Gen Y Catholic

Something occurred to me just now.

I really should write more about Memphis. I feel guilty, really. It's in my title. I've got a beautiful skyline pic that I filched off of Google images. But I haven't written about Memphis. Something must be done. Soon. But not now. I have nothing to say about Memphis now, other than that it's been too rainy of late, and I saw a "Mongo for Mayor" bumper sticker today and wanted one of my own, just for kicks. (Memphians will understand.)

No. No, I have something else to write about. The thing is, being Catholic opens your world, right, your senses, your perceptions. Over the long and wearisome road I have travelled (just a little under two years now, fellas, so stand aside) I have felt my sensitivities sharpen and hone into what I am sure is am sure is a level of astuteness that would stagger the ordinary bystander. Since my eyes have been opened to the truth, I have come upon a discovery that will likely knock your socks off, dear reader. And my discovery has been this. Memphis is not Catholic. 

Once I used my powers of observation to make that discovery, my horizons stretched further - and darkened. Because then I deduced that America isn't Catholic.

...I'm so sorry to be the bearer of bad news that I'm sure must be shocking to you.

This infographic is up-to-date - March of this year. We're at 7.3% in these United States of America! Frankly, I'm embarrassed. C'mon, people! Asia has us beat.

While I'm pointing fingers (which I'm happy to do) I blame the Baby Boomers. I mean, the BBC hits the nail on the head - the numbers have been declining since 1970. (I would look up a graphic on how many Evangelicals there are in America, or worse, vegans or something, but I think I'd start sobbing into my hands.)

Anyway, all of what I just said is peripheral to my point. My point is, there're bound to be consequences to being in the minority - which we Catholics very much are. There was a time when Christianity framed the undertone of the majority of western culture, but those days are long gone, it seems. And every once in a while, this shift to secularization gets pushed in yo' face - for example, yesterday, Easter Sunday, when I pulled open my laptop to see this:

...Yeesh.

On Easter Sunday! Cesar Chavez! A civil rights worker! I have no issue with Chavez, but seriously - can it be any more obvious? They couldn't even give us the politically correct Easter bunny or a couple of colored eggs? Uncool, Google.

Tempted to rant and rave more, but I'll leave off for now. It ruffled my feathers, though. I wish a Catholic owned Google...

   

Most...excellent.

I suppose that it's easy to assume that the time we're in now is the 'most immoral' of all time. I doubt there's ever been any generation that hasn't looked around, shaken its head, pursed its lips and thought, "Yup. It can't get much worse. Christ must be coming soon." It used to be that people would read the papers and see stories on street crime and looming wars - now it's different. All we need to do is log into our social media channels and we see our friends and acquaintances ranting and raving on whatever the social issue of the moment is. (At the moment "equal rights marriage" seems to be at the top of the charts.) I wonder what the effect of this "personalization of information" will be - on one hand, never have we as individuals been more capable of framing and asserting our own identities, thanks to the the World Wide Web (blogs, social media platforms, you name it), on the other hand, we've never been more capable of accessing information and being shaped by the opinions of others. People are confused, man.

No answers to this today, just thoughts.

By the way, happy post-Lent, all! Well done.