Julius Blah unfortunately I do not believe attendance is the issue. I guesstimate that easily 80-90% of people in attendance who identify as Christians are Christians in name and tradition only. I believe only about 10-20% are true followers of Christ.
@JW Pev i am an syrian christian. In the southern tip of India .St Thomas christians started their faith in AD 50..We have several orthodox and RC full communion eastern and western syrian churches in southern parts of India .
@JW Perry Hello my friend, there is only one GOD, GOD made the animals and the human, so human and animals can't be "gods" Sadly the Hindus people are falling in the lies of Islam, Wacht Christian Prince and David Wood videos to see how Islam lies and the Quran is not from God, share with all the people you can, help Indian people to get out of Islam
@@cmntkxp Thank God Brother im Catholic too, sadly Indian people are falling into the lies of Islam, i watch Christian Prince and David Wood videos to see how Islam and Quran lies, share with Indian people
I am a cradle Catholic, then did not attend church for almost 20 years. I went into a church one Sunday saying I need a sign I should be here. The Gospel reading was the the Prodigal Son. I looked up and said "okay I get the hint."
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened. The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door acceptance of homosexuality look the other way when discussing abortion open borders promoting a social Marxist agenda .
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened. The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door acceptance of homosexuality look the other way when discussing abortion open borders promoting a social Marxist agenda .
@@topseykretts7608 Before the 1960's the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec condemned urbanisation and the big cities as being sinful. French-Canadian culture was built on the land. It was rooted on the farms and the small villages. They knew that once people left the farms and villages that church attendance would decline. The Catholic Church in Quebec said that big cities and urbanisation would destroy French-Canadian Catholic culture. They were correct. The ironic thing about this is that the Catholic Church contributed to this problem. The Catholic Church encouraged the people of Quebec to have large families. For two hundred years French-Canadians had the largest birthrate in the world for a European people. With such a large surplus population they had no choice but to leave the farms and villages and go to the big cities.
@@topseykretts7608 The Catholic Church is glad that so many Filipinos are immigrating to Canada. Filipino immigrants have rejuvenated a lot of Catholic Churches in Canada.
I am so, so thankful that I decided to be Catholic. I chose to be Catholic when I was four years old not because my mother or father took me to church....they never took me to any church. When I was four years old I told my mother that I want to be baptized and that I have chosen to be Catholic. My mother did not listen or pay attentipon to what I was saying after all I was only four years old. I demanded to be baptized, I chose my Godmother. I told the lady who I chose to be my Godmother the situation. The irony of all is....that I was baptized September 11. I can say that I have been Catholic my whole life.Thank you so much for the video clip father Casey. God bless you.
im from the Philippines. The Church still plays a big part of our culture.. many still attend daily and sunday Masses.. Churches are packed with faithful who adhere to the Gospel. now with the Pandemic.. Our Masses are online.. still many watch the online Masses.
I'm starting to feel the decline of the Church, I have like over a dozen relatives and acquaintances either becoming lapsed Catholics or switching to a new faith - mostly evangelical churches
The Philippines is different, the Catholic Church there exercises compassion first before anything else. As a Filipino in the US, that's the biggest difference I see - somehow I feel judgment here before mercy.
I became Catholic 5 years ago. The biggest influences, besides the Holy Spirit, were the mystics of the past. From reading them, it was clear that they knew God; they didn't just believe, they knew! I wanted and needed that. Some modern day mystics helped as well, including Richard Rohr and the late Thomas Keating. I know that not everyone likes their writings, but find for yourself the writers and the speakers who help you to learn and come to know Christ. Once you really have an experience of Christ and come to know God, as opposed to just believing, you'll be a mystic, too. And if you're like me, you'll find that going to mass always renews that relationship, and you'll go every week, maybe everyday, because you want to be there. It is really no longer an obligation. Thanks, Fr. C
Let me add on to what I wrote. Going to mass, reading the Bible, and praying your heart out to the Lord are critical, too. Reading and listening to speakers like Fr Casey will help as well, but the most important thing you can do is to let God know how much you want to know him personally. I don't think he/she will let you down, but be open to the message, and remember that you have to give time to God to talk to you. Stop and listen a lot!
@kim burley Instead of him becoming what? A protestant? Seriously? Because 30 000 denominations that read the Bible each in a different way, without apostolic authority, with made up (unbiblical) rules like "sola fide" or "sola scriptura", that are void of spirituality, of asceticism, of fasting, void of tradition, void of everything are a better bet?
@kim burley Jesus is a man? Wonderful. But He's also God. And He'll also judge you in the end. He appointed people to go spread His Word. Those people appointed other people. This is how the Early Church was created. A new tradition started and people started asking themselves on what the Word of God was, who God was and how to be sanctified. Are these people perfect? Certainly not. Should I have a personal relationship with our Lord ans Saviour? Yes. But he founded a Church. A 2000-year old institution with many mystics and spiritually mature men and women who have experienced a far deeper level of union with God. It would be foolish to ignore their advice.
@kim burley No, it's just that protestants are so keen on them being the True Church. But how can you be? How can you teach that all you need is to believe in Him and "accept Him as your Lord and Saviour" where He taught that the road to hell is wide and the road to heaven is so narrow? And preached asceticism (e.g. fasting)? Of course, you too are free to believe whatever you want, at least you believe in Him.
The state of the world over this past month has led me to really seek out God. I grew up Catholic and have always considered myself Catholic, yet I wouldn't say I've truly known my religion as well as I should have. My daughters go to a Catholic school, so I definitely feel like I truly understand the importance of knowing one's faith. There has been so many things I've seen in this world as of late that have truly inspired me and have made me see the good in humanity. But on that same token, I see so many people using God as a way of power over others. I've seen people say and treat others so horribly, and yet they claim to be good Christians. This has all made me feel so sad. I started looking on RUclips for answers to some questions that have been on my heart. I stumbled upon your channel a few days ago, and if has helped me tremendously. You have definitely inspired me to search for a deeper and more meaningful connection with Jesus. You've also given me hope for this world. Thank you. Do you have any books you can recommend for someone seeking these things? The way you preach really connects with me, so I'd love to find other things that have a similar vibe. Thanks again.
I hope you get some suggestions for books, because I'm looking for good Catholic books as well. One of my favorite RUclips channels for Catholic content is Bishop Barron's: ruclips.net/user/wordonfirevideofeatured
Even if you don’t want to do a Consecration to Mary, I highly recommend True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. It’s a really good book that helped me a lot
angiem2001 God bless you on your journey to the Immaculate Heart of Jesus. ❤️ I would like to suggest listening to conversion stories, especially by those that vehemently hated what they thought was the Catholic Church/catechism.
So glad you found Fr. Casey! Depending on “lockdown” orders in your area, if you aren’t already attending Mass weekly, I recommend you start and go to confession first thing! You might consider attending Mass and adoration during the week. Our church has adoration, private prayer time and live-streams Mass on FB daily. If you can’t attend in person, watch on RUclips... they even will do livestream of adoration on some channels. Do an examination of conscience, a good act of contrition and spiritual communion daily. You will soon feel more and more of a draw toward Jesus. As for good books, I’ll get to that, but check out this list I provided for someone else after I found them useful when I was beginning my journey back to faith: How To Be Christian; Ascension Presents; EWTN Journey Home (they have others of interest, too); Bishop Robert Barron; Brian Holdsworth; Busted Halo; Catholic Answers; Catholic Truth; Catholic4rednecks; Creed 101; Fr. Mark Goring; Fr. William Nicholas; Keith Nester; Steven Ray (he’s really good, too); Matt Fradd; Practical Theism; The Coming Home Network; The Counsel of Trent; The Joy Of The Faith; Catholic Productions and many more. You can search RUclips by subject and find videos that way, too, but start with videos by the above channels. If you want details about the Catholic Faith, I recommend you download the Laudate app. It’s free and contains a searchable Catechism and all the documents, including two versions of the Catholic Bible, referenced in the footnotes. It has prayers, daily Mass readings with reflexions and interactive rosary with bible verses that go with the mysteries, etc. Check it out! Although it was awkward at first, my husband and I say the rosary every night along with added prayers we’ve chosen. We use an app called I-Rosary (blue cross and rays on a white background). I like it because you can add your own intro and conclusion prayers along with your intentions for novenas. Oh! You might also want to join your local RCIA classes... you will learn tons!
Thank you for this video, Fr. Casey. I’m preparing to enter seminary this Fall and I feel a particular call to work with the youth. My small town in Indiana has a large population of Catholics, but you could consider it more of a lukewarm culture. We started a youth group for the whole city that unites all the parishes that puts on a high schooler-led retreat twice a year with weekly meetings. As a leader of the group, we have been helping the students to foster relationships with Christ and it has been so successful that we had over 60 high school students show up every week to put on the last month’s retreat, with almost 100 kids coming on the retreat! Please pray for the group’s continued success and love for Christ!
I want to share my personal faith experience: I was born and raised a Catholic in 1991 from a long line of devoutly religious farmers. The area in which I was born was well-known as being an epicenter for hardworking, Catholic farmers. A lot of things started changing during the 70s and 80s where they began to forget good catechism doctrine. My parents were an exception. They both understood that they needed God in their own personal lives in order to make it. I was raised not poor, but definitely lower middle class since we were dairy farmers. Back in those days, it was unheard of to have more than 200 cows on a single dairy farm. Our faith kept us together. I remember my dad praying with my two brothers and I every night until we were teenagers. Unfortunately, by the time 2005 was coming around, a lot of people were leaving the faith because young people were not sticking around, and there was no reason to start farming because of the prevailing culture of “get big or get out”. People started looking to secular culture and an atheist interpretation of science to meet their needs. My honest opinion to this day is that young people were chased out by generational clashing. There was a time in my life that I stopped caring about being religious. Rarely in high school did we honor God, so it was natural to think we were expected to separate Church from public life. When I was attending college, I was still practicing, but my catechism was so poor that I couldn’t pray the rosary on my own. I didn’t realize how much I was missing on until I started working full-time and went to a more conservative Catholic mass. For the first 6 months, I admit I was petrified about what was going on. So I decided to go to a more liberal mass for a year to give myself a break. My real break-through was when I moved to Lapeer close to Christmas 2017. The church there was so beautiful and the mass equally as beautiful. I started to fall in love with traditional catholic doctrine, much like my parents grew up with. I was experiencing a personal relationship with both Jesus and the Virgin Mary every time I went. When I started going to the young adults group, that’s when I started getting exposed to apologetics and new prayers that I didn’t even know existed. I learned about Eucharist adoration. After the summer of 2019, after years of not praying to myself, I finally was able to take a stand and pray at least weekly. And after thinking for years that I would remain single, I finally found the woman of my dreams through God’s grace. Everything started to fall into place. I feel as if I needed to be stranded in the desert in order to appreciate God’s saving grace. I am greatly considering becoming a permanent deacon after I get married and have kids. My dream precession would be to farm. I do know it is difficult, but not impossible. If you could give me some pointers, that would be greatly appreciated.
@@davidhogg8721 I can agree with having about 3 to 4 kids. If it ends up where we can handle 4 kids, then I might possibly bump up to 6. I do understand the depopulation trends. I need advice on addressing birthing costs. All I know is I’ll have to live within my means. I would be the sole income provider.
@@davidhogg8721 You do have a point on a lot of what you say. One of the things that I want to teach my kids is money isn’t always everything. It’s not how much stuff you have, it’s the experiences, even the smallest. I want my kids to learn though hard work and determination. I want my kids to be independent, to be able to go out into the world and help the less fortunate.
