There is a large and growing distrust with institutions in the US. In fact, it has reached record lows according to a new Gallup poll. Trust in “the church or organized religion” is at 31%, down from 37% a year ago. Read another way, 7 out of 10 Americans distrust organized religion, including the Catholic Church. But, other institutions lack the trust of the masses as well. Congress, news organizations, big businesses, the criminal justice system, the Presidency, banks, the Supreme Court, and public schools have even lower levels of trust than religion does. In general, Americans distrust institutions and this distrust is growing year after year. The Church is one of many casualties in this post-institution age.
In some ways, our institutions have earned the distrust and deserve it. Many have been hit with scandals, corruption, lack of effectiveness, mission-drift, greed, poor leadership, division, and political / social one-sidedness. There is also a lack of wider cultural norms, habits, expectations, and community, which help bind us together. We are a fractured people adrift in a culture which lacks meaning, purpose, identity, community, and unity. Some now believe these things are difficult to find if not impossible.
Still, even in the midst of all this uncertainty and distrust, nobody can rid themselves of the existential desire to be:
Therefore, the Church has an opportunity, if she is willing to pivot from trying to shore up the institutions toward meeting people’s felt needs of today. Within the needs of our culture, there is a need for the Catholic Church (you and me) to rise up into a new movement of purpose which reaches the world with truth, goodness, and beauty. A world which desires those things, but just doesn’t want the institutions behind what we offer. We still have the chance to answer the big questions that exist (e.g., meaning, suffering, purpose, love, how to be happy, how to connect to others, etc) - those questions that our modern culture can’t answer. Still, we have to leave some other things behind in order to reach the people of our modern age. Here are a few suggestions as to what kind of plan it will take.
WHAT IT WILL TAKE
REMEMBER - This isn’t the worst cultural crisis the Catholic Church has faced. Again and again the Church has faced decline, scandal, problems, wars, disease, poverty, and persecution. This isn’t the first time and won’t be the last. Yet, this cross and this time is for us to embrace. God will ask us for an accounting of what we did with his talent, let us not go to him saying we buried it, but that we increased it by a hundredfold!
A CALL TO RENEWAL
This call to renewal in a post-institution age is a call for a movement of Catholic individuals, parishes, dioceses, apostolates, ministries, schools, organizations, orders, and more. It will take a diversity of gifts to reach the culture with the Gospel. We need to support, encourage, finance, and free evangelists who can have expertise in all areas of what is good, true, beautiful, just, kind, loving, faithful, etc. The Church has many gifts to offer the world still, especially in a culture that is lacking in truth, goodness, and beauty. This space where the world’s needs meet the Church’s expertise is the space we need to step boldly into. It includes:
A FINAL THOUGHT
No great movement of spiritual renewal has ever happened without a group of saints who supported one another, had deep intimacy in prayer with God, and who preached the Gospel of Jesus boldly. Our age will need the same. So, let us first of all repent for not being saints yet and resolving to go forward together.
All who read this have my prayers.
Please pray for me too!
God bless.