The Great Facade - BOOK REVIEW

The Great Facade - BOOK REVIEW (28 Aug 2002)

For several decades now, the depressing state of the Catholic Church has been not only observable anecdotally but also easily demonstrated statistically in virtually every measurable category — vocations, conversions, Mass attendance, belief in basic doctrine, etc.

Even such, the current crisis has long been denied or minimized by many of the neo-Catholic persuasion.

Adopting the undying optimism that the Catholic Church is not in a crisis, but just the opposite — experiencing a "renewal" amidst the "Springtime of Vatican II" — the decrepit state of the Church would be downplayed as a localized, minor or temporary problem.

Some would even echo the respective sentiments of Cardinals Ratzinger and Mahony that the striking decrease in Catholic influence and priestly vocations was either an inevitability or a positive good.

Even now that the enormous scale of rot has been exposed in the secular press, neo-Catholic apologists who had never admitted to a crisis in the past are working on the newest manifestation of denial which claims all problems worthy of concern are well behind us.

Books like Michael Rose's Goodbye, Good Men are dismissed as interesting but severely outdated stories of problems the Church had once upon a time when those slightly more liberal had their way.

Despite the historical volume and persistence of such denial, most Catholics across the spectrum are now admitting what even the late Fr. John Hardon saw as undeniable — that the Catholic Church is currently experiencing its worst crisis in history.

Given that such a serious claim is now beyond reasonable debate, what could possibly have happened to bring it all about? Was it a 1960's revolution against authority? An American problem attributable to cultural decline? A "failure to embrace the true spiritual promise of Vatican II"?

Read full review here.

LikeShare

Gloria.TV – News Briefs links to this post

Jun 15, 2012

philosopher

Jun 11, 2012

While the GIRM documents have reigned in some of the liturgical abuses that the book mentions, it still doesn't go far enough, in addressing altar girls, trite tickle me tender- Jesus music, the kiss of peace love fest, applause for person of the year, and the overall irreverent attitude and atmosphere that exist in many suburban parishes.

Gloria.TV – News Briefs

Jun 9, 2012

@Gloria.TV – News Briefs
The News-Briefs articles often come from secular news sources and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Gloria.TV.

Kindly restrict your comments to the material contained in the news article. Even when an article from a secular source is critical of the Church, avoid making non-substantive remarks that are lacking in good reason which do nothing to counter the points made in the article itself. Ad hominem

Think and make points that appeal to reason and that have the power to convince. If one intends to defend the Catholic faith in an increasing pagan world, one must be prepared to give substantive rebuttals to the arguments made by the many critics of the Catholic faith.

Thank you for your cooperation.
A. Principe

1 Peter 3:
15 But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.

Holy Cannoli

Jun 8, 2012

book review that came out 1O years ago
Author who likes to use uncharitable comments
This man is a practicing Integral Catholic
This serves no purpose but to further "divide and conquer"
The Vatileaks story is not really anybody's concern but those personally involved.

In typical mindless neo-Catholic fashion, you have completely ignored the book review but have simply lashed out and employed the logical fallacy of “shooting the messenger.”

Hopefully you graduated high school. If so:

1) Why don't you evaluate the points made in the article (book review) itself?

2) Why don't you show where the authors are mistaken if you believe they are mistaken?

I don't think you will do these things because, like someone else at Gloria, you do not have the skills nor the intellect to evaluate points that disagree with your narrow minded worldview.

So, you are only able to critique the date of the article or criticize the author or lament that the article is attempting to “divide and conquer.”

In the “divide and conquer” lamentation you may be partially correct although not in the sense you mean.

Your response does indeed divide the non thinking neo-Catholics from those, like Fr. John Hardon, who are not afraid to point out that the Catholic Church is currently experiencing its worst crisis in history.
-------------------------
From the Book Review:

The recently-exposed behavior of the Church hierarchy has shocked more than one casual observer into entertaining the perfectly sensible notion that maybe the Church leaders are not doing all they can in the realm of governance. It occurs to them that perhaps the depths this scandal reached had something to do with the individuals who allowed it to continue. While some will always dismiss such notions as "anti-Catholic" (even when coming from the mouth of arguably the most Catholic bishop in the United States), others will realize that it's time to put down the pom-poms and take an honest look at the situation.

For what we are seeing is not at all mysterious for those who have read the dire warnings of pre-Conciliar pontiffs and who hold a truly Catholic sense of the role and responsibilities of the Supreme Pontiff. The novelties which began to be introduced to the Church with such great hope and optimism during the 1960's bore their fruits early on; causing even Pope Paul VI to spend his remaining days lamenting the results. The pontificate of John Paul II, energized by an undying sense of optimism, has resulted in a new line of novelties with their own accompanying consequences. It does not serve the Pope, the Church or the world to, out of a false sense of loyalty, deny that which is plain to the eye or to attack those calling attention to the evidence. Such a case is presented and defended by Ferrara and Woods in the pages of The Great Façade.

Janet O'Connor

Jun 8, 2012

What on Earth is a book review that came out 1O years ago be doing in the Commentary Section from the Author who likes to use uncharitable comments like using the term "Neo-Catholics" or "neo-Modernists" This man is a practicing Integral Catholic which the last Pope Benedict had to deal with during World War I. This serves no purpose but to further "divide and conquer" the Church that the Obama Administration wants. Why not cover all of the "Religious Liberty" rallies that took place all over the United States today. The Vatileaks story is not really anybody's concern but those personally involved. BTW the Church is in Much better state now under the current Pope than 10 years ago under "Blessed" John Paul II.