As a convert that was supposed to be coming into the church this Easter I joined because the church didn’t pander to me or conform to me I joined because it was true and I had to conform to it. The Church changed my life even if it feels like many of the members focus too heavily on minutiae and not on taking care of others and evangelism.
o k A green same for me. I was looking forward to the Easter vigil and everything that went with it but our time will come. I don’t want to church that’s always changing . I want the church that speaks the truth. Thank God for bringing me home
Peter pensive I was an atheist for 15 years. And through a series of events God gently and sometimes not so gently pushed me towards the Catholic Church. And I’m so thankful
Thank you father. I'm a single mom, my only son is 7 years old. I take him to church when I'm off, during the week or weekend. I feel I'm responsible for keeping the faith of God in my small family, thank you for the video have a bless day 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Kudos to you. God said His word will not return to Him void. We never know when or how that will happen but your devotion WILL reap fruit in your son’s life, and for the Kingdom of Heaven!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, And enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love, Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth... ✝️🕊️🔥 ❤️👑💙
We usually ignore the words of the priest invoking the Holy Spirit to descend to the altar. That He is sent by the Son and just as he came to Our Lady to take flesh, he comes to us now in the form of bread and wine. We need to know in minds and hearts that we can actually get this close, that He is really there. “I will not leave you orphans"
I was touched deeply by the reverence at Latin Mass I attended for the first time ,it was very emotional ,Tears fell from my eyes. It was like spiritual pain relief to see the body of Christ treated with such respect. I'm drawn now to this mass, everything is more appealing about it to me .
@@marcokite How would you describe that damage caused by Rahner to the Church? I've been seeing many coments on that but none explained the accusations clearly. I would be grateful if you could!
Or it could be that you are grieving the Holy Spirit by attending Catholic Church. This happened to me, I no longer weep at service I worship the Lord and praise Him with Joy!
Read a history of VII and your eyes will be opened. I've been a Trad for 12 years and will be till I die. A suggestion to read is "The Undermining of the Catholic Church" by Mary Ball Martinez.
@@elizabethcarpenter4313 I'm glad the Tridentine Mass is fulfilling you. It's not necessarily true for others. I would love a Tridentine Mass in English!
@@travismcclendon6663 Travis, there is no such thing because Tridentine means of the council of Trent. At that time, in the 16th century, ALL Masses were in Latin. Latin was the universal language of Holy Mother Church.
Hi Father Casey, I go to UGA. Me and some Orthodox friends came into your office to talk to you if you remember. I hope you're doing well!! I just wanted to say that on the point of 'no one has ever converted because they lost an argument', I actually literally did. I read enough philosophy and become convinced about the reality of God as unlimited being via the argument from contingency. Hegel led me to realize that Kant's proofs against God weren't sound. Other arguments convinced me of the necessity of God the Son as this bridge of organization (Logos) and between the transcendent God (the Father) and the immanent God (the Holy Spirit). It's certainly rare, but there are those of us who have been converted by arguments.
I agree with you, Riley, and the evidence for the resurrection is quite impressive. The church is just so big with different gifts, and intellectuals like yourself, have an important place!
I am one of those who has converted by argument. I grew up in a Muslim country and in a faithless family. I have always been interested in philosophy and science. I was fascinated by the ideas of atheism, represented by Richard Dawkins, Lawrance Krauss, Peter Singer ... (this list may be very long) in those days, I really read a lot of books like the God Delusion, the Selfish gene , God Is Not Great, and I tried to understand atheism and "Godlessness" but some things still felt like they were incomplete. The idea of the universe being such a purposeless place made me a different, unhappy person. After a long period of depression and confusion, I came across a book at the book fair one day: Antony Flew's book, "There is a god". I knew him as a atheist so i was suprised and the book was completly good, but the important thing was not about the book,with that book I had the courage to ask myself if there was God. In the coming time. I started reading Thomas Aqunias, Pascal, C.S lewis, John Lennox, Josh Mcdowell and many others. I just realized how long I wrote and how long I'm going to wrote so, I just want to summarize briefly. I asked myself some questions, I am sure that anyone who is looking for these questions honestly will find the answer. Firstly i believed that there is start ( by The big bang theory) and the end (by Entropy Law) of universe. I think these are strong arguments. And i asked following questions '' Who wrote the laws of nature? Did the universe know we are coming? Can we talk about existence from nothing? Did Jesus really live? Is there anything that refutes the truth of the resurrection? Could Jesus's apostles sacrifice their lives for nothing for the sake of nothing? As a result of another questions and long answers , I found the truth, happines, of life,my home : the Holy Catholic Church.
Me too! I was an atheist/agnostic from childhood up until I started researching the philosophical arguments and watching debates on theistic topics. The persuasiveness and soundness of the arguments moved my heart away from the naturalistic view. What really moved me was CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the discovery that it was a Catholic priest who created the big bang theory (and the resulting ‘no youre wrong, the universe is eternal!’ from atheists at the time), and gary habermas’ Case for the Resurrection. all the dumb stuff i thought about christians as an atheist was disproved.
Same here. I was a basic nominal Christian going to a Christian school until around 10, and then started questioning God and Jesus on the New Atheist style material basis. Was a somewhat militant atheist from that time up until my thirties, when I started seeing cracks in the truth taught to me by the conduits of information within my society. I started seeking answers and ended up coming to Catholicism through the Perennial Traditionalist school of thought. Much happier than I was as an atheist, and much more well-read to boot.
Happy to see a catholic devoted young man on RUclips. In fact, we, the young ones, are feeling very ”lonely” when it comes to faithful peers. But I keep attending to mass every week and praying for God and the Holy Spirit to guide me and my unfaithful friends and family as well. God bless you all and be with you always!
Your touchy-feels blather and Karl Rahner are what got us here to begin with. Forget your “personal relationships” (whatever that means) and return to the traditions and teachings that made Christianity great.
I’m 23 and was born and raised Catholic and I just discovered the traditional sect of the church this year. If anyone is skeptical, trust me. I prayed to St Joseph and he brought me to it. He opened my eyes to it. I was so skeptical at first. Why bother with Latin? You can’t understand anything, I thought! Well I tell you my brothers and sisters, I understand more now than I ever did before. Even going through private catholic school and being involved in ministries. This friar is right. Molding the church around the modern world only seems to be hindering us as Catholics. Everything he mentioned is in the Latin mass and more. It’s like being taken back in time when everywhere there were saints. It’s called the Traditional Latin Mass because the form of the mass dates back to St Gregory the Great. It was formalized at the council of Trent to combat the heresies of the Protestant reformation. If it’s available in your area, try going to a high mass and just watching. Don’t pick up a missal they have, just watch and pray. You’ll be changed I’m sure. My first time attending changed my whole life. I know that the Old Rite is the way we are meant to worship. The whole congregation faces toward God in prayer. It feels like you’ve entered heaven. Don’t believe me? Try it. Viva Cristo Rey!
I was raised to Vatican 2 Catholic and I know Latin Mass is the way to go. Lets hope if God cant get the scourge at the top to repent then he'll remove them. Stating with a Pope that bring South America False spirits Pacamamas Statues in to the Once Holy Church and his crouption of the faith.
Sonny Respicio I don’t want to go back to the Tridentine mass.what would be really useful is if the Vatican included English as an official language.then maybe people outside Vatican City could understand what they are saying.the early church spoke the lingua Franca of the day.
@@fred1534 Latin was choosen because it a dead language and the meaning would never change. Instead of the continuous rewrites and changes with the vernacular. You'd wouldnt have to learn the entire language just the baics of the Latin Mass. You would be able after that to travel to every country in the world and understand for the majority of the service. Further more Latin Mass is worship to God. Priest facing God with his back to People. The Altar and Tabernacle he faces like Jewish Old School. Now we're people center worship. Priest has back to God and they the Modernist threw the Tabernacle out of most of the sanctuarys. Church⛪ service attendance crumbled continuously after Vat 2 now 70% of Catholics dont believe in the true presence...All this was done under the direction of Protestantism & Modernism which gain us nothing but damage to our church watering down everything and making it easier for the Devil to take control. We need to leave the "me" and " I " want behind in our lives... I dont want to learn it either but I will for the Love of Honoring God✨ and Proper Worship 👼☁ and Sticking it HARD to the Devil's Plan💨 👿
@@johnknight2012 I dont need Latin for that. Attended Mass in various foreign countries and didnt speak the language. Because the order of mass is same, though, I knew what was being said. Except of course the intentions and the announcements. Following your logic, we should be using Aramaic. Or Greek, as much of the New Test is written in Greek.
Saying the Novena rosary brings us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ. I returned to the faith before Christmas 2020 and had a profound mystical experience. The profound joy I have walking with our Lord Jesus Christ now allows me, with the Holy Spirits guidance to talk with family and friend with the spirit of wisdom. Through me as the channel of peace people see me and think.....wow, I want what she has! I don't have a church to go to (I went almost everyday) now I just ask our father for everything...and he truly delivers. So, yes! We can evangelise our fellow brethren through speech and joyful glowing of our Holy Spirit. May the peace of the Lord be with you always my friend X
I spent 10 years in Catholic school, and if I had kids, I would probably send them. But I haven't been to mass--except for funerals--in over 10 years. I just try to stay somewhat connected through YT and FB and personal prayer at home, or sometimes in an empty church. I'm glad channels like this exist for people like me who want to retain some connection to the Church.
You should try watching a live-streamed Mass! It’s not the same as really going to Mass but right now is a good time to rediscover it since you can do it from your own home where no one is watching!
I just came from my weekly RCIA class. We have young families joining the Church, and young children too. Take heart, we are in no wise dying out or shrinking.
I am enjoying listening to this with a cup of tea. I remember when it was standing room only if you were late to mass. Now people have drifted away. Too many distractions.
I don’t see eye to eye on every detailed issue with Fr. Casey, but he really hit the nail on the head here. This is great. We need to stop worrying about “damage control” and stop worrying so much about numbers. We need to preach the gospel boldly and challenge people to follow it. That may cause the Church to shrink more quickly in the short term, and so be it, because if people are prompted to leave upon hearing the gospel preached, then they were never really there to begin with.
Throughout life, I've been through ups and downs, and despite adversities, my faith has brought me abundant graces and profound personal spiritual experiences. I've learned over time that being Catholic is not just about religion...it's about developing an ongoing personal relationship with Christ!! Blessed to be one of the mystics.🙏
I was always fascinated by the writings and lives of the great Catholic Mystics...and I quietly always wanted to be one in some way, shape or form. Thanks for the encouragement Father. As Father Mark Goring always says, Viva Cristo Rey! Amen Amen
My parish priest, has remained faithful to offering us those additional traditional liturgical celebrations which help support mystical experiences (besides of course the mass, properly prayed), such as stations of the cross with benediction during lent, vespers on Sunday nights of lent and advent with benediction; and adoration in parishes is key to providing the much needed silence in our busy modern lives; because we won't really have these "mystical experiences" as deeply without Jesus truly present with us in the Eucharist. There is power in that. (Steubenville conferences have very powerful experiences, but all around the eucharist.) Thank you to the parish priests who continue to offer adoration and benediciton!
@@roboparks What would you say to me then? I've seen miracles, and while I do 100% believe in God, I seem to struggle with faith/trust. (I in general struggle with trusting authority) and I'm rather lazy with prayer and reading the bible. Prayer I try and do regularly though forget a good deal.
