Tuesday, February 28, 2006
CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH
John Allen indicates there are, at present, three major challenges facing the Catholic Church, according to NZCatholic.
Allen said the Catholic Church is currently wrestling with issues surrounding identity, a shift in the Catholic population and a fragmentation of the church.
In regard to the last one mentioned:
The third megachallenge is trying to bring Catholics together, he said.
Conservative and liberal is just one division that exists within the church, Allen said. Many other delineations work to differentiate Catholics from one another rather than unite them, and that leads to a “segregating and ghettoising” church.
“We’ve got to find some way to imagine ourselves out of that, because it’s just not good ecclesiology,” he said. “Fundamentally, we’re supposed to be a communion and we can’t be a communion if we define the limits of our community against other Catholics.”
He's saying what I've been saying...that we have been atomized and it's causing problems. I wonder how much of the atomization is the result of the new technology of the WWW? The web creates chaos because it lacks structure. It's a free-for-all that anyone can join in any venue available. It's tailor made for discord and for those who seek to promote discord.
