Fr. Bob’s Corner

When I was growing up in the 40’s and 50’s, I had a strong Catholic Identity. I considered my self, as a Roman Catholic, a true Christian, and a member of the true church. Catholics, in my mind, were the real Christians and all others who called themselves Christian were heretics. We were a people that did what God wanted: attended a Latin Mass every Sunday and other Holy Days of Obligation, abstained from meat on Fridays, and confessed our sins to a priest on a regualar basis, (at least once a year, as our Easter Duty.)
In the 60’s the Vatican Council inspired a new Catholic Identity. One that recognized with a new respect the faith and baptism of other Christians, and the revelatory presence of God in othe religions. Mass was celebrated in English, abstinence from meat on Fridays was no longer compulsory, and confession became more communal. Today, the great excitement of the years of the Vatican Council is long forgotten, and most who call themselves Catholic know little of their faith, and attend Mass a few times a year, particularly at Christmas. Do we still have a Catholic Identity? Should we have a Catholic Identity? Many would say no, or who cares, to the first question. The second question is a little harder to comment on, but few would want the relgious bigotry of the 40’s, and 50’s. John Allen in this article comments on recent vatican decisions from the point of view of present day Roman Catholicism and its identity in the secular west. (Read his article)