@@ianlilley2577 Well how do you develop a relationship with someone you dont know or spend time with? And Human Authority is always a problem because people , like myself in the beginning I didn't know the rules and seemed to change at a wim and who ever was in charge. You cant minister to be people were they need to be "you can only minster to them were they are at," Jesus does the same with us. Because in the end Im just a tool for Jesus. He is the potter and I the clay. Hes the Carpenter and I the hammer. And A Life with God is begotten - (Not made) and eternal - (no end , no beginning). But tools are meant to be used so thats a why the local church or local parish. Knowing Scripture is not just about the letter (Memorization)of Law but the Spirit of Law (visceral encounter- meaning going beyond the intellect with Gods Logos , beginning to know Gods Ethos, Pathos and Logos- and not mine). You only know that if you know the Word. And in Praying the Scriptures. But just prayer and reading ,studying Scripture is like sitting on a 2 legged chair. With out the Regulatory Service (Not just Sundays but actual service to Gods community- self sacrifice) Then the chair falls over . "" which is His body, the fullness of Him"" You wont know or be a part of the full body of Christ unless you attend and be of service in a local church or local parish. You wont grow and mature either. This is a prayer. There are many in Scripture. Ephesians 1:15-23 New King James Version (NKJV) 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Peace be with you my friend.
@@ianlilley2577 Thats a Order not a local parish . If you feel called to do that . Thats between you and God. You can do what is right and just and support a local congregation without having a official title .Its whats in your heart thats important. Iam assuming your Catholic (from the comment of knights of Columbus) Have you ever been through the Catholic Catechism or at lest studied the context of it? If you haven't I would start there . Then Call a Local Parish or contact through e-mail that you want to know more and start developing a relationship with local leaders and others in your own community. Even during the lock-down you should be able to this. They can point you in the right direction.
I converted to the catholic faith 25 years ago. It has taken some unique experiences, personally, to really bring a fire in my heart for Jesus. I am now learning everything I can through podcasts and books. An hour a week doesn't teach you enough, you have to persue learning on your own time. It is amazing and very worth the time! Thanks be to God! 🙏❤
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened. The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door acceptance of homosexuality look the other way when discussing abortion open borders promoting a social Marxist agenda .
We are the faces of that intimacy with Christ; thank you Fr. Casey for unsettling me in my keeping my personal too private. Now, I understand, although it is a matter of public image our Church is the way it is; it is more a matter of us not telling and showing the world about our personal intimacy with Jesus!
Is there a structure in our Church that sends out stories and images in all media platforms of the good Catholics have been doing for the specific purpose of unsettling the agnosticism infecting many, many young people now? The Church is ageing and we can not being too strategic in targetting to attract more and more young people to turn into practicing persons of faith!
In the Netherlands, our country has become very secular. Some psychological therapists even say that they see a lot of people that would be better helped by a pastoral worker then a psychologist (when dealing with grief, loneliness or life purpose issues), but people don't have the connection to a church anymore. My grandparents stopped going to church in their time, so I was raised disconnected to the Christian tradition. Your message to create more mystics is very good. Also spread word that Jesus can be felt like that, I truly didn't even know people still met him to this day. I thought Christians just worshipped a historic figure. I wouldn't go to hip churches, because I had no reason to go to any church, but after a spiritual experience I went looking for information myself and joined a church. To learn about God, Jesus and all his works. Changed my life so much, I'm very grateful churches aren't gone completely!!!🙏
Insightful comments and thought provoking for this pastor. Thank you. These are the things that the leadership in my parish and I discuss constantly. May God bless your ministry. -Fr. John Kerns P.S. I was ordained on Oct. 4. Your founder is one of my heroes and role models.
If my church was the primary force for social welfare in my community, then my belief in God or not would not stop me from being there every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday (and every other day I would volunteer at our food security kitchen, our free medical clinic, our community law clinic, and our schools). The best way to create mystics is to create a force for good so strong, that every US citizen of any faith knows that when disaster strikes, their local Catholic church is the first point of relief. The Chinese say that their emperors had the Mandate of Heaven, and when they lost it, so too did they lose control of China. I believe the same can be said of the Catholic Church. We must regain our Mandate of Heaven to be the force for divine good on this planet.
I am Catholic in Brazil. In Brazil, communism, gramscism, politics, all these bad things entered the Catholic Church through men and women who became priests and nuns just to indoctrinate the faithful. They became bishops, and they destroyed the Catholic Church in Brazil, but we still have some brave Fathers who resist this and are few but we follow them. I was discouraged, I would die, but before that happens, I realize that the Catholic Church in Brazil and in the world is alive thanks to the faithful, thanks to good priests, and so it will be. Our Lady Mary, Mother of God, the Saints and the Angels, they help us and unite us. Today I know that I am no longer alone, I have a Church that is spread all over the World, and that Church is Alive in each of my brothers and sisters throughout the World, and I can die in peace. Gratitude for the post.
I’m not catholic but I totally resonate with this. I am in my 30s and by far the youngest member of my church. I think some of the older folks who I ate Ed church with (who I love deeply) go out of guilt and habit or socialize and I am there searching for the mystics. I feel like a ship adrift. My church are doers but I feel alone spiritually. I appreciate you. Nearly done with your book and it resonates even though I am ignorant about Catholics.
My, my, my, my, my! My young friend, you sure went out on a few limbs there, didn't you! And I could not agree with you more. I am a 68yo cradle Catholic [Irish, from Mass. consequently VERY REAL Catholic - LOL!] with a MA in Theology, and 44 years in a Catholic high school classroom], it brings joy to my heart to hear a young [an may I also say good looking] priest quote Rahner! The title of my Master's Thesis [well into my 5th year of teaching] was "Now that I have all the answers, will somebody please tell me the Questions!? I have tried, in the decades that followed, to open student's minds and hearts to asking the QUESTIONS! To quote Gertrude Stein, "It's not the answers that are important. It's the questions. The questions." If I may weigh in on one of your points: I have a BA in music, and have spend my career in liturgical music - as well as the classroom. And I was SO thrilled to hear you say that we need "well rehearsed, theologically sound music". There is no way we can accomplish a "mystic" experience without it. So Catholic churches [who have, for centuries, relied on well meaning, volunteer help] need to break out of that mold! We have a lot to learn from our Protestant brothers and sisters, and actually HIRE well trained Church Musicians, and build up choirs with hired "section leaders" who will insure that the choice and the execution of liturgical music is resplendent, and which will "raise the mind and the heart to God". Well done, my young friend. Well done. Keep your vision alive!
Casey,thanks to you and Karl Ranger I now know I am a mystic. I would not change my personal relationship with our God for anything. Bravo this was your best as to where the church is going. Thank you
"[Homilies] that deeply unsettles them to the realities of the Gospel." Amen, Father! I try to do that every time my pastor gives me the opportunity to preach.
I love this! This is so true. I recently came back to the Faith after many years of atheism and I’m noticing that I’m becoming a bit of an example among my friends and peers. I’m not proselytizing directly, but having discussions and setting an example really helps.
Fr. Casey, thank you again for your reflections. I will offer my POV, that this is in large measure a leadership problem. People go to church to have an experience of the Holy and the Sacred. The music and liturgy in the RC church has become impoverished. The worship experience is now even more "low church" than in many Episcopalian parishes. We don't have to go back to the Latin mass, or ad orientem worship, although kneeling for the eucharist might impart more reverence to the heart. We need better music, music that conveys authentic feelings of worship: devotion, humility, solemnity, tenderness, and glory. We need more dignified language. We are for example, slaughtering the recitation of the psalms with such uninspired behaviors as sitting when we sing (stand when you sing! Any protestant knows that!) responsorial psalm recitation with each side of the room reading alternating verses gets people more involved than repeating these lame melodies and paraphrases. Who creates this stuff? It's as if the people who design our worship have lost all sense of the sacred beauty and of people's need for such experience. And I hear no one speaking up about these things except the fringe right!
Why do you suggest that we don't have to go back to the Tridentine mass when everything that you just said about better worship that conveys authentic feelings of worship , a more dignified language etc is literally The Tridentine/Ad Orientem Mass. The Tridentine Mass fills the air with glory and gives the sense of authentic worship as if its heaven on earth. The preservation of church teaching, doctrine etc is kept by the Latin language and its kept that way so modernists and heretics don't change, "modernize" or even alter the words. Translations are of course vital for understanding what the words actually mean but the English translations give the actual meaning of the word and the modernists and heretics can't alter the translated words because if they did the words wouldn't make sense. All in All the TLM should be the Main form of the mass and gladly the Traditional Latin Mass is satisfying the crave of tradition and beauty to the youth of today. Without the Latin Mass and Traditional Catholicsm i would have been an orthodox already. I just can't stand the clown masses and heresy being performed in Modern Catholicsm (not saying Trad Catholicism is perfect btw)
I agree with you, the way the Mass has been done for the past 50 years I believe has sent many looking for the exit. The return of the Latin Mass has given many a renewed hope. Although we should not discard the Novus Ordo, this Mass in the Vernacular can also be very beautiful if done properly, check out the Mass directed by Paul Jernberg here on RUclips. Amazing what this new Mass can be if greatly improved.
@@roboparks but we should definitely embrace Modernism and Secularism amiright? God never said you can condone errors and simply say "it's okay, you just love and no one cares if you commit sin"
Thank you Fr. Casey! I hope soon to be part of the OFS! Everything towards the end of the video really struck a conviction within me. Please pray for my own mystical, personal relationship with God and God's people, and for us to rebuild like St. Francis did the leaking walls of the church with this divine truth permeated in everything we do.
My parents sent us to Catholic school, we all are now Catholics. Now our children are faithful Catholics. We pray Rosary and DM chaplet together if possible. Thank you Lord for the grace of Catholic faith🙏💕
Amen this needs to be done in the Catholic Church. A return to traditions. Father, I’m an Orthodox Christian and I feel as though the Orthodox Church hasn’t changed at all to become like the world. It has staid pure. And it really has made all the difference. The liturgy and the sermons inspire faith and prayer. It’s profound.
I'm Catholic but I must say Orthodox liturgies are absolutely MAGNIFICENT. My first mass ever was with the Indonesian Orthodox Church, among Erytrean and Pakistani refugees hidden by the archymandrite, i'll never forget that moment. God bless you!
I think we have to do three things to keep Catholicism alive--know the faith, practice the faith, renew your faith most people don't know basic Catholic teachings, why we believe what we believe
I recently started attending Mass. I had 45 year layoff. I originally went to early Mass and was surprised there were no children. A couple weeks later I went to 1030am Mass. There were many families with small children. The families confirmed to me the Church is fine and the future will do well. Faith in God will continue with the Catholic Church.
A wonderful description of church as a sacred and holy place when people go of their own volition. You are always welcome at our little TLM community Father, where rediscovered, the old rite is a world away from the judgemental, stuffy traditional church of my childhood in the sixties.
Father Casey, I think you message is so powerful, I might have to listen to it several times, before I grasp it all. 👀 And I Remember I bought a book by Karl Rahner 30 years ago, never read it, maybe this is the time to read it. A huge thankyou for your ministry!💟👍🌼
Good evening, father! Please continue your wonderful work. When you said "no one has converted because they lost an argument", it reminded me of a book by Saint Newman, "Grammar of Assent", which I highly recommend to you, in case you haven't already read it. It digs on this concept of how religious assent is different from merely accepting a set of statements as truth.
The Church is NOT dying. The solutions to the lack of the Ordained has solutions that the Church knows about. They will implement change only when they are forced to. We will have to get past the sins of the past before we can move forward. God bless you on your ministry and your commitment to the Church.
I am a Muslim, but I fear a world without the guidance of religion, so I pray even for Catholics and Protestants, for Sikhs and Hindus, for people to find guidance in their life and respect the idea that they will be judged
@George Reyes I will pray for you. You believe in Jesus but you don’t think that he is the son of God. And you think we don’t have guidance? Yes, Jesus is the son of God brother. He came down from heaven, gave his life for our sins, died buried and on the 3rd day he rose again. Open your eyes BrotherI. Open your eye! May God Have mercy on you. Open your eyes.
