The RCC's European Problem

Smarmy article in NYT this morning about Catholicism's fall in Europe. It's nothing new, of course (heck, George Weigel's current big book is all about it). The NYT article attributes it to the Church being out-of-touch with European ways. The implication that the Church needs to change and embrace the secular humanism is strong. The Church, of course, can't embrace the premises and conclusions of secular humanism and be the Church, but we doubt that kind of mental nicety crosses the reporter's mind. LINK. A few excerpts:

Among Catholics, only 10 percent in the Netherlands, 12 percent in France, 15 percent in Germany and Austria, 18 percent in Spain and 25 percent in Italy attend Mass weekly.

"European Catholics are not against the Catholic Church," said Ulrich Ruh, editor of the Catholic monthly Herder-Korrespondenz, based in Freiburg, Germany. "They go to church at least once or twice a year and bring their children to be baptized and confirmed. Rather, they have made their own personal arrangements with the church and do not want to be disturbed. They do not want to be evangelized. That is why the pope failed to make the church more attractive."

Part of the problem is the church's emphasis on punishment and sin rather than on inclusion and community.

"They still think they have the truth and that their truth must be imposed on everyone," said Didier Vanhoutte, former president of the Fédération des Reseaux du Parvis, an umbrella organization of 41 Catholic reform movements across Europe. "They haven't accepted the limits of their power. They have to get closer to the people by accepting a certain degree of poverty and, certainly, humility."

In 2004, the campaign by some European governments, supported by the pope, to include a reference to Europe's Christian heritage in the draft European Union constitution failed.

Later last year, Rocco Buttliglione, a former Italian minister, was rejected for a top post in the European Union for his opinions that homosexuality is a sin and that women would be better off at home.

For more about the Church's struggle with secularism in Europe, Weigel's book is recommended. We early stated that we weren't overly impressed with its first sixty pages, but it gets a lot better after that.

The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God