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JUNE 2, 2011 Volume LXXXV • Number 29 www.evangelist.org
EVANGELIZATION EVERYWHERE
Sneak Peek: Graduation
Can you find the evangelization theme in this week’s issue? See the articles below, a story about a local priest “spreading the Word,” photos of new deacons, a column on senior priests and more: Pages 1-4
Next week is the Graduation Issue, but two articles this week highlight Catholic schools: Pages 14 and 20
T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E D I O C E S E O F A L B A N Y BISHOP’S COLUMN
Why Catholics fall away and why they should stay ‘Amazing God’ can be an opportunity for spiritual growth BY BISHOP HOWARD J. HUBBARD
Our Diocese’s “Amazing God” evangelization initiative has led many of us to reflect on how best to meet the spiritual needs of people living in our 21st century. Certainly, there is no topic which is more timely than spirituality. On the one hand, there is a great hunger for spirituality — as evidenced by the plethora of books, DVDs and internet resources on this matter. On the other hand, we in the Church are experiencing consternation and frustration about how to respond to this hunger, especially among our own people as more and more Catholics — especially younger Catholics — are alienated from or indifferent to the Church, and find little meaning in its rituals, language and traditions, which they experience as unrelated to their lives. Hence, we are perplexed when we see our young, and notso-young, gravitate toward evangelical churches and non-traditional spirituality centers, or choose secular settings over sacramental practices. Many of our people feel free to dismiss Church teachings which are inconsistent with their own experiences with relationships and sexuality, or they ignore Church proclamations about the beginning and the end of life. Vocations to religious life have declined by more than 50 percent and vocations to the priesthood by more than 30 percent since 1965. Mass atten-
dance in the United States has decreased by 30 to 40 percent since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Some attribute these trends to the implementation of the Council or to the Council itself. Others blame the scandal of clergy sexual abuse. Quite frankly, I believe it is more than any one cause. Let me cite three factors in the contemporary milieu which, I believe, must be understood both if we are to nurture our own spirituality and be responsive to the spiritual needs of contemporary men and women. 1: NO SENSE OF SIN The first is a loss of a sense of sin. This is evident in a variety of ways: most notably for us as Catholics, in the decline of the numbers of those celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. While penitents have dwindled to a corporal’s guard, those receiving the Eucharist at Christmas and Easter or at weddings and funerals, even when they haven’t darkened the doors of the church other than on such occasions, is all too frequent. I am not proposing that we revert to the sin-dominated culture of the pre-Vatican II Church, with its emphasis on weekly confessions or not receiving communion unless preceded by confession. But I am suggesting that, for many contemporary Catholics and others, sin is no longer a reality which is significant in their lives. I see this as an obstacle to contemporary spirituality, because if there is no sin, then, there is no need for a Redeemer. Maybe I’m all wrong in this
regard. Maybe sin really doesn’t exist in today’s world. Maybe sin was the result of a Jansenistic piety or an antediluvian approach to control the masses, which is no longer relevant in our enlightened, post-modern culture. But the fruits of sin are certainly evident all around us. We see it daily in domestic violence; in family breakdown; in child physical and sexual abuse; in addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex and pornography; and in gambling, street crime and school violence — as well as in the social sins of racism, sexism, ageism, militarism, homophobia and xenophobia. But unless there is a willingness to acknowledge the existence of sin and evil in the world, to assume responsibility for it and to bring about the conversion of mind and heart which alone can rectify it, then there remains only a social approach to these ills — which is inadequate to respond to what is primarily and essentially a spiritual problem. 2: RAMPANT CONSUMERISM A second issue is consumerism. In his 1991 encyclical, “Centesimus Annus” (“The Hundredth Year”), Blessed Pope John Paul II lamented consumerism, which he described as “exhausting.” He noted that we, in the West in particular, are sculpted and shaped from cradle to grave to live and act like consumers. We WHY CATHOLICS FALL AWAY AND WHY THEY SHOULD STAY, SEE PAGE 13
LIVING WATER
TWO-YEAR-OLD MICHAEL LAPE pauses for a drink during the ceremony at which his father, Stephen, was ordained a deacon for the Albany Diocese. Michael is snuggled in the arms of his mother, Melissa. For more photos of the ordination of three deacons, see page 3. (Nate Whitchurch photo) EVANGELIZATION’S SOURCE
Pope, in Croatia, to highlight family BY CAROL GLATZ
C AT H O L I C N E WS S E RV I C E
Vatican City — The focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Zagreb, Croatia, June 4-5 will be on the family and building a community with Christian values. In the 84-year-old pope’s 19th trip abroad and his 13th to a European country, he also will continue to underline the importance he places on reviving Europe’s Christian roots. Even though Croatia is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, it has undergone hardships that have tested its foothold on faith: two World Wars, a Nazi invasion and then communist rule under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Today, threats continue, but under a different guise, said the spokesman of the Croatian bishops’ conference. “Croatia is not an island and as such is facing all of the challenges that are prevalent in western countries,” said the spokesman, Zvonimir Ancic. First among them is “a rampant secularism whose small, but very vocal proponents, with the backing of the majority of the mass media, are actively trying to deconstruct all elements of Croatia’s traditional Catholic identity,” he said. Major challenges facing the Church in Croatia include the country’s “very liberal law reguPOPE’, IN CROATIA, TO HIGHLIGHT FAMILY, SEE PAGE 17