Amazing!!! God already knowing this era change, inspired the Vatican II council.And also as one modality inspired its practice through the neocatechumenal way. With the Virgin Mary telling Kiko Arguello, “Lets make Christian communities as the sacred family of Nazareth, who live in humility, simplicity, and praise. The other is Christ.” Currently, this itinerary of faith has many fruits. Bring people back away of the faith, reconstructed destroyed families, transmission of faith to children, gave consecrated vocations to the church, families in mission who abandon everything for the new evangelization, bring the presence of the church in deschristianized places through the mission ad gentes, in which four or five families and priest go to a hard place to live there and make visible the love of God through a Christian community (Church) and people watching how this community live bring the non-believers to the faith. A missionary Church.
Hi , father Casey, plz visit Tanzania in Africa when everything is settled if the Lord wishea I love you my fellow brother in Christ, may the Lord bless you and guide you always in your life and your ministry
@@q2lover58 The priests are father figures who assume the spiritual care of their respective congregations. The nuns are referred to as mother, women engaged in a ministry are referred to as sisters, laymen dedicated to a particular order are brothers, etc.
All the churches I have attended where the Extraordinary form is celebrated are growing! Reverence and love for Christ is blooming more there. :) Praise God. We must pray for our supernatural faith in God to grow. Pray to your angels, they love you and want to help you. Happy Divine Mercy to you all!
In the very old times the Holy Mass was the "Main Event" of the week. Back in the days the average people didn´t have any electrical music, no TV, no radio, no light-bulbs, no perfume. What they had was a tough farm job 6 days a week, 15 hours a day (in summer) and they did not even smell the manure anymore, because the smell was all over the place. Now imagine what kind of almost super-natural experience the Holy Mass was with it´s pipe-organ, it´s latin-sung mysteries and it´s clouds of incense. In the 1960s a lot of this mysteric character was reduced in a false attempt to create a "modern" worship. That´s why you can see this drastic change in the number of mass attendends. Even so called "humanistic" (atheistic) organisations are wondering, why the catholic church did this. The comeback of the traditional Holy Mass would be a HUGE improvement, because the modern people are looking for such an "Main Event" of week aswell. Something supernatural in a world full of stuff without any value at all. I´m not a member of a traditional parish, but each time when I was invited to a traditional Holy Mass I was buffeld when I saw the large amount of young catholics in those "not-modern" churches.
One time my Grandfathter said to me when i asked him about traditional mass he told me: "it was like this, when the priest turned withhis back to the people, everybody started chatting"
Vatican II and parallel liturgical reform movements in Protestantism were a reaction to the heart of Christendom in Europe turning itself into the charnelhouse of the world -- twice! -- while the excesses of Orthodoxy made a splendid catechumenate for Stalinism. Be careful what you wish for, lest it be granted when you're not ready for it.
and @breakingintheHabit I think you misunderstand, and represent a false face of the Traditional movement. What you seem to be saying is the reason why @BreakingintheHabit isn't in the Trad movement. You say, "Now imagine what kind of almost super-natural experience the Holy Mass was with it´s pipe-organ, it´s latin-sung mysteries and it´s clouds of incense. " But that's a terrible and false approach. The true worth of the Traditional Latin Mass lies not in the beautiful outward signs. You seem to be focused on aesthetics. This is exactly what he is speaking against in the video. The Bible plainly shows that God is after our hearts, not the way we act and feel exclusively at Church. Christ says, the ones who Love me are those who keep my Cammandments. This would seem like a trad statement, and it is. However there are unfortunately so many people that claim to be in the trad movement who are mostly in it for the aesthetics and feelings. Very. Very unfortunate. Read the Bible (With traditional Catholic Guidance, of course). You will find that God is after our Heart. The Problem with modern Catholics and protestants is that they say, "God ONLY cares about what is in our hearts", but this becomes the trap of relativism where people think only intentions matter, and that the outward does not have to reflect the inward. lex orandi lex credendi lex vivendi. We need the Traditional Latin Mass. We need to return to Tradition. But when aesthetics become the end and not one of the means, we are doing the exact opposite. God Bless!
This was certainly a wake up call. I’ve been teaching the public school children in my Parish religious education ( CCD) for over 35 years and it’s sad to see how lax the Catholic families are that send their children. I teach 7th graders preparing for Confirmation and most never go to Mass and haven’t been to Confession since their first Holy Communion, unless we take them once a year. Your right Father, it comes down to weather you really understand what being Catholic means and how important that meaning is to either make you follow Christ or abandon His Church. Very disheartening what’s going on. Life should not return to the “normal” after this pandemic, for if it does we’ll have learned nothing and I fear be worse off than we were before. God help us and guide and enlighten us......Sr. Diane Joan, FCMDM.
The church needs to stop this New Age music and go back to the old traditions that made it so unique and special. I’m 22 and would much rather have an organ and Latin liturgies rather than some dude with a guitar. I agree with you that so many churches are changing for all the wrong reasons. “Putting the cart before the horse” as you said. “A church who marries the spirit of the age becomes a widow in the next”
I have been denouncing our Caucasian Priest playing secular Country music for decades already .He based his homily on the lyrics of played song/s . This Bishop is fearful of him,as they label him " Cowboy Priest" and is very outspoken.Some parishioners have car sticker that says" Dont mess with Fr .Roy". He also tug along his gargantuan pet dogs,during Masses to the altar close to him.He is anti-Trump too and couldnt careless, if there are proTrump parishioners ,during homilies .
David Campbell Having a band play every song hymn and response is so cringe worthy. I almost walked out of a mass once because it was so horrible. I felt like I was at an evangelical church. I don’t understand why they think this is making mass better. All you need is an organ and choir...
Father, yours faithful reverend here, I am thoroughly stunned by your understanding of the underlying reasons for the Mother Church fading away from the lives of people as an encapsulating body. While I travel to places many, and can unfortunately agree with you that in the West religion is now private, I am thoroughly convinced that the end of Christ the King will NOT come as transforming parishes into mystical gatherings. Hossana the Highest will not allow His bride to fall away like that. I feel and believe that there will be a resurgence. When the Church is at the bottom, thrown away by many and disregarded as unimportant, there will be a statement. A claim for Christ the King. A land, a people, where an example will be set on how to govern, to live with happiness in knowing Him. I extend my praises to you, Father, for your work is the work of the soul. Dominus vobiscum!
Obrigada por colocar a legenda em português. Sou brasileira e católica, reconheço que não vou à missa regularmente, mas explicações como as suas e demais religiosos católicos sobre o catolicismo vieram a fortalecer ainda mais a minha fé na Santa Igreja Católica. Obrigada 🙏🏻 Deus o abençoe. Thank you for putting the caption in Portuguese. I am Brazilian and Catholic, I recognize that I do not go to Mass regularly, but explanations such as yours and other Catholic religious about Catholicism have further strengthened my faith in the Holy Catholic Church. Thank you 🙏🏻 God bless you.
Amen! We are all mystics. We are all contemplatives. Our deepest desire and our ultimate goal in life should be a close, loving relationship with Jesus.
Dude....YES! What you said. So glad to hear a young priest say these things. I am older and have some problems so I seldom make it to Mass anymore....but the foundation I received in my 20s, 30s, and 4Os and even 50s has given me a solid foundation so that I am still experiencing God in my living room over coffee. Hope to get back to Mass soon but keeping that mystical experience going here in my living room.
I became an atheist in school (I went to a Catholic school) because I just thought Catholicism was too childish, cringey and lame. The reading of the Gospel every morning before class, having to personally 'meditate' the text and all of that just seemed like a yoga class. Then we had masses that were tedious and irritating: taking each other hands for prayer, 'meditation' with religious-themed vernacular music with sexual-sounding lyrics and going to exhausting religious trips (you can imagine it: guitars, dancing, all of that). Then, the wave of New Atheism came in: George Carlin pointing out how stupid it all was, atheist scientists arguing against religion, ... all things you can imagine. Then, I actually grabbed books. I studied history, loved it. Found out how the Church really came to be, how it developed through history, found out that it was an actually serious thing and not a yoga class. I read Aquinas, I read Dominican friars, the Jesuit`s labour in my country... I found out how serious the Church actually was, I got very hooked with theology and history and I started admiring clergymen and nun`s intelligence. All of my understanding of Catholicism when I was an atheist was nothing but ignorance. I think that's the reason the number of atheists is exponentially growing: religion just seems childish. It is, as just say, the lacking of ambience for mysticism: contemporary life is just too accelerated and nobody is interested anymore in a dying Church. The spiritual need, however, is not dead: it craves for other ways. There is an increasing revival of European paganism, for example: the extremist left-winged youth tends to oppose Christianism and seek for other, more attractive ways of spirituality, such as nature`s worship. I'm pretty sure that if you ask random people on the streets in these first world mostly-Atheist countries about spirituality, most of them wouldn't mock it and they would say that it is an actual thing. The Church tried to 'adapt to modernity' and failed miserably. In fact, I'm convinced that returning to the old fashion would gain the Church some souls: Latin prayers, tridentine mass, heavenly-looking parishes and all of these things that create the 'ambience' for mysticism and clean the 'childish' image of contemporary Catholicism.
Now I just learnt there are more than the merely Latin rite! I always wondered if imposing Latin on so culturally different environments would work out, but turns out it was always possible to be a non Latin Catholic! It makes Catholicism even more beautiful. I still, however, think that the image of the Church -particularly Latin Church- is nowadays seen as childish and this is what makes atheists.. atheists.
Traditional Christianity and especially Catholicism, is grounded in fear, guilt and shame. The Church emphasizes how unworthy we are and its prayers require expressing that unworthiness: “Oh Lord I am not worthy that I should come into thy presence….” and many other examples. During my Catholic school years in the 1940’s and 50’s, I, along with my Catholic schoolmates, went to Confession almost every Saturday to avoid the pains of hell (explicitly stated in the Act of Contrition) and to reduce our suffering in Purgatory. Based on Catholic teaching taught by nuns, brothers and priests and not CCD teachers, the very best outcome for a baptized Catholic would be to die before reaching “the age of reason” unequivocally defined in the pre-1992 Catechism as age 7. That kid would go straight to Heaven with no detour to the horrible suffering in Purgatory. But if a pubescent kid willfully retains a sexual thought and dies in an accident before going to Confession, that kid goes straight to hell! Purgatory was a frightening destination for almost everyone who was not destined to hell. So we sought all those indulgences sprinkled throughout Our Sunday Missal indicating the exact number of days we could lessen our time there by performing the specified action such as a novena, stations of the cross, etc.. Many of the prayers at Mass were offered for “the poor souls in Purgatory”. In short, Catholic indoctrination in those days was psychological child abuse.
I love the focus on a personal God as a solution to our current religious crisis. The main problem with Religion (and all human organization) is our limitations with communication. Presumably, we can have perfect communication with God as there is no limit to what God can understand about us. It is also possible to have a deep relational connection with another human being. It takes many hours, many discussions, and the willingness to be vulnerable. But it can be done. It can also be done for a small group of people, say 10. When you get to 100, you the communication limitations begin to show. People need to work together with a common theme, mission, and vision. It can still work as a group of 100 is really just 10 groups of 10. However, once you get larger than that, once you get to 1000, 10,000, 100,000, you run into problems. There aren't enough hours, time, and emotional capacity to connect to everyone and people necessarily begin to rely on unspoken forms of communication. These unspoken forms of communication becomes what we understand as "culture". It works when it is founded on kindness and patience. But it can quickly turn into a cliquish clustering of power (also known as high school). This is why large organizations, not just religious ones, begin to create a life of their own. This includes the Catholic Church. Small Religious organizations have the challenge of being able to sustain the original mission without distorting their values. If they succeed, they'll run into other organizational challenges. The Catholic Church has succeeded in maintaining a consistency throughout its church with solemn deliberation of the sacraments and other process (that protestants would accuse of being "unbiblical"). However, such growth runs into the limitations of human communication. And it makes me wonder if a large religious organization can ever truly follow God. Rather, it may be better to stay small, stay personal, stay individual with deep relationships of a small group of people. However, social media runs counter to that philosophy and encourages large scale communications. What happens is that the most generic information is understood by the masses and is adopted quickly. This rapid adoption is known as "media" and becomes seen as "the truth." Unfortunately, depth is lost in the process. What's the solution? I believe teaching people to understand mysticism is one component. But I believe a different model for "the church" will be necessary in our modern day. I'm wondering if a structure like Toastmasters is something worth looking into. But hay, what do I know? Great video Fr. Casey!
