A Dying Breed

Lately I have been thinking about the demise of liberal Catholicism. Liberal Catholicism has actually been dying for about 40 years now. The Second Vatican Council was the beginning of the end for a movement that St. Pius X described as Modernism. I say this because in the years immediately following the council the Church lost millions and millions of Catholic clergy, religious, and lay people. As an institution we have been seriously hemorrhaging for about 40 years. Now, after these 40 years in the desert, we are beginning to see the signs of a revival.

Liberal Catholicism has been dying because it really has nothing unique to offer. Once people began drinking from the trough of liberal waters they, by and large, stopped going to Church. After all, if everything can be relegated to private conscience then there really is no such thing as sin. If every religion is equally valid then why bother getting out of bed on Sunday morning to go to Mass. If everyone is saved just so long as they are “tolerant” then there is little incentive to meet the demands of Catholicism.

Now the funny thing is, liberal Catholics don’t realize that they are part of a dying movement. They have had their way for so long that they don’t recognize the signs of the times. Traditional Catholicism is once again beginning to take hold. It is only a matter of time. Liberal Catholicism will be nothing more than a painful memory in the not too distant future. In the meantime we await the change, prayerfully and patiently.