K
Kenny McCormack
The CLC relevance should be obvious. I think it is pretty clear that
the hegemony in CLC is falling apart, as is the hegemony of religion in
the world at large.
Educated Catholics have sown dissent and confusion in the Church,
claims bishop
University-educated Catholics are to blame for the crisis in the
Church and the growth of secularism, according to the bishop charged
with tackling the decline in Mass attendance.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:27AM GMT 16 Nov 2008
The Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, has claimed
that graduates are spreading scepticism and sowing dissent. Instead of
following the Church's teaching they are "hedonistic", "selfish" and
"egocentric", he said.
In particular, the bishop complained that influential Catholics in
politics and the media were undermining the Church.
While not naming names, he suggested that such people had been
compromised by their education, which he said had a "dark side, due to
original sin".
Prominent Catholics in public life include Mark Thompson, the BBC's
director general, and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.
Bishop O'Donoghue, who has recently published a report on how to renew
Catholicism in Britain, argued that mass education has led to
"sickness in the Church and wider society".
"What we have witnessed in Western societies since the end of the
Second World War is the development of mass education on a scale
unprecedented in human history - resulting in economic growth,
scientific and technological advances, and the cultural and social
enrichment of billions of people's lives," he said.
"However, every human endeavor has a dark side, due to original sin
and concupiscence. In the case of education, we can see its distortion
through the widespread dissemination of radical scepticism,
positivism, utilitarianism and relativism.
"Taken together, these intellectual trends have resulted in a
fragmented society that marginalizes God, with many people mistakenly
thinking they can live happy and productive lives without him.
"It shouldn't surprise us that the shadows cast by the distortion of
education, and corresponding societal changes, have also touched
members of the Church. As Pope Benedict XVI puts it, even in the
Church we find hedonism, selfishness and egocentric behavior."
The bishop said that Catholic graduates had rejected the reforms made
in the second council of the Vatican, which introduced fundamental
changes in issues such as liturgy and doctrine.
"The Second Vatican Council tends to be misinterpreted most by
Catholics who have had a university education -- that is, by those
most exposed to the intellectual and moral spirit of the age," he
said. "These well-educated Catholics have gone on to occupy
influential positions in education, the media, politics, and even the
Church, where they have been able to spread their so-called loyal
dissent, causing confusion and discord in the whole church."
Mr Thompson, who went to Oxford University, has this month been
embroiled in a row over broadcasting standards in the wake of the
scandal over offensive telephone messages left by Jonathan Ross and
Russell Brand. Under his command the BBC broadcast Jerry Springer The
Opera, considered blasphemous by many Christians, and was forced to
pull a cartoon called Popetown set in a fictional Vatican over
concerns it would cause offence.
Mr Blair, also Oxford-educated, became a Catholic last year but has
received Mass for years. As Prime Minister he oversaw the introduction
of laws on gay rights and abortion which the Catholic church opposed.
The bishop said that influential Catholics had set a bad example and
corrupted the faith of those who had not gone to university.
"This failure of leadership has exacerbated the even-greater problem
of the mass departure from the Church of the working-class and poor,"
he said. "For example, the relentless diatribe in the popular media
against Christianity has undermined the confidence of the ordinary
faithful in the Church."
Although the influx of immigrants from Catholic countries in Eastern
Europe has buoyed Mass attendance in recent years, there has been a
significant decline in the number of indigenous, working-class
Catholics.
Attendance at Mass in 1991 was recorded as 1.3 million, representing a
drop of 40 per cent since 1963, but it fell further to 960,000 in
2004. The number of priests in England and Wales has slumped by nearly
a quarter in 20 years, from 4,545 in 1985 to 3,643 in 2005.
Bishop O'Donoghue has produced a report, Fit for Mission? Church,
examining the current problems facing the Church and designed "to
enable Catholic men, women and children to resist the pressures to
compromise, even abandon, the truths of the Catholic faith".
He says that he supports Catholics receiving a university education,
but urges they should be "better-equipped to challenge the erroneous
thinking of their contemporaries".
Nicholas Lash, the former Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at
Cambridge University, called the bishop's comments "extremely grave".
Writing in this week's Tablet - a respected Catholic journal - Prof
Lash says: "If he had named a particular university or universities,
or particular individuals, he might well have had a series of libel
actions on his hands.
"Quite what constructive purpose could possibly be served by such
irresponsible and wholesale scapegoating of the educated, I have
simply no idea."
=========================================
end of article.