@@BreakingInTheHabit Their absence represents a shift towards Protestantism, due to the fact that Protestants don't believe in The Real Presence and in praying to the Saints
@@BreakingInTheHabit Thanks so much for your videos, don't classify me as a hateful person, I am only saying this out of Love for my protestant Family. Do NOT capitalize the word Church when talking about Protestants, (before you tell me to watch your Video on Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, I've watched and and think it's partially true and partially heretical→), here's why (an exerpt from former protestant minister Steve Wood's "A Prodigal's Journey" featured in Patrick Madrid's bestseller conversion compilation, "Surprised by Truth"): "Then it hit me. Protestants are blind tot he fact that divorce and remarriage is unlawful because Protestantism itself is an unlawful divorce from the Church. As in Hosea's case, the true spiritual condition of the Covenant People with God is reflected in marriage. There may have been several areas within the Catholic Church that needed change at the time of the Reformation, yet problems within the Church, like problems within a marriage, do not merit a divorce." Let me know what you think!! God Bless!! "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) "So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I AM the gate for the sheep. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I AM the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10) . Again would love to have some thorough feedback! Christus Vincit!
To say that the Catholic Faith existed because of “guilt or culture or social pressure” is such an insult to all those great saints, priests, religious and lay people, who kept the faith “in season and out of season” for 2000years and literally built the greatest civilisation in history because of their love and faith in God and his people. They are the ones who passed on a solid Catholic faith from one generation to the next, year after year, century after century. There were no “leaking walls” until the modernists usurped the faith at Vatican II !! And incase you are unaware of it, we are commanded by God to pass on our Faith to our children, instruct them and teach them the way so that when they are older, they will not depart from it. The Church is only dying because the modernists are stabbing it to death with their heresies! However they should have learned by now that the true Catholic Faith, ie the Church Christ established on St. Peter, can never die.
TraditionalCatholicthoughts many thanks for your good wishes and blessings. The Catholic Church so desperately needs faithful Catholics to take their place in the “front line” of battle nowadays. Having lived through Vatican II, I’m reluctant to read the documents again, but will take your tip and do so. Sincere blessings. A rosary will be offered for your intentions.
Yea, the saints have been helping God to mend the holes of a crumbling Church from era to era, but let's not forget we also let down our own generation after generations. And when people of other faiths are more Christ like than 'christians' (whatever type of church and doctrine it may be?), it's human to look for spiritual comfort, support and guidance from other places. “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
I'm not Catholic, I was raised in various protestant denominations that were all evangelistic in their beliefs. Since becoming a Believer in Christ in 1971 as a 13 year old, I've lived through a number of dramatic changes in how the church interacts with society. I can say, with a certainty, that your words ring true for all Believers in Christ, especially in North America. The effort many churches have made to make their services 'seeker friendly' have undermined the sacrifice a person must make to live their life for Christ. We are not to draw nigh unto the world that they may have a 'glimpse' of God, but as James 4:8 says "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts". I subscribed to your channel today, keep preaching the good message Padre.
I totally agree; this is why I’m so excited for the future God has for organizations like the Avila Institute; My life was totally transformed by listening to Dan Burke on “Divine Intimacy Radio” and if we had more priests and lay people willing to speak about the mystical life, and great saints like Theresa of Avila, I think the church would be in a much better place
There is no better relationship with Jesus than when you help and protect his most vulnerable bothers and sisters (Compare Matthew 25:31-46). Eating the body and blood of Jesus gives us the grace to do that whether we receive his body and blood on the tongue while kneeling or in the hand while standing.
Yeah nah I suggest you read the apparitions of Mary the mother of God who said do not take her son in our hand like a potato chip . But let’s look at the evidence since Vatican II . The pew research did a poll on the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and a whopping 70% don’t believe in that they think it’s just a symbol I would bet in the Traditional Latin masses where people receive the Eucharist on their knees it’s probably 99 % believe in the real presence maybe more . But let’s take a closer look in the hand a person in the morning usually goes to washroom touches door knobs and who knows where else and you want him to touch God then , Vatican II has been a disaster and the pew poll 70 percent Catholics don’t believe in the Body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and why would they when they take it like a potato chip...
Ian obviously you probably don’t believe in the true presence because as a cradle Catholic I was shocked when I went to the TLM and the church was packed just RUclips St John Cantius my Parrish now the Novus Ordo mass was about 20% filled which all reports by pew that is right on . When I went up to receive communion I am a sports guy I never fought back tears then I did kneeling for the Body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ and if you look at the pew polls the TLM is up 10 % in 2019 the Novus Ordo is dying . St John Cantius is almost all full and for all 4 masses with 70 % not believing in the real presence that is coming from the Novus Ordo mass because you grab communion like a potato chip. I suggest you go look up the pew poll research with Novus Ordo parishioners to the Latin mass parishioners it is stunning from the views of giving to the church 6.9 TLM 1.5 NO , homosexuals are you ok TLM 2% to NO 60% , abortion are you ok with 1% TLM , 53 % NO these are staggering so I will take you for your word you are definitely not the norm in your views . The church is going to go through a split especially if Francis goes to a one world religion , woman deacons and priests, changing cannon laws like Obama was doing to the Constitution. So my advice research the pew poll because it is not even close a blow out which mass is more Reverent by far the Traditional Latin mass in fact they have had exorcism people go to both masses the devil doesn’t get stirred up till communion at the N. O. But the exorcism person going to the TLM the devil gets stirred up from the beginning hey RUclips Anneliese Michel English Version tapes part 1 and 2 it’s audio that should give all the information you need to know on both masses ....
Hi Father. I really appreciate you talking about this topic. It is a conversation we should be having on social media. I am not sure I agree with everything here, especially Rahner's observation. But I do think this is a conversation worth having in a charitable way, as you have done. I shall certainly think about what you said. Hopefully I will get around to making a video response for you.
I'm a Catholic from Shillong, India.
Happy to say our belief on God, Jesus and the Church is strong
Sunday's mass are full house.
Julius Blah unfortunately I do not believe attendance is the issue. I guesstimate that easily 80-90% of people in attendance who identify as Christians are Christians in name and tradition only. I believe only about 10-20% are true followers of Christ.
@JW Pev i am an syrian christian. In the southern tip of India .St Thomas christians started their faith in AD 50..We have several orthodox and RC full communion eastern and western syrian churches in southern parts of India .
@JW Perry Hello my friend, there is only one GOD, GOD made the animals and the human, so human and animals can't be "gods"
Sadly the Hindus people are falling in the lies of Islam, Wacht Christian Prince and David Wood videos to see how Islam lies and the Quran is not from God, share with all the people you can, help Indian people to get out of Islam
@@cmntkxp Thank God Brother im Catholic too, sadly Indian people are falling into the lies of Islam, i watch Christian Prince and David Wood videos to see how Islam and Quran lies, share with Indian people
That's wonderful to hear!
I am a cradle Catholic, then did not attend church for almost 20 years. I went into a church one Sunday saying I need a sign I should be here. The Gospel reading was the the Prodigal Son. I looked up and said "okay I get the hint."
I love it! I hope you’ve felt Christ since then and keep the faith burning in your heart 😊
Let us pray for all our priests, who dedicate themselves to their people with generosity and unknown sacrifices. Thank you to all our priests.
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened.
The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door
acceptance of homosexuality
look the other way when discussing abortion
open borders
promoting a social Marxist agenda
.
The first time I saw one of this priest's videos, I realized that I am now officially old. Goodness gracious he's young!
@messiahjesusbible dot com that's not fair and a little harsh. Check the plank in your eye before you criticize the speck in someone else's eye.
@@ShawnReidyKofC
That's old stuff from the New Testament !
Read your Torah and really learn who GOD is .
Gasp, what!? I’m a catholic
I am not a Catholic, but was greatly moved by the Father’s discussion. I think every Christian should hear this! Thank you for this posting.
Damon Anderson it’s always time for you research deeply and know better and maybe become a catholic
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened.
The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door
acceptance of homosexuality
look the other way when discussing abortion
open borders
promoting a social Marxist agenda
.
@@topseykretts7608 Before the 1960's the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec condemned urbanisation and the big cities as being sinful. French-Canadian culture was built on the land. It was rooted on the farms and the small villages. They knew that once people left the farms and villages that church attendance would decline. The Catholic Church in Quebec said that big cities and urbanisation would destroy French-Canadian Catholic culture. They were correct. The ironic thing about this is that the Catholic Church contributed to this problem. The Catholic Church encouraged the people of Quebec to have large families. For two hundred years French-Canadians had the largest birthrate in the world for a European people. With such a large surplus population they had no choice but to leave the farms and villages and go to the big cities.
@@roberteaston6413 ....hmmmm....interesting. I believe it. You're right
@@topseykretts7608 The Catholic Church is glad that so many Filipinos are immigrating to Canada. Filipino immigrants have rejuvenated a lot of Catholic Churches in Canada.
I am so, so thankful that I decided to be Catholic. I chose to be Catholic when I was four years old not because my mother or father took me to church....they never took me to any church. When I was four years old I told my mother that I want to be baptized and that I have chosen to be Catholic. My mother did not listen or pay attentipon to what I was saying after all I was only four years old. I demanded to be baptized, I chose my Godmother. I told the lady who I chose to be my Godmother the situation. The irony of all is....that I was baptized September 11. I can say that I have been Catholic my whole life.Thank you so much for the video clip father Casey. God bless you.
im from the Philippines. The Church still plays a big part of our culture.. many still attend daily and sunday Masses.. Churches are packed with faithful who adhere to the Gospel. now with the Pandemic.. Our Masses are online.. still many watch the online Masses.
I think he's mainly talking about the Western world
God bless christians in asia.
God bless Christians in Africa
I'm starting to feel the decline of the Church, I have like over a dozen relatives and acquaintances either becoming lapsed Catholics or switching to a new faith - mostly evangelical churches
The Philippines is different, the Catholic Church there exercises compassion first before anything else. As a Filipino in the US, that's the biggest difference I see - somehow I feel judgment here before mercy.
I became Catholic 5 years ago. The biggest influences, besides the Holy Spirit, were the mystics of the past. From reading them, it was clear that they knew God; they didn't just believe, they knew! I wanted and needed that. Some modern day mystics helped as well, including Richard Rohr and the late Thomas Keating. I know that not everyone likes their writings, but find for yourself the writers and the speakers who help you to learn and come to know Christ. Once you really have an experience of Christ and come to know God, as opposed to just believing, you'll be a mystic, too. And if you're like me, you'll find that going to mass always renews that relationship, and you'll go every week, maybe everyday, because you want to be there. It is really no longer an obligation. Thanks, Fr. C
Let me add on to what I wrote. Going to mass, reading the Bible, and praying your heart out to the Lord are critical, too. Reading and listening to speakers like Fr Casey will help as well, but the most important thing you can do is to let God know how much you want to know him personally. I don't think he/she will let you down, but be open to the message, and remember that you have to give time to God to talk to you. Stop and listen a lot!
May I ask, which mystics in particular did you read? St. Catherine of Siena and St. Therese of Avila? Or were there others that inspired you as well?
@kim burley Instead of him becoming what? A protestant? Seriously? Because 30 000 denominations that read the Bible each in a different way, without apostolic authority, with made up (unbiblical) rules like "sola fide" or "sola scriptura", that are void of spirituality, of asceticism, of fasting, void of tradition, void of everything are a better bet?
