Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Dale: We have readers! We have readers!
I guess that means it's time for Reader Mail!
We received a couple of comments on my piece on African and Asian priests, including the following:
"Dale,
I saw your blog about the African and Bangladeshi priests whom you recently saw. The rapid conversion of many parts of the Third World is a shocking thing. One of the most amazing statistics I've heard is this: in 1900 there were about 10 million Christians in Africa (the largest bunch being Copts), by 2000 there were 360 million Christians, and in some nations almost 40 percent of the baptisms were of adults.
Of particular interest is how the center of gravity of the Church, so to speak, is moving south. The "southern" church is also quite orthodox and traditional. The elite western fixations on modernization and liberalization - female priests, relaxtion of traditional morality regarding abortion, birth control and homosexuality, etc.. - have no resonance in the larger part of the world Church.
You might be interested in "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity". It's not perfect, but it's a well reasoned, well argued and thoroughly astonishing book on this topic."
I have heard much the same thing about the Church in Africa and Asia, especially with regard to the question of orthodoxy, although I hadn't heard about the African statistics before. Astonishing, indeed. And I read somewhere that South Korea recently became the first majority Christian nation on the Asian mainland. The future of the Church is bright, indeed--in the south and far east.
Plus, on a related point concerning orthodoxy, look at the experience of the Anglicans: it is the presence of the orthodox African and Asian bishops that keeps that church from finishing its decades-long suicide attempt. Witness the truly amazing spectacle of bishops from Singapore ordaining American bishops to restore Anglican orthodoxy in the U.S.
The book looks interesting. I have only one question: is the author the same Philip Jenkins who wrote the respected "Pedophiles and Priests"? If so, another reason to run out to the bookstore (Heather didn't just read that).
Another letter, in a somewhat different vein:
"Your stories of the visiting priests, set against the depressing news of The Scandal, tend to confirm an opinion I've had for some time: that the Catholic Church in America will eventually become a mission church staffed by priests from the Third World (in other words, they will send missionaries here). If it does turn out that way, it will be one more example of God's providence (not to mention humbling the exalted and exalting the humble)."
I agree in part, but I certainly don't believe that the Church in the U.S. will be "hollowed out" to the same extent that it is in Western Europe. The difference is Latin, Asian, and African immigration, which is bringing Catholics (with varying levels of observance and "orthodoxy", true) here in substantial numbers. Europe's immigrants seem to be largely Muslim. I certainly agree that, barring a sudden turnaround in vocations here across the board, the likelihood of an observant American Catholic visiting a parish helmed by an African or Asian priest is a virtual certainty in the next thirty years. And, from my limited experience with them, that would be a very, very good thing. Lord knows the Church in America could use some humbling.
Thanks for the letters! Keep 'em coming.
I guess that means it's time for Reader Mail!
We received a couple of comments on my piece on African and Asian priests, including the following:
"Dale,
I saw your blog about the African and Bangladeshi priests whom you recently saw. The rapid conversion of many parts of the Third World is a shocking thing. One of the most amazing statistics I've heard is this: in 1900 there were about 10 million Christians in Africa (the largest bunch being Copts), by 2000 there were 360 million Christians, and in some nations almost 40 percent of the baptisms were of adults.
Of particular interest is how the center of gravity of the Church, so to speak, is moving south. The "southern" church is also quite orthodox and traditional. The elite western fixations on modernization and liberalization - female priests, relaxtion of traditional morality regarding abortion, birth control and homosexuality, etc.. - have no resonance in the larger part of the world Church.
You might be interested in "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity". It's not perfect, but it's a well reasoned, well argued and thoroughly astonishing book on this topic."
I have heard much the same thing about the Church in Africa and Asia, especially with regard to the question of orthodoxy, although I hadn't heard about the African statistics before. Astonishing, indeed. And I read somewhere that South Korea recently became the first majority Christian nation on the Asian mainland. The future of the Church is bright, indeed--in the south and far east.
Plus, on a related point concerning orthodoxy, look at the experience of the Anglicans: it is the presence of the orthodox African and Asian bishops that keeps that church from finishing its decades-long suicide attempt. Witness the truly amazing spectacle of bishops from Singapore ordaining American bishops to restore Anglican orthodoxy in the U.S.
The book looks interesting. I have only one question: is the author the same Philip Jenkins who wrote the respected "Pedophiles and Priests"? If so, another reason to run out to the bookstore (Heather didn't just read that).
Another letter, in a somewhat different vein:
"Your stories of the visiting priests, set against the depressing news of The Scandal, tend to confirm an opinion I've had for some time: that the Catholic Church in America will eventually become a mission church staffed by priests from the Third World (in other words, they will send missionaries here). If it does turn out that way, it will be one more example of God's providence (not to mention humbling the exalted and exalting the humble)."
I agree in part, but I certainly don't believe that the Church in the U.S. will be "hollowed out" to the same extent that it is in Western Europe. The difference is Latin, Asian, and African immigration, which is bringing Catholics (with varying levels of observance and "orthodoxy", true) here in substantial numbers. Europe's immigrants seem to be largely Muslim. I certainly agree that, barring a sudden turnaround in vocations here across the board, the likelihood of an observant American Catholic visiting a parish helmed by an African or Asian priest is a virtual certainty in the next thirty years. And, from my limited experience with them, that would be a very, very good thing. Lord knows the Church in America could use some humbling.
Thanks for the letters! Keep 'em coming.
