Wow, that is an interesting insight on Australian Catholics. It is sad that the country has fallen to such a low level of faith. Let's pray that this WYD will re-ignite the faith in many of them. Keep up the great work on the blog!
Padre Steve | Homepage | 07.18.08 - 11:28 am | #

I keep hearing about the secularized society of Australia. Is it that much different from the United States?

We have a larger population, so when it comes to raw numbers you find more people who practice their faith. But on any given Sunday, there are a whole lot more Americans out of church than in. Sunday used to be a day of rest. Now it's a day of commerce.

Is it that we just need to witness these trends in others before we see them in ourselves?
C.J. | 07.18.08 - 12:31 pm | #

All the Australians I've met have been fun-loving people. A dour person doesn't seem to exist there, which is why there isn't much religious fervor. :)
Neil C | 07.18.08 - 2:00 pm | #

I guess the good news is that they feel the urge to confess.

But was he really "confessing," if he "prided himself" on confusing their names?

He sounds perfectly at "home" to me. Some of us "secularized" Catholics are in the cafeteria by choice, and are truly "home" here.
L. | Homepage | 07.18.08 - 2:21 pm | #

Have I ever mentioned how much I love our Papa?

From today's talk with disadvantaged youth --
--"Authentic love is obviously something good. Without it, life would hardly be worth living. It fulfils our deepest need, and when we love, we become most fully ourselves, most fully human. But how easily it can be made into a false god! People often think they are being loving when actually they are being possessive or manipulative. People sometimes treat others as objects to satisfy their own needs rather than as persons to be loved and cherished. How easy it is to be deceived by the many voices in our society that advocate a permissive approach to sexuality, without regard for modesty, self-respect or the moral values that bring quality to human relationships! This is worship of a false god. Instead of bringing life, it brings death. . . .
--"The cult of material possessions, the cult of possessive love and the cult of power often lead people to attempt to 'play God': to try to seize total control, with no regard for the wisdom or the commandments that God has made known to us. This is the path that leads towards death. By contrast, worship of the one true God means recognizing in him the source of all goodness, entrusting ourselves to him, opening ourselves to the healing power of his grace and obeying his commandments: that is the way to choose life. . . .
--"I mentioned earlier that when we love we are fulfilling our deepest need and becoming most fully ourselves, most fully human. Loving is what we are programmed to do, what we were designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I am not talking about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about real love, the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching."
--Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day 2008
July 18, 2008
Bender | Homepage | 07.18.08 - 5:02 pm | #

Dawn we are so Blessed that you and other dedicated Catholic Christians allow us to have a better world because you say yes to God! He is merciful to give us people to show us that mercy. You may think you are just a drop in the bucket, but one drop can change a million other drops! Thank you and I will continue to pray for you and all the other drops of God's mercy.
Blessings, Ryckie
Ryckie Watkins | 07.18.08 - 7:57 pm | #

Dawn, you raised a most electrifying SHOCK for me: when as a youth in my first visit to USA saw more than 95% people in Sunday masses, taking the Eucharist grossly 30% sacrilegiously because, they were living openly in sin with their live in partners.

In my country, and other supposedly Catholic Latin ones the percentage was around 70% partaking the Host. I did not, because was already having several "sex flirts" at once, but at least fully knowing what sacrilege is, refrained not from Mass but from the Host.

My point: the Anglo ignorance-acceptance of cafeteria Catholics, makes one wonder on how to attack the horrendous desecration of Our Beloved Jesus Flesh & Blood.

God bless
Guillermo Bustamante | 07.18.08 - 8:32 pm | #

Dawn
Very good post and microcosm of a problematic Catholicism of another color. Christ's "Woe to you who laugh now for ye shall weep"... comes to mind. Will pray for all such men over there or here who think this is a joke that we are living and that fatherhood is something we will not have to give an account for.
bill bannon | 07.18.08 - 9:02 pm | #

The author of "The Fatal Shore", himself a lapsed Catholic, attributed that view in part to Australia's origin as a penal colony. That is, he attributed the easy view about sex to a society in which the men and women started off as captives, and moved readily.

However, he also noted the Irish Australians, and quite a few Australian Catholics have Irish roots, as being different as a demographic, as they had a strong ethnic identity. Things like that break down over time, however. Witness how much, in many ares of the US today, being an Irish American means not much more than celebrating St. Patrick's Day somewhat.

Anyhow, no point there, other than that perhaps we're at a point where the Faith in North America and Australia needs to almost forget (but not quite) the formerly significant ethnic roots of the Faithful here.

And also, on sexual morality, as much as people hate to even think of it, sometimes a libertine attitude towards sex and its consequences has a strange historical root, which suggest that perhaps that inclination has to be considered in that context in order to be addressed.
Yeoman | 07.19.08 - 1:31 pm | #

Yes, I'm afraid our good old USA isn't doing much better in this regard.

Our diocesan newspaper featured a front page story the other day about the upcoming 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae and about a Mass to be held celebrating the event.

Sadly, there are few (very few) priests in my diocese who preach anything from the encyclical.

One monsignor, a pastor at one of our churches, was quoted as saying that everyone who comes to Sunday Mass understands and abides by the encyclical's teachings. He went on to say that it's those who stay away from Mass that are not practicing the teachings of Humanae Vitae.

Um...what?

Waiter, a reality check here, please!
June | Homepage | 07.19.08 - 10:03 pm | #

Dawn's recounting of her discussion with the taxi cab driver reminds me of a quotation from one of Flannery O'Connor's letters (which I'm pulling from memory): "All human nature vigorously resists grace, because grace changes us, and that change is hard." I think I'm on safe ground saying that the mere recognition that one needs to change is a sign of the Holy Spirit's operating in a soul. The tough part is, of course, acting on it.
Peter | 07.20.08 - 8:02 am | #

Excuse me, but I think the dim view of the average Catholic in just about any country expressed here is way off the mark.

The obsession with being perfect all the time is a Protestant one, rooted in many things including the belief that only predestined people will be saved and you can tell they're predestined by how perfect and prosperous they are. Protestants, even today, tend to dismiss anyone who can't or won't follow the rules and, especially recently, have taken to changing the rules so that they can do what they like and not be doing anything wrong.

Catholics have and had always had the opposite failing, trusting God to forgive them so much that (some of them at least) don't worry too much about doing right to begin with. This has been a very common critique of Catholics by Protestants as long as there have been Protestants. A cheerful persistence in sin while professing Catholicism is nothing new. Catholic literature is full of stories of people who "wake up" and embrace what they were supposed to have been doing all along, and the stories of Catholic saints are often stories of people who did all sorts of wrongs or who spent their lives ministering to thieves, prostitutes, and other sinners.

What's new is the more Protestant tendency to decide that the particular sinful thing one wants to do isn't sinful at all. The Catholic way is to tell people how to live and forgive them when they don't (but of course, only when they are sorry), while the current Protestant way is to let the people decide how they want to live and then tell them they're right.
Gail F | 07.20.08 - 8:35 am | #

Religion is Australia is different to America.

America was settled by the sort of peoples Jesus criticized. Australia was settled by the sorts of people Jesus hung around with.

The English attempted to use religion as a way of controlling the prisoners & convicts were whipped if they did not attend church. This had the opposite affect & Church attendance has always been low. Pretty much all institutions & leaders are distrusted & criticized.
lar | 07.23.08 - 5:50 am | #