@kim burley Jesus is a man?
Wonderful. But He's also God. And He'll also judge you in the end.
He appointed people to go spread His Word. Those people appointed other people. This is how the Early Church was created. A new tradition started and people started asking themselves on what the Word of God was, who God was and how to be sanctified.
Are these people perfect? Certainly not. Should I have a personal relationship with our Lord ans Saviour? Yes. But he founded a Church. A 2000-year old institution with many mystics and spiritually mature men and women who have experienced a far deeper level of union with God. It would be foolish to ignore their advice.
@kim burley No, it's just that protestants are so keen on them being the True Church. But how can you be? How can you teach that all you need is to believe in Him and "accept Him as your Lord and Saviour" where He taught that the road to hell is wide and the road to heaven is so narrow? And preached asceticism (e.g. fasting)?
Of course, you too are free to believe whatever you want, at least you believe in Him.
The state of the world over this past month has led me to really seek out God. I grew up Catholic and have always considered myself Catholic, yet I wouldn't say I've truly known my religion as well as I should have. My daughters go to a Catholic school, so I definitely feel like I truly understand the importance of knowing one's faith. There has been so many things I've seen in this world as of late that have truly inspired me and have made me see the good in humanity. But on that same token, I see so many people using God as a way of power over others. I've seen people say and treat others so horribly, and yet they claim to be good Christians. This has all made me feel so sad. I started looking on RUclips for answers to some questions that have been on my heart. I stumbled upon your channel a few days ago, and if has helped me tremendously. You have definitely inspired me to search for a deeper and more meaningful connection with Jesus. You've also given me hope for this world. Thank you. Do you have any books you can recommend for someone seeking these things? The way you preach really connects with me, so I'd love to find other things that have a similar vibe. Thanks again.
I hope you get some suggestions for books, because I'm looking for good Catholic books as well. One of my favorite RUclips channels for Catholic content is Bishop Barron's: ruclips.net/user/wordonfirevideofeatured
Even if you don’t want to do a Consecration to Mary, I highly recommend True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. It’s a really good book that helped me a lot
We can all do more and better. I agree that the flood gates will open when this pademic gets behind us.
angiem2001 God bless you on your journey to the Immaculate Heart of Jesus. ❤️ I would like to suggest listening to conversion stories, especially by those that vehemently hated what they thought was the Catholic Church/catechism.
So glad you found Fr. Casey! Depending on “lockdown” orders in your area, if you aren’t already attending Mass weekly, I recommend you start and go to confession first thing! You might consider attending Mass and adoration during the week. Our church has adoration, private prayer time and live-streams Mass on FB daily. If you can’t attend in person, watch on RUclips... they even will do livestream of adoration on some channels. Do an examination of conscience, a good act of contrition and spiritual communion daily. You will soon feel more and more of a draw toward Jesus.
As for good books, I’ll get to that, but check out this list I provided for someone else after I found them useful when I was beginning my journey back to faith:
How To Be Christian; Ascension Presents; EWTN Journey Home (they have others of interest, too); Bishop Robert Barron; Brian Holdsworth; Busted Halo; Catholic Answers; Catholic Truth; Catholic4rednecks; Creed 101; Fr. Mark Goring; Fr. William Nicholas; Keith Nester; Steven Ray (he’s really good, too); Matt Fradd; Practical Theism; The Coming Home Network; The Counsel of Trent; The Joy Of The Faith; Catholic Productions and many more. You can search RUclips by subject and find videos that way, too, but start with videos by the above channels.
If you want details about the Catholic Faith, I recommend you download the Laudate app. It’s free and contains a searchable Catechism and all the documents, including two versions of the Catholic Bible, referenced in the footnotes. It has prayers, daily Mass readings with reflexions and interactive rosary with bible verses that go with the mysteries, etc. Check it out! Although it was awkward at first, my husband and I say the rosary every night along with added prayers we’ve chosen. We use an app called I-Rosary (blue cross and rays on a white background). I like it because you can add your own intro and conclusion prayers along with your intentions for novenas.
Oh! You might also want to join your local RCIA classes... you will learn tons!
Thank you for this video, Fr. Casey. I’m preparing to enter seminary this Fall and I feel a particular call to work with the youth. My small town in Indiana has a large population of Catholics, but you could consider it more of a lukewarm culture. We started a youth group for the whole city that unites all the parishes that puts on a high schooler-led retreat twice a year with weekly meetings. As a leader of the group, we have been helping the students to foster relationships with Christ and it has been so successful that we had over 60 high school students show up every week to put on the last month’s retreat, with almost 100 kids coming on the retreat! Please pray for the group’s continued success and love for Christ!
This is just so great on all fronts! Hope you don't mind if the rest of us pray for you, too.
Didn't you learn anything from the Church's sex abuse disaster? Convert adults then let those adults school their children in the faith.
Peter pensive We can use all the prayers we can get!
Yeah nah We have an amazing set of priests here in my Diocese who have saved so many souls. We’re here to convert all, not some. God bless :)
Are you going to the College Seminary or Meinard?
I want to share my personal faith experience:
I was born and raised a Catholic in 1991 from a long line of devoutly religious farmers. The area in which I was born was well-known as being an epicenter for hardworking, Catholic farmers. A lot of things started changing during the 70s and 80s where they began to forget good catechism doctrine.
My parents were an exception. They both understood that they needed God in their own personal lives in order to make it. I was raised not poor, but definitely lower middle class since we were dairy farmers. Back in those days, it was unheard of to have more than 200 cows on a single dairy farm. Our faith kept us together. I remember my dad praying with my two brothers and I every night until we were teenagers.
Unfortunately, by the time 2005 was coming around, a lot of people were leaving the faith because young people were not sticking around, and there was no reason to start farming because of the prevailing culture of “get big or get out”. People started looking to secular culture and an atheist interpretation of science to meet their needs. My honest opinion to this day is that young people were chased out by generational clashing.
There was a time in my life that I stopped caring about being religious. Rarely in high school did we honor God, so it was natural to think we were expected to separate Church from public life. When I was attending college, I was still practicing, but my catechism was so poor that I couldn’t pray the rosary on my own. I didn’t realize how much I was missing on until I started working full-time and went to a more conservative Catholic mass. For the first 6 months, I admit I was petrified about what was going on. So I decided to go to a more liberal mass for a year to give myself a break.
My real break-through was when I moved to Lapeer close to Christmas 2017. The church there was so beautiful and the mass equally as beautiful. I started to fall in love with traditional catholic doctrine, much like my parents grew up with. I was experiencing a personal relationship with both Jesus and the Virgin Mary every time I went. When I started going to the young adults group, that’s when I started getting exposed to apologetics and new prayers that I didn’t even know existed. I learned about Eucharist adoration. After the summer of 2019, after years of not praying to myself, I finally was able to take a stand and pray at least weekly. And after thinking for years that I would remain single, I finally found the woman of my dreams through God’s grace.
Everything started to fall into place. I feel as if I needed to be stranded in the desert in order to appreciate God’s saving grace. I am greatly considering becoming a permanent deacon after I get married and have kids. My dream precession would be to farm. I do know it is difficult, but not impossible. If you could give me some pointers, that would be greatly appreciated.
@@davidhogg8721 I can agree with having about 3 to 4 kids. If it ends up where we can handle 4 kids, then I might possibly bump up to 6. I do understand the depopulation trends. I need advice on addressing birthing costs. All I know is I’ll have to live within my means. I would be the sole income provider.
@@davidhogg8721 You do have a point on a lot of what you say. One of the things that I want to teach my kids is money isn’t always everything. It’s not how much stuff you have, it’s the experiences, even the smallest. I want my kids to learn though hard work and determination. I want my kids to be independent, to be able to go out into the world and help the less fortunate.
This is a time of great purification for the church. The people who really believe will continue to attend
As a convert that was supposed to be coming into the church this Easter I joined because the church didn’t pander to me or conform to me I joined because it was true and I had to conform to it. The Church changed my life even if it feels like many of the members focus too heavily on minutiae and not on taking care of others and evangelism.
O K, Welcome Brother! I, too am a convert from being an agnostic. I hear you on the minutiae. You've got the right attitude.
Peter pensive awesome to hear, very encouraging
Very refreshing to hear. It’s very disappointing to hear so many declare that they’re seeking a church that suits themselves. 😩
o k A green same for me. I was looking forward to the Easter vigil and everything that went with it but our time will come. I don’t want to church that’s always changing . I want the church that speaks the truth. Thank God for bringing me home
Peter pensive I was an atheist for 15 years. And through a series of events God gently and sometimes not so gently pushed me towards the Catholic Church. And I’m so thankful
Thank you father. I'm a single mom, my only son is 7 years old. I take him to church when I'm off, during the week or weekend. I feel I'm responsible for keeping the faith of God in my small family, thank you for the video have a bless day 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Why are you a single mom?
Kudos to you. God said His word will not return to Him void. We never know when or how that will happen but your devotion WILL reap fruit in your son’s life, and for the Kingdom of Heaven!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful,
And enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love,
Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created,
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth...
✝️🕊️🔥 ❤️👑💙
AMEN...AMEN...AMEN...
We usually ignore the words of the priest invoking the Holy Spirit to descend to the altar. That He is sent by the Son and just as he came to Our Lady to take flesh, he comes to us now in the form of bread and wine. We need to know in minds and hearts that we can actually get this close, that He is really there. “I will not leave you orphans"
Tenda tenda tenda .
I was touched deeply by the reverence at Latin Mass I attended for the first time ,it was very emotional ,Tears fell from my eyes. It was like spiritual pain relief to see the body of Christ treated with such respect. I'm drawn now to this mass, everything is more appealing about it to me .
@@marcokite How would you describe that damage caused by Rahner to the Church? I've been seeing many coments on that but none explained the accusations clearly. I would be grateful if you could!
Or it could be that you are grieving the Holy Spirit by attending Catholic Church. This happened to me, I no longer weep at service I worship the Lord and praise Him with Joy!
Read a history of VII and your eyes will be opened. I've been a Trad for 12 years and will be till I die. A suggestion to read is "The Undermining of the Catholic Church" by Mary Ball Martinez.
@@elizabethcarpenter4313 I'm glad the Tridentine Mass is fulfilling you. It's not necessarily true for others. I would love a Tridentine Mass in English!
@@travismcclendon6663 Travis, there is no such thing because Tridentine means of the council of Trent. At that time, in the 16th century, ALL Masses were in Latin. Latin was the universal language of Holy Mother Church.
Hi Father Casey, I go to UGA. Me and some Orthodox friends came into your office to talk to you if you remember. I hope you're doing well!! I just wanted to say that on the point of 'no one has ever converted because they lost an argument', I actually literally did. I read enough philosophy and become convinced about the reality of God as unlimited being via the argument from contingency. Hegel led me to realize that Kant's proofs against God weren't sound. Other arguments convinced me of the necessity of God the Son as this bridge of organization (Logos) and between the transcendent God (the Father) and the immanent God (the Holy Spirit). It's certainly rare, but there are those of us who have been converted by arguments.
I agree with you, Riley, and the evidence for the resurrection is quite impressive. The church is just so big with different gifts, and intellectuals like yourself, have an important place!