What any religion needs is a population of pig-ignorant dummies. Look
how well this has worked for Islam!
the hegemony in CLC is falling apart, as is the hegemony of religion in
the world at large.
Educated Catholics have sown dissent and confusion in the Church,
claims bishop
University-educated Catholics are to blame for the crisis in the
Church and the growth of secularism, according to the bishop charged
with tackling the decline in Mass attendance.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:27AM GMT 16 Nov 2008
The Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, has claimed
that graduates are spreading scepticism and sowing dissent. Instead of
following the Church's teaching they are "hedonistic", "selfish" and
"egocentric", he said.
In particular, the bishop complained that influential Catholics in
politics and the media were undermining the Church.
While not naming names, he suggested that such people had been
compromised by their education, which he said had a "dark side, due to
original sin".
Prominent Catholics in public life include Mark Thompson, the BBC's
director general, and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.
Bishop O'Donoghue, who has recently published a report on how to renew
Catholicism in Britain, argued that mass education has led to
"sickness in the Church and wider society".
"What we have witnessed in Western societies since the end of the
Second World War is the development of mass education on a scale
unprecedented in human history - resulting in economic growth,
scientific and technological advances, and the cultural and social
enrichment of billions of people's lives," he said.
"However, every human endeavor has a dark side, due to original sin
and concupiscence. In the case of education, we can see its distortion
through the widespread dissemination of radical scepticism,
positivism, utilitarianism and relativism.
"Taken together, these intellectual trends have resulted in a
fragmented society that marginalizes God, with many people mistakenly
thinking they can live happy and productive lives without him.
"It shouldn't surprise us that the shadows cast by the distortion of
education, and corresponding societal changes, have also touched
members of the Church. As Pope Benedict XVI puts it, even in the
Church we find hedonism, selfishness and egocentric behavior."
The bishop said that Catholic graduates had rejected the reforms made
in the second council of the Vatican, which introduced fundamental
changes in issues such as liturgy and doctrine.
"The Second Vatican Council tends to be misinterpreted most by
Catholics who have had a university education -- that is, by those
most exposed to the intellectual and moral spirit of the age," he
said. "These well-educated Catholics have gone on to occupy
influential positions in education, the media, politics, and even the
Church, where they have been able to spread their so-called loyal
dissent, causing confusion and discord in the whole church."
Mr Thompson, who went to Oxford University, has this month been
embroiled in a row over broadcasting standards in the wake of the
scandal over offensive telephone messages left by Jonathan Ross and
Russell Brand. Under his command the BBC broadcast Jerry Springer The
Opera, considered blasphemous by many Christians, and was forced to
pull a cartoon called Popetown set in a fictional Vatican over
concerns it would cause offence.
Mr Blair, also Oxford-educated, became a Catholic last year but has
received Mass for years. As Prime Minister he oversaw the introduction
of laws on gay rights and abortion which the Catholic church opposed.
The bishop said that influential Catholics had set a bad example and
corrupted the faith of those who had not gone to university.
"This failure of leadership has exacerbated the even-greater problem
of the mass departure from the Church of the working-class and poor,"
he said. "For example, the relentless diatribe in the popular media
against Christianity has undermined the confidence of the ordinary
faithful in the Church."
Although the influx of immigrants from Catholic countries in Eastern
Europe has buoyed Mass attendance in recent years, there has been a
significant decline in the number of indigenous, working-class
Catholics.
Attendance at Mass in 1991 was recorded as 1.3 million, representing a
drop of 40 per cent since 1963, but it fell further to 960,000 in
2004. The number of priests in England and Wales has slumped by nearly
a quarter in 20 years, from 4,545 in 1985 to 3,643 in 2005.
Bishop O'Donoghue has produced a report, Fit for Mission? Church,
examining the current problems facing the Church and designed "to
enable Catholic men, women and children to resist the pressures to
compromise, even abandon, the truths of the Catholic faith".
He says that he supports Catholics receiving a university education,
but urges they should be "better-equipped to challenge the erroneous
thinking of their contemporaries".
Nicholas Lash, the former Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at
Cambridge University, called the bishop's comments "extremely grave".
Writing in this week's Tablet - a respected Catholic journal - Prof
Lash says: "If he had named a particular university or universities,
or particular individuals, he might well have had a series of libel
actions on his hands.
"Quite what constructive purpose could possibly be served by such
irresponsible and wholesale scapegoating of the educated, I have
simply no idea."
=========================================
end of article.
What any religion needs is a population of pig-ignorant dummies. Look
how well this has worked for Islam!
