I have been both amused and irritated by this “influencer” invitation to the Vatican thing. I’ve seen some of the people invited. Really? I wonder what they think “influencer” means.
Anyway, here is a hard hitting video by Fr. McTeigue, who is consistently good.
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A Daily Prayer for Priests
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The bigger issue will be the aftercare and rehabilitation for those who have survived abuse.
But if we don’t care for and heal these children they will take their rage out on the society that turned a blind side to their plight and it will destroy the culture
Just as it was plainly obvious we would need an arm y of exorcists to tend to the wave of spiritual issues as a result of the Harry Potter phenomenon, we can just as easily predict the cultural impact of 500k uncared for childhood victims of human trafficking
This priest is good. Down the line, straight and simple. I wonder how the Jesuits cope with him? I digress. Anyway… he makes me want to go and re-read the Book of the Apocalypse. Lately the world seems to be…. stranger.
Thank you for this. Serious Priest’s saved my faith. The youth want serious. They starve for serious. I’m not exactly sure what is being influenced by influencers. Self?
Obviously not all influencers and to not speak of absolutes or to judge intentions of individuals.
Sometimes I ask myself, what is this person conveying? Often times it feel a like a promotion of a brand.
The only influence that matters is personal holiness.
Ersatz entertainment. That’s spot on.
The “do something” crowd is actually saying, “Do something easy. Do something online that I can like and share so that my friends see how engaged I am in doing something. I want people to know that I care, but only enough to click. Do something, but don’t upset my position, routine, or creature comforts.”
If people wonder why donations to Peter’s Pence are down (besides the past Pope) it’s boondoggles like this. It seems like there’s a tremendous amount of curial make-work, when the real work of of the Church is at the altar, in the confessional, at the food pantry, and the Legion of Mary.
Tthe sad part is that there will be pats on the back and high fives all around for the participants and organizers. It’s a real rush spending other people’s money on things that make one feel important.
Last item: In my home parish, where I directed a choir for 25 years, the pastor and office staff barely tolerated my programming of Latin chant and motets. They bemoaned that we were “losing the young people” because of Latin. The pastor preferred the folk Mass to the traditional Mass. After an insane regimen of COVID safety precautions that involved communion services in the parking lot until November of 2020, and a live-streamed locked-door Easter Vigil in 2021 with only necessary ministers (for safety!), attendance tanked. The grays are left, while young families are packing into nearby parishes where antiphons are sung, there’s regular adoration, and always-reverent N.O. Masses.
The future of the Church is quiet, diligent discipleship.
Given how many of us need resort to YouTube to find the TLM, and how many of us do, they may be on to something. There is an easier solution though, isn’t there.
“Where’s the marches in solidarity for the half a million missing children?”
A thought-provoking question, certainly. Yet…he mentioned he didn’t want to be political. …I’m afraid that’s part of the problem. Too often, I’ve heard “this isn’t political” about a political concern.
I well agree about the difficulty of “influencers”. Poorly catechized people won’t easily examine difficult questions, nor make difficult, yet worthwhile decisions. I can hope that by his question, he aims to provoke the beginnings of critical debate, serious investigation into the Church’s teaching.
*sigh* Perhaps instead of critiquing the merits of the attendees, we ought offer a Rosary for greater understanding of faith. Greater fidelity to it.
“…we would need an arm y of exorcists to tend to the wave of spiritual issues as a result of the Harry Potter phenomenon…”
I’m suddenly reminded of a brief debate I engaged in on Facebook once. Disney had moved Dumbo from their children’s website to the adult site, thereby requiring an adult input a code before watching the movie. At first, I paid little heed to adult vs children. I merely commented how controversy seemed to come from angry adults nitpicking a children’s movie. …others declared that children definitely needed adult supervision for this one. …From this, it suddenly struck me that Disney now felt the need to treat Dumbo… like a porn flick. What?? Sure, kids should not watch porn–nor should any adult, but that’s another problem–but why treat Dumbo as though it presented sin? It’s a story about a flying elephant who overcomes adversity… with the help of a show-man rat. It’s mildly cute and mildly entertaining. Overall, the critique alarmed me somewhat, so I asked a question:
Who in their right mind would allow any child under the age of 10 to watch anything online–or on TV–without adult supervision?
