Fr. Dwight Longenecker on a Once and Future Christendom

By Fr. Dwight Longenecker
3/15/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The population centre of world Christendom has shifted, and we in the West have hardly taken notice

Those who wished for a golden age of liberal ideals will be cruelly disappointed because the Catholicism of the new majority tends to be rather orthodox. They believe the old, old story of a God who sends his Son to the world to redeem the world from sin. They believe in a supernatural religion, the efficacy of the sacraments, and the power of the Church.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

GREENVILLE, SC (Catholic Online) - (Editor in Chief's Note: During these forty days of Lent where we are invited, with the whole Church, into a protracted battle with the world, the flesh and the devil, the "Gargoyle Code" by Fr Dwight Longenecker is a must read. It can be purchased here. - Deacon Keith Fournier)

There is a constant temptation for people to forget the present moment and look fondly for a golden age in which the Church enshrines everything they hold sacred. Some traditionalists tend to look back to a pre-Vatican II golden age that never really existed, but it is also true that some progressive Catholics look vainly to a golden age. The difference is, they look to a golden age of the future. Both golden ages exist only in the imaginations of their authors. These pipe dreams are not harmless illusions or entertaining diversions, but harmful delusions that cause divisions.

There is a certain type of Catholic who longs for a third Vatican Council that picks up where Vatican II left off. They hope for another 'good Pope John' who will open the windows of the church and allow the fresh air of the liberal secular agenda to re-invigorate a moribund, legalistic and repressive church. But this is a pipe dream just as much as the traditionalist's nineteen fifties Catholic fantasy, and when things don't turn out the way they wanted some of these Catholics become just as bitter as the traditionalists they so dislike.

Demographics indicate that whether there is a third Vatican Council or not, the church is in for a radical upheaval, however the radicalism will be very different than that envisioned by the aging, affluent, intellectual progressives. When we look beyond the affluent countries of the North and West we see that another Christian revolution, quite different from the one being called for in urbane Catholic European circles is even now on the move.

The population centre of world Christendom has shifted, and we in the West have hardly taken notice. In 1900, Africa had just 10 million Christians out of a continental population of 107 million. This made up about 9 percent of the population. Today, the Christian total stands at 46 percent or 360 million. That percentage will continue to rise because Christian African countries have some of the world's most dramatic rates of population growth. At the same time, the advanced industrial countries are experiencing a disastrous drop in birth rate.

Within the next 25 years, the population of the world's Christians is expected to grow to 2.6 billion (making Christianity by far the world's largest faith). By 2025, 50 percent of the Christian population will be in Africa and Latin America, and another 17 percent will be in Asia. Within fifty years only one-fifth of the world's Christians will be non-Hispanic whites. The typical Christian will be a woman living in a Nigerian village or in a Brazilian shantytown. Already the annual baptism total for the Philippines is higher than the totals for Italy, France, Spain, and Poland combined. The number of Filipino Catholics could grow to 90 million by 2025, and perhaps to 130 million by 2050.

It is interesting that the future belongs to the young, hungry and zealous Christians of the South and East, but what is more interesting is their version of the Catholic faith. Those who wished for a golden age of liberal ideals will be cruelly disappointed because the Catholicism of the new majority tends to be rather orthodox. They believe the old, old story of a God who sends his Son to the world to redeem the world from sin. They believe in a supernatural religion, the efficacy of the sacraments, and the power of the church.

They prefer the older, sacramental, visually based devotions and are far more respectful of the authority of priests and bishops. Hot topics like women's ordination, homosexual marriage and the democratization of the church leave them cold. Their agenda is radical in a different way: they are hungry. And the Lord, as we know, has a habit of filling the hungry with good things while he sends the rich away empty. This implies a future conflict between the new majority and the old guard.

This conflict is not only within the Catholic Church. An example of the clash between established world and developing world flared up a few years ago when the world's Anglican bishops gathered at Lambeth in England. Many of the bishops from America and Britain wanted to push through a more permissive stance on homosexuality, but the Asian and African bishops were having none of it.

They pointed out that there are more Anglicans in Nigeria alone than in Britain, Canada and the USA combined. They insisted on a conservative stance and infuriated the British and North ...

1 | 2 Next Page

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 17 Comments

Gail F
2 years ago
jpaYMCA: I don't know where Fr. Longenecker got his stats but this same topic is treated in exhaustive detail in John Allen's book "The Future Church." He spends chapters analyzing demographic data and comes to similar conclusions: Whatever socially liberal views may be currently popular in the West are doomed, because the "Global South" is far more socially conservative and orthodox, and will very soon be far more numerous and thus more influential.

