Dear friends,

One of the persistent pieces of evidence that comes back as to why people drop out of regular participation in the sacramental and communal life of the Church is summed up in the two words that people find the liturgies "boring" or "irrelevant". The words popped up again yesterday in a very welcome and extended post from a young man called "Pat" in our forum where he was responding to some of my observations as to why the Church is failing to connect with young people.

I find myself constantly drawn back to these two words as I make my way through Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book. In a sense, Robinson comes across to me as a man who is trying to address why people have become so bored and why they find the Church increasingly irrelevant in their lives.

Is not a large part of the problem this gauntlet anybody has to run these days of this vocal minority who are running around and seizing every opportunity to stop all attempts that might lead to the message being presented in ways that are not "boring" and which are perceived to be relevant?

Last night Amanda and I watched the story on Compass of the Buddhist nun who has developed a quite extraordinary ministry that crosses international boundaries seeking to provide a sense of meaning to those who find themselves caught in the revolving door of constant imprisonment. A little way into the program Amanda said to me "I bet you she was brought up as a Catholic!" and almost before she finished getting the words out we were in fact told she had been brought up as a Catholic. In some ways I find Robina Courtin some sort of archetype representing many who have become disillusioned with this version of Catholicism today which seems to have strayed so far from its roots. As I was watching the program I couldn't help wondering if there were equivalent Catholic chaplains today who are having the sort of impact that this woman seems to be having? We do hear from time to time that the fundamentalists, including Islamic fundamentalists, are also having some influence amongst prison populations but one has to seriously ask if fundamentalism offers any sustainable exit from a life that is disfunctional or out of balance?

The behaviours that we see on the CathNews discussion board so graphically these days have become a disease that is sapping all the vitality out of Catholicism. These "thought police" who believe they know what God thinks better even than what God knows what God thinks are causing enormous damage. They have driven everybody else into silence because it is simply impossible trying to conduct a conversation in the open. Priests have to be so constantly careful in how they conduct the liturgy without taking the slightest deviation from "the rules" and their homilies have, by and large, become "boring" and "irrelevant" again largely for fear of treading on the sensibilities and insecurities of this small rump who have reduced the institution to a shadow of what it once was. The great pity is that the institutional leaders in Rome seem to constantly cave into these people and the whole agenda from the institution encourages these people rather than putting the brakes on them and saying "enough is enough! No, that is not the correct interpretation of what the Jesus message is all about. No. that is not the direction in which Catholicism is heading." Instead of educating these people and leading them forward we have this constant appeasement which has been an unmitigaged disaster for the Church on a scale far worse than than any previous crisis the Church has had to face in its entire history.

John Paul II's encouragement of all these so-called New Ecclesial Movements was totally geared to catering for the needs of the ultra-conservative and basically insecure sectors in society who place a premium on the search for certitude above the search for ultimate truth. Benedict isn't much better and this recent enormous concession to the Latin Mass sector has been a massive miscalculation that has done enormous damage for virtually negligible positive gain on the other side. Is it little wonder why so many express a sense of boredom and irrelevance when all the indications are there that from the very top of the institution nobody cares about the spiritual needs of the great majority of people in the world. What must Jesus Christ be thinking of all this? These men claim to be being guided by the Holy Spirit. One could be foregiven, as so many do, for doubting it given the diabolical state the Church is in today. Surely this is not the direction in which the Holy Spirit is calling humanity forward?

We need spiritual leaders and bishops like Bishop Robinson who are prepared today to speak up without fear right up the hierarchical chain of the command in the Church and say, forthrightly, "enough is enough. We're not playing these pathetic games any longer! They do not lead to heaven. They do not ultimately lead to the peace and love offered to us by Jesus Christ. If you don't believe me just go and study what has happened on the CathNews discussion board. That is your Church in microcosm, Your Holiness. It's not the allures of secular humanism that is sucking people out of the Church it is the behaviours of these people whom you seem to encourage. You need to stop encouraging them. Ultimately you will be held as accountable for all of this as any of us. Are you so cocksure of yourself that you are able to stand before God and pretend you had all the answers?" (And I do happen to know there has been heavy traffic from the Vatican in recent days reading what is being published on the Catholica website. Whoever in the Vatican is reading what is written here make sure this message is passed up the line to Benedict.)

Brian Coyne is the editor and publisher of Catholica Australia.

We welcome your thoughts in response to this commentary in our forum.

Brian Coyne can be contacted at: Brian Coyne <editor@catholica.com.au>

©2007 Brian Coyne

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