I am one of those who has converted by argument. I grew up in a Muslim country and in a faithless family. I have always been interested in philosophy and science. I was fascinated by the ideas of atheism, represented by Richard Dawkins, Lawrance Krauss, Peter Singer ... (this list may be very long) in those days, I really read a lot of books like the God Delusion, the Selfish gene , God Is Not Great, and I tried to understand atheism and "Godlessness" but some things still felt like they were incomplete. The idea of the universe being such a purposeless place made me a different, unhappy person. After a long period of depression and confusion, I came across a book at the book fair one day: Antony Flew's book, "There is a god". I knew him as a atheist so i was suprised and the book was completly good, but the important thing was not about the book,with that book I had the courage to ask myself if there was God. In the coming time. I started reading Thomas Aqunias, Pascal, C.S lewis, John Lennox, Josh Mcdowell and many others. I just realized how long I wrote and how long I'm going to wrote so, I just want to summarize briefly. I asked myself some questions, I am sure that anyone who is looking for these questions honestly will find the answer. Firstly i believed that there is start ( by The big bang theory) and the end (by Entropy Law) of universe. I think these are strong arguments. And i asked following questions '' Who wrote the laws of nature? Did the universe know we are coming? Can we talk about existence from nothing? Did Jesus really live? Is there anything that refutes the truth of the resurrection? Could Jesus's apostles sacrifice their lives for nothing for the sake of nothing? As a result of another questions and long answers , I found the truth, happines, of life,my home : the Holy Catholic Church.
Me too! I was an atheist/agnostic from childhood up until I started researching the philosophical arguments and watching debates on theistic topics. The persuasiveness and soundness of the arguments moved my heart away from the naturalistic view. What really moved me was CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the discovery that it was a Catholic priest who created the big bang theory (and the resulting ‘no youre wrong, the universe is eternal!’ from atheists at the time), and gary habermas’ Case for the Resurrection. all the dumb stuff i thought about christians as an atheist was disproved.
@@erravi Dude. Praise The Lord. Your comment makes me hopeful for so many atheists I've known.
Same here. I was a basic nominal Christian going to a Christian school until around 10, and then started questioning God and Jesus on the New Atheist style material basis. Was a somewhat militant atheist from that time up until my thirties, when I started seeing cracks in the truth taught to me by the conduits of information within my society. I started seeking answers and ended up coming to Catholicism through the Perennial Traditionalist school of thought. Much happier than I was as an atheist, and much more well-read to boot.
Happy to see a catholic devoted young man on RUclips. In fact, we, the young ones, are feeling very ”lonely” when it comes to faithful peers. But I keep attending to mass every week and praying for God and the Holy Spirit to guide me and my unfaithful friends and family as well. God bless you all and be with you always!
Your touchy-feels blather and Karl Rahner are what got us here to begin with. Forget your “personal relationships” (whatever that means) and return to the traditions and teachings that made Christianity great.
I’m 23 and was born and raised Catholic and I just discovered the traditional sect of the church this year. If anyone is skeptical, trust me. I prayed to St Joseph and he brought me to it. He opened my eyes to it. I was so skeptical at first. Why bother with Latin? You can’t understand anything, I thought!
Well I tell you my brothers and sisters, I understand more now than I ever did before. Even going through private catholic school and being involved in ministries. This friar is right. Molding the church around the modern world only seems to be hindering us as Catholics. Everything he mentioned is in the Latin mass and more. It’s like being taken back in time when everywhere there were saints. It’s called the Traditional Latin Mass because the form of the mass dates back to St Gregory the Great. It was formalized at the council of Trent to combat the heresies of the Protestant reformation. If it’s available in your area, try going to a high mass and just watching. Don’t pick up a missal they have, just watch and pray. You’ll be changed I’m sure. My first time attending changed my whole life. I know that the Old Rite is the way we are meant to worship. The whole congregation faces toward God in prayer. It feels like you’ve entered heaven. Don’t believe me? Try it. Viva Cristo Rey!
I was raised to Vatican 2 Catholic and I know Latin Mass is the way to go. Lets hope if God cant get the scourge at the top to repent then he'll remove them. Stating with a Pope that bring South America False spirits Pacamamas Statues in to the Once Holy Church and his crouption of the faith.
Sonny Respicio I don’t want to go back to the Tridentine mass.what would be really useful is if the Vatican included English as an official language.then maybe people outside Vatican City could understand what they are saying.the early church spoke the lingua Franca of the day.
@@fred1534 Latin was choosen because it a dead language and the meaning would never change. Instead of the continuous rewrites and changes with the vernacular. You'd wouldnt have to learn the entire language just the baics of the Latin Mass. You would be able after that to travel to every country in the world and understand for the majority of the service. Further more Latin Mass is worship to God. Priest facing God with his back to People. The Altar and Tabernacle he faces like Jewish Old School. Now we're people center worship. Priest has back to God and they the Modernist threw the Tabernacle out of most of the sanctuarys. Church⛪ service attendance crumbled continuously after Vat 2 now 70% of Catholics dont believe in the true presence...All this was done under the direction of Protestantism & Modernism which gain us nothing but damage to our church watering down everything and making it easier for the Devil to take control. We need to leave the "me" and " I " want behind in our lives... I dont want to learn it either but I will for the Love of Honoring God✨ and Proper Worship 👼☁ and Sticking it HARD to the Devil's Plan💨 👿
@@johnknight2012 whatever floats your boat.
@@johnknight2012 I dont need Latin for that. Attended Mass in various foreign countries and didnt speak the language. Because the order of mass is same, though, I knew what was being said. Except of course the intentions and the announcements. Following your logic, we should be using Aramaic. Or Greek, as much of the New Test is written in Greek.
Saying the Novena rosary brings us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ. I returned to the faith before Christmas 2020 and had a profound mystical experience. The profound joy I have walking with our Lord Jesus Christ now allows me, with the Holy Spirits guidance to talk with family and friend with the spirit of wisdom. Through me as the channel of peace people see me and think.....wow, I want what she has! I don't have a church to go to (I went almost everyday) now I just ask our father for everything...and he truly delivers. So, yes! We can evangelise our fellow brethren through speech and joyful glowing of our Holy Spirit. May the peace of the Lord be with you always my friend X
I spent 10 years in Catholic school, and if I had kids, I would probably send them. But I haven't been to mass--except for funerals--in over 10 years. I just try to stay somewhat connected through YT and FB and personal prayer at home, or sometimes in an empty church. I'm glad channels like this exist for people like me who want to retain some connection to the Church.
You should try watching a live-streamed Mass! It’s not the same as really going to Mass but right now is a good time to rediscover it since you can do it from your own home where no one is watching!
Missing mass is a mortal sin
I just came from my weekly RCIA class. We have young families joining the Church, and young children too. Take heart, we are in no wise dying out or shrinking.
I am enjoying listening to this with a cup of tea. I remember when it was standing room only if you were late to mass. Now people have drifted away. Too many distractions.
@@marcokite There are some people who are so against change, they blame Vatican ll for all the problems in society today.
Yes, your right there are too many distractions......but those distractions also become a testing ground to how much you love the Lord and his Church.
I don’t see eye to eye on every detailed issue with Fr. Casey, but he really hit the nail on the head here. This is great. We need to stop worrying about “damage control” and stop worrying so much about numbers. We need to preach the gospel boldly and challenge people to follow it. That may cause the Church to shrink more quickly in the short term, and so be it, because if people are prompted to leave upon hearing the gospel preached, then they were never really there to begin with.
Blessings Fr. Casey,
You are profound and correct. Thank you.
Message well taken.
Thank you for being here and now.
Throughout life, I've been through ups and downs, and despite adversities, my faith has brought me abundant graces and profound personal spiritual experiences. I've learned over time that being Catholic is not just about religion...it's about developing an ongoing personal relationship with Christ!! Blessed to be one of the mystics.🙏
GenXer82
good for you, that sure is nice.
I was always fascinated by the writings and lives of the great Catholic Mystics...and I quietly always wanted to be one in some way, shape or form. Thanks for the encouragement Father. As Father Mark Goring always says, Viva Cristo Rey! Amen Amen
My parish priest, has remained faithful to offering us those additional traditional liturgical celebrations
which help support mystical experiences (besides of course the mass, properly prayed), such as stations of the cross with benediction during lent, vespers on Sunday nights of lent and advent with benediction; and adoration in parishes is key to providing the much needed silence in our busy modern lives; because we won't really have these "mystical experiences" as deeply without Jesus truly present with us in the Eucharist. There is power in that. (Steubenville conferences have very powerful experiences, but all around the eucharist.) Thank you to the parish priests who continue to offer adoration and benediciton!
THIS IS WHAT ALL CHURCH LEADERS NEED TO KNOW!
I liked the part where you said only the people who have had a profound experience will be at the Mass
Only the people who have had a profound experience will actually read and study their Bible. And going to service is just a result of that.
@@roboparks What would you say to me then?
I've seen miracles, and while I do 100% believe in God, I seem to struggle with faith/trust. (I in general struggle with trusting authority) and I'm rather lazy with prayer and reading the bible.
Prayer I try and do regularly though forget a good deal.
@@ianlilley2577 Well how do you develop a relationship with someone you dont know or spend time with? And Human Authority is always a problem because people , like myself in the beginning I didn't know the rules and seemed to change at a wim and who ever was in charge.
You cant minister to be people were they need to be "you can only minster to them were they are at," Jesus does the same with us. Because in the end Im just a tool for Jesus. He is the potter and I the clay. Hes the Carpenter and I the hammer. And A Life with God is begotten - (Not made) and eternal - (no end , no beginning). But tools are meant to be used so thats a why the local church or local parish.
Knowing Scripture is not just about the letter (Memorization)of Law but the Spirit of Law (visceral encounter- meaning going beyond the intellect with Gods Logos , beginning to know Gods Ethos, Pathos and Logos- and not mine). You only know that if you know the Word. And in Praying the Scriptures. But just prayer and reading ,studying Scripture is like sitting on a 2 legged chair. With out the Regulatory Service (Not just Sundays but actual service to Gods community- self sacrifice) Then the chair falls over . "" which is His body, the fullness of Him"" You wont know or be a part of the full body of Christ unless you attend and be of service in a local church or local parish. You wont grow and mature either.
This is a prayer. There are many in Scripture.
Ephesians 1:15-23 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Peace be with you my friend.
@@roboparks so I suppose I should join something like the knights of Columbus then
@@ianlilley2577 Thats a Order not a local parish . If you feel called to do that . Thats between you and God. You can do what is right and just and support a local congregation without having a official title .Its whats in your heart thats important.
Iam assuming your Catholic (from the comment of knights of Columbus) Have you ever been through the Catholic Catechism or at lest studied the context of it? If you haven't I would start there . Then Call a Local Parish or contact through e-mail that you want to know more and start developing a relationship with local leaders and others in your own community. Even during the lock-down you should be able to this. They can point you in the right direction.
I converted to the catholic faith 25 years ago.
It has taken some unique experiences, personally, to really bring a fire in my heart for Jesus. I am now learning everything I can through podcasts and books. An hour a week doesn't teach you enough, you have to persue learning on your own time. It is amazing and very worth the time!
Thanks be to God! 🙏❤
I’m a Presbyterian. But, this is so good!
Jake Hibbard-Vineyard I left them for catholic but I respect your decision to stay
I've met many great Presbyterians through the pro-life movement. God bless you!
why is the church dying....easy.....Vatican II........Vatican II thought that if we "watered down" the faith and made the Holy Mass more user-friendly, and basically turned everything closer to Protestant churches that it would increase numbers of congregations........but the truth is.......just the opposite happened.
The truth is, people Want structure......they want to be held accountable.....today the churches' liberal stance on social issues is pushing many out the door
acceptance of homosexuality
look the other way when discussing abortion
open borders
promoting a social Marxist agenda
.
Topsey Kretts & turning back on doctrine views in favor of equality
Yes or no: Is Jesus less sacramentally present -- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity -- in a Novus Ordo Mass?
We are the faces of that intimacy with Christ; thank you Fr. Casey for unsettling me in my keeping my personal too private. Now, I understand, although it is a matter of public image our Church is the way it is; it is more a matter of us not telling and showing the world about our personal intimacy with Jesus!