Fr. Longenecker isn't being divisive, he is being realistic and middle-of-the-road.
Claire
2 years ago
This post seems to be Philip Jenkins-lite. There's no reason to think a third-world cardinal will be elected pope. Currently, the Italians hold sway in the College of Cardinals. This romanticism with respect to the "third world" is simply anti-Europeanism. And it's trying to square the circle with respect to Vatican II and its supposed continuity with the previous tradition of the Church.
charlie
2 years ago
The spirit blows where it will. Hungry people tend to be interested in change. The point about Catholic vs. non-Catholic growth in developing world Christianity is worth pondering. "Father Folkmass" and "Sister Sandals" seem in my experience to pay more attention to hungry people than "Bishop Ultrasound", so we'll see (or rather our grandchildren will see) how this plays out. As noted by Ed, we at least know it's in good hands.
justamouse
2 years ago
Spot on, says this orthodox revert.
Mike
2 years ago
The facts in this article are indisputable. “Third World” Catholics are more traditional and in sync with the Holy Sea. Father is also correct when he infers the next pope will be elected from one of these countries. My vote is for Cardinal Arinze. Liberals always talk about “love” when they promote sin. Lessons from the bible prove God does not have a sense of humor,… The Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Angel of Death, etc. and we have received many warnings of future chastisements from Our Lady.
Ed
2 years ago
Yes, Christ died for sinners: but as with the woman caught in adultery, he told her "go and sin no more." Sin, according to Sacred Scripture and Tradition, is what the Church has traditionally taught it is: evil. Giving into contemporary "hip" societal norms like same-sex marriage and so forth, unlike early Christians in pagan Rome, isn't what God wants. That said, I'd add one thing to the article. It's not just that the clergy is adding more orthodox members solely because of new members in developing countries (and that's a good thing). As an article on vocations in Catholic NY pointed out, citing the research, young men and women coming in as new vocations tend to be orthodox (I'd add: think of the Sisters of Life, Missionaries of Charity, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal & others). When I see an order where all priests or nuns are over sixty, I assume (and I've yet to see this proved wrong) that the order is "progressive." Why is that? If you want to be "hip" and worldly why commit your life to a religious order. A 30-something year-old monk once told me in so many words that if he was going to commit his life to the Lord he wasn't going to do it in a progressive monastery. About 12 years ago a magazine from an order known mostly for being progressive ran an article stating that if they weren't going to allow young orthodox people in, they might end up self-destructing (because young progressives aren't lining up to join). In any case, wherever we lean, pray for the Church. It's in God's hands.
Bulbajer
2 years ago
I agree with both the article and Larry's comment. (I also like Jason's comment, but I don't think Fr. Longenecker was "putting down" Pope John XXIII). Vatican II brought some bad things, but it also brought a lot of good things. And though I am one of your stereotypical American Catholics, I think the rising influence of the South and East in the church is a good thing. These people, for the most part, haven't had much say in Catholicism (or world affairs, for that matter).
Adam Hordos, the purpose of replacing the Latin Mass with the vernacular was to allow more people to understand what was being said. When only the Latin Mass was used, some people had studied Latin, but most people didn't (or didn't understand it proficiently) for various reasons. The mystery and beauty behind the Latin Mass is undeniable, but isn't it more important that people understand what's going on?
SC
2 years ago
Yeeehaa! This is one ascent I am happy to witness. Thanks be to God! and may it be so.
ADAM HORDOS
2 years ago
Troy, tell me of the Seven Sacraments( do you know all off them) which one is the greatest. No where in our Churches teaching or Holy Scriptures does it say that, Penance is greater than Holy matrimony, etc. I have absolute respect for all Clergy however this is a two way street I expect that the truth, is coming out of the Vatican. Latin should never have been removed from the Holy Mass, it is the language of the Angels.Everyone should have learned Latin when we were small. Instead schools tried shoving down, all kinds of foreign languages against my free will. My son was in Denmark awhile back and called me one time and said, dad I cannot find an English Mass I said to him to just concentrate on the Consecration, of the Host and the Cup. Before Vatican 11 this was not a problem. That is what is meant by a Universal Church ( (Catholic) it has to be the same throughout the world. I hope the good Lord lets me see the truth here on earth before he calls me. That truth will be to see that at the age of eleven years I was not to blame for the insanity that took place in the early sixties. Remember this , Jesus said it is not what goes into the mouth that condemns but what comes out. The battle between the good and bad Angels, was not fought buy swords, but was fought by debates. please be careful in what you say. God-bless. and Mary love you.
Larry
2 years ago
Oh yes, the promise of Vatican II - I lived with Fr. Fulton J Sheen and Vatican II and the aftermath. Grounded and open window Catholicism. The freshness that Vatican II brought was new possibilities of understanding and living Catholicism/Christianity in and of itself and in relation to other Christian faiths and other faiths in general. But the experiments of faith and religion after Vatican II must come to some end and we regroup to settle on some shape of normal living in Church. ------ Of course the Catholic Church since Vatican II - some for the better and some for the worse. Catholics, like the general society, are more educated and trained than in the 50s and feel they can handle significant leadership roles in the church and society. More Catholics are involved in education - in schools, in teaching Catholics about the faith and church practices. The number of priests and nuns/sisters have declined and the laity has picked up some slack. The role of priests and sisters has changed and more laity are learned in Faith, Theology, Scripture areas teaching in universities, not just priests. Many lead prayer groups and scripture studies. There are many lay deacons functioning in parishes. So, many of the ideas of Vatican II have been fulfilled. Other ideas have not - abortion, women priests, gay priests, liberation theology, etc. Though the official stand of the Church on contraception has not really changed, the practice among laity reflects more that of the majority society. ---- Given that many Anglican Clergy and laity are joining the Roman Catholic Church and there is a better relationship with the Eastern Orthodox churches, something must be going right. Just because some people dreamed about how the church could be doesn't mean their dreams were the right way to continue going. The return of many Catholic traditions and practices (sacraments, sacramentals, liturgy of the hours, adoration, statues, rosary, etc.) means what we have means something and we are putting a different slant on what they mean to us. It's a new church, just not the new church liberals hoped for. If you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit on the living Church, then this is what we need now. Thank God Vatican I was cut short and Vatican II continued its work but in a very different direction. You just never know what Today's church needs. We regroup with some of the best things the Roman Catholic Church has. Now we need to see it with fresh eyes and new power and grace from God.

Prev12 Next

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment