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The time of Jesus could be considered a dark age for religion in the history of man. For example, religious leaders essentially worshipped the law rather than God, people who were afflicted with disease were outcast because others believed that God was punishing them for wrongdoing, and groups around the world were constantly fighting, warring, overthrowing, and pillaging.
Not much has changed. The world seems to be in a constant state of turmoil; at the moment the West (Christianity) has the most influence. Only time will tell if the West keeps its worldly dominance; in the meantime, perhaps all would be well-served to champion change, serenity, and peace within local communities. It seems that in many cases, the focus on what is important has been lost – for instance, constructing buildings has been prioritized over Catholic education and political pandering and excuse-making have been prioritized over service.
One of the biggest travesties within our Catholic communities is the lack of a free or at least inexpensive Catholic education. Most families just cannot afford three-hundred dollars per month per child to send their children to school. It is incredible that congregations can come up with millions of dollars to build more buildings, but are unable to send the children of that congregation to Catholic school without forcing them to pay tuition. Scholarships are available, but only for a few, and it would seem obvious that without Catholic education, these children will not be exposed to the religious life. This in turn becomes a vicious cycle of not having religious to teach the children, which therefore exposes fewer children to religious life. It’s no wonder that there is such a shortage of priests and religious – children oftentimes have seen but one sister (or nun) and a couple of priests (and almost never a brother or a monk).
This problem with lack of funding of Catholic education is not just worldwide and nationwide; this problem exists locally and could be corrected (or at least lessened) if the local leadership was committed to putting every Catholic child through a Catholic school without paying. A million dollars would put 300 children through a year of school, but instead millions have been spent erecting new buildings – usually offices, not churches or service institutions – year after year.
Service defers to politics in our communities because of this: the voice of the wealthy is greater than the voice of the poor in our Churches, a grave offense to the spirit of Christianity. If the voice of the poor were heard, no more office buildings would be constructed; buildings would be built only to serve, and money earmarked for new buildings would be spent serving the poor through grants, donations, or even low-interest loans that could be paid off through service to the Church. Hospitals, orphanages, sanitariums, and schools were all started by the Catholic Church, but American Catholics have given up the need and drive to serve, opting instead to push them off on governmental programs and thereby dealing with all the regulations imposed through governmental interference.
However, Catholics have a duty to be involved with local and national governments, primarily because so much has been turned over to this collective. The Church does a poor job educating its believers on what being a good citizen means, and a poor job letting people know that they put their souls in danger if they support the ultimate genocide – abortion. There is no greater issue, despite what a large number of learned (and decidedly liberal) Catholic leaders assert. Academics would have people weigh issues according to their own conscious, rather than leading them away from the affronts to morality and humanity that permeate society.
If Catholic communities took care of the poor, no one would have reason to justify supporting politicians who support abortion, homosexual ‘marriage’, euthanasia, human cloning, or embryonic stem cell research. These issues should be non-negotiable for any Catholic, regardless of what a politician promises, because a person cannot support abortion ‘rights’ and still care about the poor – unborn are the most poor, the most defenseless, the most marginalized, and the most in need of our protection, yet Catholics continually support pro-abortion politicians. Hopefully God will have mercy on their souls or at least spur on a change of heart.
Local Catholic communities have several issues which need to be addressed, but most could be cured by shifting the focus back to service to the most marginalized in our society. If communities would spend their money on service to the poor and educating children rather than wasting it on tangible materials, there would be no excuse for Catholics to support politicians that vote amorally. Additionally, the solid education of children would lead to a self-sustaining force of service and love in the world, the force that the original apostles saw first-hand – the force of Jesus and the Holy Spirit surrounding and permeating the world and filling it with grace, peace, and love.
