Three things you'll never see on the Vortex

By now you know that I don't care for chicken little Catholicism.  While it may be right to call attention to those things that weaken the faith it's always over the top to find nothing right and than blame always the Bishops, with no regard to Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity.  And imagine having a Catholic website that never shares any good news.  Ouch.

So we won't hear about the amazing numbers of new Catholics that entered the Church Saturday night, both in this country and worldwide.  Of course most of these new Catholics were shepherded in via the RCIA program.  Now since the this was given new and robust life by the 2nd Vatican Council, chances are you ain't gonna hear much about this!  See my previous post from a few days ago.

You won't hear this either, of course unless he can spin it.  Vocations in the USA are, well, what's the word, UP.  480 men to be ordained this year, up from 440 last year.  And seminaries are gaining momentum; no, not everywhere, but net UP.  This surely must be a downer for chicken little.

And finally, what about Catholics Come Home?  Just this lent many dioceses used this program, and as is always the case with this ministry, there is evidence of Catholics returning home.  Even in Boston.  Big reports from Boston.  I experienced this personally on Easter morning when a lady waited for me after Mass to tell me her story.  After 8 years, she came home!

You know, I love all my brother and sister Catholics; the Latin only crowd, the charasmatic, the churched and not so churched, the devout and the many who may have made their way to Mass yesterday for the 1st time since Christmas, or last Easter.  The Church is always made up of imperfect people, striving for perfection, sinners who fall on the mercy of Christ.  The Church will always have problems, with governance, liturgy, scandal, human matters.  We should be vigilant, we should be corrective but we must be kind, compassionate and caring.  And we should celebrate the little, and not so little victories; we should smell the roses, especially if we always wake up and smell the coffee.

To sum up; tell the whole story; the entire story.  Acknowledge failures if you must, but to do so without being a "solution" is just noise.  And acknowledge the good; the good that comes from Jesus Christ and His Church and the people of God, human nature and all.