Friday, July 08, 2005
PENTECOSTALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA
A reader sent in a link to this Zenit interview, titled "The Most Allegedly Catholic Continent [ 2005-07-07 ]"
in today's news from which the following question and answer is taken:
"Miguel Pastorino on the State of Religion in Latin America"
Q: In the 1980s, experts talked about a massive exodus of Latin American Catholics to sects, going so far as to number their defection rate at 400 believers per hour.
Pastorino: Of course this "passage" of Catholics continues today. Not only is there an exodus to different Gnostic and esoteric proposals, Afro-American cults, para-Christian sects, spiritualism, and "platillista" sects [those that believe in UFOs], but there is also a silent turn to religious indifference, a product of the advanced secularization of large cities. The Pentecostal movement is the one that has grown the most, and there is nothing that indicates a stagnation; rather, it seems to be growing wildly. There is already talk of almost 150 million Pentecostals in Latin America, not counting the charismatics of other historical denominations.
There is a lot more in the interview. The Church should not have turned away from the cultivation of a personal relationship with God. It left the faithful wide open to embrace channeling as an alternative. As the Baltimore told us, we were made to know, love, and serve God. Knowing Him has become difficult to accomplish in the modern RCC.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
