Very quick post, which is perhaps super-obvious and a bit unsportsmanlike...you know...like a biological man gloating after he beats a biological woman in a swim meet:
A discussion with a Fourth Degree knight regarding the state of the Knights of Columbus (as a fraternal Catholic organization, not as an insurance company) prompted me to poke around for a few minutes. We were talking about how he never purchased the new (less flamboyant but more cringe-worthy) Fourth Degree outfit, and how many Fourth Degree assemblies and the priests who want the Fourth Degree pomp-and-circumstance have basically given the finger to headquarters and continue to wear the old garb.
Meanwhile, the Knights present themselves as a growing and vibrant organization of courageous men (all hiding behind masks even last fall, years after the start of the COVID drama). And I found an interesting speech by el Supremo, only a few weeks before the COVID drama began, in which he gives us some chestnuts:
1. An absurd claim:
"A rising tide lifts all boats, and there has been a rising tide since the Second Vatican Council."
2. Disproving his own "rising tide" claim (again, before COVID church lockouts):
"Over the last 50 years, more than 26 million Americans have left the Catholic faith, along with millions more in Canada. In the past several decades alone, baptisms have fallen by more than 40%; sacramental marriages have plummeted by two-thirds; and the percentage of Catholics who attend Mass every week has dropped from more than half to just over 20%. Approximately four out of every 10 “born and raised” Catholics no longer identify as Catholics, and for every person in the United States who converts to the Catholic faith, seven leave"
3. Duh, but whose failure? Not the hierarchy's, of course.
"My brother Knights, this crisis in our Church is really a crisis of evangelization — or rather, it is a crisis of a failure to evangelize. In a particular way, it is a failure to evangelize the Catholic family and to evangelize within the Catholic family."
4. Some rebel, but to most rebel after years of good catechesis and devout sacramental practice? Is it really the parents? And if it is, is it because of the parents' bad formation? And is it because it's just boring? Or because it's effeminate and undemanding of manly characteristics?
"First, large numbers of young adults rebel after years of catechesis and sacramental practice under their parents’ guidance. Many of them find they were only going through the motions with their parents; they never really internalized the Catholic faith and now they find it boring."
5. What could possibly be contrary to Catholic moral teaching in the Bergolian pontificate? Oh yeah . . . using air conditioning, owning private property, achieving economic stability, defending anything that the Church taught prior to Paul VI's reign.
"A second category is made up of Catholics who choose a lifestyle contrary to Catholic moral teaching and leave the Church."
6. But where to reach out when they aren't at the feminized Mass? Oh yeah, ...they're sleeping in on Sunday, probably with their girlfriend (or boyfriend):
"We must reach out to meet these men where they are. And when we do, we must show them that they are called to be men of charity, unity and fraternity."
7. Maybe they'll add or restore something powerful to their program to buck the trend?
"Early in the new year, we will begin offering a new and groundbreaking combined exemplification of our principles of charity, unity and fraternity."
8. Will we call for more effort and more commitment on the part of Catholic men?
"When we ask them why, they tell us three ceremonies are too time-consuming and too difficult to attend. They also tell us that secrecy is unnecessary, and sometimes, it is even an impediment to joining. . . . Today, our current system is too often a stumbling block, not a gateway to membership."
9. Oh, heck, I give up.
For the full speech go here:
https://www.kofc.org/en/news-room/columbia/2020/january/crisis-calls-for-knights.html
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