I don’t recall that anyone responded.
I don’t recall that my parents willingly allowed us to watch or listen to anything they didn’t approve. They weren’t always physically in the room; they were definitely in earshot. ..I distinctly recall my mother directing me to turn off The Golden Girls when I caught them on TV during my late teens….
Methinks that if parents can’t or won’t supervise their children when they’re little, they have little cause to howl when teen-aged Johnny and Susie behave poorly. ..They will also need to teach Johnny and Susie their catechism–with the help of the parish and priest–when they reach age of reason.
If that doesn’t happen, …I make no bets about society surviving.
Thank you Father, for showing us this priest’s videos a few weeks back. Been listening to him ever since.
Something I’ve realized with a lot of people nowadays, is they absolutely cannot stomach the reality of evil and suffering. We’ve become so coddled by the modern world, that not only do most people not seem to recognize the evil they commit in their own lives (as evidenced by small confession lines), but they cannot even accept the infinitesimally small amount of suffering that accompanies being compassionate towards the less fortunate.
So many misdirected efforts from those busy folks in the church. I was on the parish council for awhile but eventually quit. After endless discussions as to how can we get more people engaged with the parish and the only solutions supported were spaghetti dinners, Halloween parties, etc etc I couldn’t take it any more. I was tired of saying people can get that anywhere and let’s offer instead what we have that they can’t get anywhere else. The Faith.
They were convinced that if they just made things more FUN the lightbulb would go off & people would be pouring into the parish. I remember one woman actually lecturing us on how to be upbeat and welcoming in our tone when we were trying to get people to come to events. Gosh it couldn’t be that they just don’t need to go to another dinner when they have 3 kids who all have sports banquets coming up. But a morning retreat with a holy hour and confessions on a Saturday they might just carve out the time…..
The youth. I’m so sick of that as an excuse for every lame idea that’s come down the pike. I disliked that attitude when I was a yut. Isn’t the Church supposed to reach out to everyone? If you’re 59 your soul isn’t as important as the 19 year old’s? Youth programs are bad because they’re a bad idea. Children’s imagination is captured by beautiful churches with appropriate liturgical music and the worship of God. I’ve seen it.
Hot priests and influencers will accomplish nothing. But it will make some people feel like they’re doing something. How shallow must one’s faith be if you think that will draw someone to the Church? How shallow must one’s faith be if that’s what draws him in? It’s not profound or deep or sustaining.
It takes effort to be a Catholic. Superficial, unserious things don’t cut it.
Do you know a hot priest? Then buy them a Guayabera shirt!
Thanks Fr. Z for embedding a couple of Fr. McTeigue’s recent videos. As others have said, he is superb…and he is a Jesuit, often mutually exclusive terms. I am currently reading one of his books, (Real Philosophy for Real People), and he is an excellent writer as well. His turn of the phrase to “unserious” in the video is spot on. What are we to do? We MUST do something?
The only kind of ‘hot priest’ I tolerate is the kind that is on fire for the glorification of God and the salvation of souls. Nothing else matters as much as that. No showboating, please.
Fun, you say? Nothing wrong with that (if it is the appropriate kind), it has its place in life, which would be a dour affair without it. Everything has its place, but loving God always comes first. We don’t attract young people with making everything ‘fun.’ We do attract them with liturgy that puts God in its centre, sound preaching, and solid instruction in the Faith.
Fr. Robert wants to know “Where are the 500 thousand missing children we allowed into our country?” My analogy is Where are the thousands of Catholic school-age children who never attend Sunday Mass who will become lost souls? Deacon John Lorenzo
In my heart, I believe that 500,000 children went missing. But my head would like to know where the number originates?