengthening Catholic identity and shoring up the academic offerings in the intellectual Catholic tradition and the cultural tradition of the Church.

His work has paid off: Student retention has increased, and fundraising goals have been topped at record levels.” https://www.ncregister.com/interview/catholic-university-of-america-president-john-garvey-i-love-catholic-higher-education

Thank you, Dr. Garvey! To evangelize, to avoid secularization, we must have a distinct Catholic identity. People are hungry for this type of identification, for a firm belief system.

Evidence can be seen in the way young people appear to be so lost and lonely, preferring the isolation and artificiality of becoming an avatar because they haven’t found anything real that is satisfying.

Another telling example is that young people entering the religious life are overwhelmingly choosing orders where they will be wearing a habit and belonging to a community. They want that identity and companionship in their journey to God.

It is also not a surprise that CUA had record-setting contributions – alums were likely delighted to see CUA return to its roots as a truly Catholic institution and more than willing to encourage that route.

We must know who we are and why we are Catholic if we are to have the strength of conviction to evangelize effectively. We must openly love the Church to be convincing about the good news of the Gospel.

Yes, the Church must continue to provide social programs, but we cannot BE a social program. We can create charitable programs as a product of our beliefs, but first and foremost we must convey Catholic beliefs to others with conviction.

Previous Post

September 22, 2021

Perinatal Hospice, Loving Compassion for Parents and Baby

Next Post

September 27, 2021 The Catholic Benefits of Travel to Other Masses

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Patheos Catholic Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 May 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 September 2023 July 2023 June 2023 February 2023 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Paul John James