"My daughter just finished her first year at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska," wrote Pam Percival of Nevada. "When her father and I visited the college before her enrollment, we were impressed by the positive, upbeat attitudes of the students and many signs of faith around the campus. The address to the parents given by Father John P. Schlegel, S. J., was no less impressive -- assuring the parents that he would not let us down. "It wasn't long, however, that we realized that we had a serious problem to deal with: our daughter was losing her faith.
"We were hearing about all the drinking parties, alcohol and boyfriends overnight in the dorms. My daughter began to miss attending some Sunday Masses at first -- and then it became the norm. She told me that not many people went, 'The church is almost empty.'Never mind going to Confession! While she was living at home, she had never missed a Sunday Mass unless she was sick. "In addition to having her attend CCD classes, I had taught her all that I could about her Catholic Faith from good traditional Catholic resources.
Now her Theology Professor, a Protestant gentleman, teaching 'Christianity in Context,' was refuting things that I had taught her. She said he made her feel like a fool. One such argument was about the contents of the Ark of the Covenant (the staff of Aaron, the manna, and the Ten Commandments) -- and how these items prefigured Jesus, His priesthood, and the Holy Eucharist.He was teaching the students that no one ever knew what was in the Ark of the Covenant and that it didn't matter anyway!"
Link (here) to the Spritdaily article
Photo is of Fr. John Schlegel, S.J.
2 comments:
A young man went to his priest, who was a Dominican, and asked him, "Father, I've been thinking about becoming a priest, but I'm not sure whether to become a Jesuit or a Dominican, so I want to learn more about the two orders. How are they similar?"
"Well, my son, both of them were founded by great saints of the Church, the Dominicans, of course, by St. Dominic, and the Jesuits by St. Ignatius of Loyola. They were also both founded to combat great heresies; the Dominicans, to combat Albigensianism, the Jesuits, to combat Protestantism."
"How do the two orders differ, Father?"
"Well, my son, when was the last time you met an Albigensian?"
;-)
Sounds to me like the parents equate Mass attendance with closeness to God. Similarly, they seem to equate premarital sex with distance from God -- and particular interpretations of scripture as distance from God.
While those beliefs may reflect a "best current interpretation" by the Church, I think they could use a good theology course.
I believe we have too little humility when we equate our values and interpretations with God's values, judgments, and understandings.
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