I have come to be more sympathetic to some of the new apologists’ concerns. There is no question that they are addressing some real needs for a considerable number of contemporary Catholics, for example evangelization and religious illiteracy. I too have become increasingly interested in evangelization, partly as a result of my involvement over the last 15 years with Evangelical Protestants and partly because I have long had a sense that Catholics are not very evangelical as a church—in spite of the great efforts of Pope John Paul II since the beginning of his pontificate to call the church to a greater sense of its evangelical mission.
And after almost 30 years of teaching in a Catholic university, I have become increasingly concerned about the enormous religious and theological illiteracy of so many young Catholics today, something many of us experience even in our own families . . .
The great popularity of the new apologists among conservative Catholics is evidence that they are addressing some very real needs. Many people have come back to the church through their influence.
Link (here) to read the quote at Dave Armstrong's Biblical Evidence For Catholicism.
2 comments:
The effects of the lack of catechesis during the last forty years is at last being recognised on a universal scale, not least among Jesuits who let several generations down by ignoring it in their schools. Their influence on teaching orders for women was also contributory. They were advised not to create a Penny Catechism mentality. The Society of Jesus is a major contributor to the present lamentable situation.
Blaming the Society of Jesus for the lack of catechist is both foolish and unfair. It is the responsibility the bishop to make sure youth are taught about the Church. Diocesan schools educate far more students. I would agree that as catechist has been poor; but that was a symptom of the western Church as a whole.
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