Thursday, June 03, 2010

Demographics v. the Diocesan Rusty Edges

A friend refers to the LiturgyWonks (the Notre-Dame 'educated' experts now regnant in US liturgy offices) as 'the rusty cutting edge of the '60's'.

He's right, and they're about to be replaced.

[M]inisters of the Catholic future will be increasingly “evangelical.” The broad mass of twenty- and thirty-something Catholics today may be thoroughly secularized, but there is an inner core of faithful and practicing young Catholics who are the ones most likely to pursue a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, or to be most interested in making a career in the church as a lay person. The future leaders of Catholicism in America will come from this inner core. By now there’s a considerable body of data about these “millennial Catholics,” and the consistent finding is that they’re more traditional in their attitudes and practices than the “Vatican II” generation they’re replacing. These younger Catholics are attracted to traditional spiritual practices such as Eucharistic adoration and Marian piety; they have a generally positive attitude towards authority, especially the papacy; and they’re less inclined to be critical of church teaching.... John Allen, NCR, quoted in Papist

And yes, you find them at the Usus Antiquior Masses, and in processions, and in the confessionals. They are fascinated by Gregorian Chant and the Latin does not faze them at all.

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