Is there a structure in our Church that sends out stories and images in all media platforms of the good Catholics have been doing for the specific purpose of unsettling the agnosticism infecting many, many young people now? The Church is ageing and we can not being too strategic in targetting to attract more and more young people to turn into practicing persons of faith!
I am a priest in the church of England and just discovered breaking the habit. So good.
In the Netherlands, our country has become very secular. Some psychological therapists even say that they see a lot of people that would be better helped by a pastoral worker then a psychologist (when dealing with grief, loneliness or life purpose issues), but people don't have the connection to a church anymore.
My grandparents stopped going to church in their time, so I was raised disconnected to the Christian tradition. Your message to create more mystics is very good. Also spread word that Jesus can be felt like that, I truly didn't even know people still met him to this day. I thought Christians just worshipped a historic figure. I wouldn't go to hip churches, because I had no reason to go to any church, but after a spiritual experience I went looking for information myself and joined a church. To learn about God, Jesus and all his works. Changed my life so much, I'm very grateful churches aren't gone completely!!!🙏
Insightful comments and thought provoking for this pastor. Thank you. These are the things that the leadership in my parish and I discuss constantly. May God bless your ministry.
-Fr. John Kerns
P.S. I was ordained on Oct. 4. Your founder is one of my heroes and role models.
If my church was the primary force for social welfare in my community, then my belief in God or not would not stop me from being there every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday (and every other day I would volunteer at our food security kitchen, our free medical clinic, our community law clinic, and our schools). The best way to create mystics is to create a force for good so strong, that every US citizen of any faith knows that when disaster strikes, their local Catholic church is the first point of relief. The Chinese say that their emperors had the Mandate of Heaven, and when they lost it, so too did they lose control of China. I believe the same can be said of the Catholic Church. We must regain our Mandate of Heaven to be the force for divine good on this planet.
Dear fr.. it's a real eye opener for me as a priest.. thanks a lot for inspiring.. let's become mystics and carry out our mission.
I am Catholic in Brazil.
In Brazil, communism, gramscism, politics, all these bad things entered the Catholic Church through men and women who became priests and nuns just to indoctrinate the faithful. They became bishops, and they destroyed the Catholic Church in Brazil, but we still have some brave Fathers who resist this and are few but we follow them. I was discouraged, I would die, but before that happens, I realize that the Catholic Church in Brazil and in the world is alive thanks to the faithful, thanks to good priests, and so it will be. Our Lady Mary, Mother of God, the Saints and the Angels, they help us and unite us. Today I know that I am no longer alone, I have a Church that is spread all over the World, and that Church is Alive in each of my brothers and sisters throughout the World, and I can die in peace. Gratitude for the post.
Being a Catholic, I am proud that you are specially born to give vivid explanation on which people misinterpret of our religion
Beautiful. Bless you, Fr. Casey. Yes, to create mystics and a personal relationship with the living God.
You and Matt from Ten Minute Bible Hour should come together and do a video. I think it would be really cool.
crystalrock18 I had that thought this morning when saw Matt’s video with the Catholic theologian!
Jill Christensen Matt from TMBH is a cool guy, with a cool channel that has given light to many on so many theological topics.
Do you think Fr. Casey should also come to Pints with Aquinas? I think it would be nice.
Христо Мартунков, граф Лозенски not familiar with pints with Aquinas. So I can’t say. I mean what ever he chooses to do what he chooses really.
crystalrock18 check out Matt Fradd... he does Pints with Aquinas. He is also on Ascension presents.
I’m not catholic but I totally resonate with this. I am in my 30s and by far the youngest member of my church. I think some of the older folks who I ate Ed church with (who I love deeply) go out of guilt and habit or socialize and I am there searching for the mystics. I feel like a ship adrift. My church are doers but I feel alone spiritually. I appreciate you. Nearly done with your book and it resonates even though I am ignorant about Catholics.
My, my, my, my, my! My young friend, you sure went out on a few limbs there, didn't you! And I could not agree with you more. I am a 68yo cradle Catholic [Irish, from Mass. consequently VERY REAL Catholic - LOL!] with a MA in Theology, and 44 years in a Catholic high school classroom], it brings joy to my heart to hear a young [an may I also say good looking] priest quote Rahner! The title of my Master's Thesis [well into my 5th year of teaching] was "Now that I have all the answers, will somebody please tell me the Questions!? I have tried, in the decades that followed, to open student's minds and hearts to asking the QUESTIONS! To quote Gertrude Stein, "It's not the answers that are important. It's the questions. The questions."
If I may weigh in on one of your points: I have a BA in music, and have spend my career in liturgical music - as well as the classroom. And I was SO thrilled to hear you say that we need "well rehearsed, theologically sound music". There is no way we can accomplish a "mystic" experience without it. So Catholic churches [who have, for centuries, relied on well meaning, volunteer help] need to break out of that mold! We have a lot to learn from our Protestant brothers and sisters, and actually HIRE well trained Church Musicians, and build up choirs with hired "section leaders" who will insure that the choice and the execution of liturgical music is resplendent, and which will "raise the mind and the heart to God".
Well done, my young friend. Well done. Keep your vision alive!
"There is no way we can accomplish a "mystical" experience without it." With God all things are possible.
Casey,thanks to you and Karl Ranger I now know I am a mystic. I would not change my personal relationship with our God for anything. Bravo this was your best as to where the church is going. Thank you
"[Homilies] that deeply unsettles them to the realities of the Gospel."
Amen, Father! I try to do that every time my pastor gives me the opportunity to preach.
Glad to hear it!
@@BreakingInTheHabit at 22 years old this relate to me
I love this! This is so true. I recently came back to the Faith after many years of atheism and I’m noticing that I’m becoming a bit of an example among my friends and peers. I’m not proselytizing directly, but having discussions and setting an example really helps.
Fr. Casey, thank you again for your reflections. I will offer my POV, that this is in large measure a leadership problem. People go to church to have an experience of the Holy and the Sacred. The music and liturgy in the RC church has become impoverished. The worship experience is now even more "low church" than in many Episcopalian parishes. We don't have to go back to the Latin mass, or ad orientem worship, although kneeling for the eucharist might impart more reverence to the heart. We need better music, music that conveys authentic feelings of worship: devotion, humility, solemnity, tenderness, and glory. We need more dignified language. We are for example, slaughtering the recitation of the psalms with such uninspired behaviors as sitting when we sing (stand when you sing! Any protestant knows that!) responsorial psalm recitation with each side of the room reading alternating verses gets people more involved than repeating these lame melodies and paraphrases. Who creates this stuff? It's as if the people who design our worship have lost all sense of the sacred beauty and of people's need for such experience. And I hear no one speaking up about these things except the fringe right!
Why do you suggest that we don't have to go back to the Tridentine mass when everything that you just said about better worship that conveys authentic feelings of worship , a more dignified language etc is literally The Tridentine/Ad Orientem Mass. The Tridentine Mass fills the air with glory and gives the sense of authentic worship as if its heaven on earth. The preservation of church teaching, doctrine etc is kept by the Latin language and its kept that way so modernists and heretics don't change, "modernize" or even alter the words. Translations are of course vital for understanding what the words actually mean but the English translations give the actual meaning of the word and the modernists and heretics can't alter the translated words because if they did the words wouldn't make sense. All in All the TLM should be the Main form of the mass and gladly the Traditional Latin Mass is satisfying the crave of tradition and beauty to the youth of today. Without the Latin Mass and Traditional Catholicsm i would have been an orthodox already. I just can't stand the clown masses and heresy being performed in Modern Catholicsm (not saying Trad Catholicism is perfect btw)
Faith is a gift, a prayer life is part of that gift, pray more and your faith will grow
We need to bring back the beauty and reverence of the Latin Mass. Young people are longing for truth and transcendence.
I agree with you, the way the Mass has been done for the past 50 years I believe has sent many looking for the exit. The return of the Latin Mass has given many a renewed hope. Although we should not discard the Novus Ordo, this Mass in the Vernacular can also be very beautiful if done properly, check out the Mass directed by Paul Jernberg here on RUclips. Amazing what this new Mass can be if greatly improved.
Yes...we should return to Tradition
@@Trizar100 Should we Burn people at the stake also ? God doesn't speak Latin LOL
@@roboparks but we should definitely embrace Modernism and Secularism amiright?
God never said you can condone errors and simply say "it's okay, you just love and no one cares if you commit sin"
Thank you Fr. Casey! I hope soon to be part of the OFS! Everything towards the end of the video really struck a conviction within me. Please pray for my own mystical, personal relationship with God and God's people, and for us to rebuild like St. Francis did the leaking walls of the church with this divine truth permeated in everything we do.
My parents sent us to Catholic school, we all are now Catholics. Now our children are faithful Catholics. We pray Rosary and DM chaplet together if possible. Thank you Lord for the grace of Catholic faith🙏💕
Amen this needs to be done in the Catholic Church. A return to traditions. Father, I’m an Orthodox Christian and I feel as though the Orthodox Church hasn’t changed at all to become like the world. It has staid pure. And it really has made all the difference. The liturgy and the sermons inspire faith and prayer. It’s profound.
I'm Catholic but I must say Orthodox liturgies are absolutely MAGNIFICENT. My first mass ever was with the Indonesian Orthodox Church, among Erytrean and Pakistani refugees hidden by the archymandrite, i'll never forget that moment. God bless you!
I have to think this phrase : "we must create mystics" and think hard !
Possibly your best work to date. Thank you.
Your priestly witness lifts my priesthood.
I think we have to do three things to keep Catholicism alive--know the faith, practice the faith, renew your faith most people don't know basic Catholic teachings, why we believe what we believe
What a brilliant message. So deep and inspiring. Thank you Father.
I recently started attending Mass. I had 45 year layoff. I originally went to early Mass and was surprised there were no children. A couple weeks later I went to 1030am Mass. There were many families with small children. The families confirmed to me the Church is fine and the future will do well. Faith in God will continue with the Catholic Church.
A wonderful description of church as a sacred and holy place when people go of their own volition. You are always welcome at our little TLM community Father, where rediscovered, the old rite is a world away from the judgemental, stuffy traditional church of my childhood in the sixties.
I have never thought I would hear a Franciscan arguing for the extraordinary form; well, almost. The reform of the reform is real! :-)
Father Casey, I think you message is so powerful, I might have to listen to it several times, before I grasp it all. 👀 And I Remember I bought a book by Karl Rahner 30 years ago, never read it, maybe this is the time to read it.
A huge thankyou for your ministry!💟👍🌼
Good evening, father! Please continue your wonderful work.
When you said "no one has converted because they lost an argument", it reminded me of a book by Saint Newman, "Grammar of Assent", which I highly recommend to you, in case you haven't already read it. It digs on this concept of how religious assent is different from merely accepting a set of statements as truth.
The Church is NOT dying. The solutions to the lack of the Ordained has solutions that the Church knows about. They will implement change only when they are forced to. We will have to get past the sins of the past before we can move forward. God bless you on your ministry and your commitment to the Church.
This is a profound and inspirational episode. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the video Fr Casey. It inspires many of us to seek our inner faith
I am a Muslim, but I fear a world without the guidance of religion, so I pray even for Catholics and Protestants, for Sikhs and Hindus, for people to find guidance in their life and respect the idea that they will be judged
Same brother
Behold, the Leftist Atheists, Satanists and Freemasons are on the move to remove our freedom of religion and worship
To George; consider Jesus.
He came long before Muhammad. He is God's son. Jesus has the words of eternal life,
michaelinminn we believe in Jesus, just that he is not the son of God, think of us like Unitarians with another prophet 😂
@Joseph Fullerton I will pray for your conversion, brother
But if your decision is to live your life in sin, so be it.
@George Reyes I will pray for you. You believe in Jesus but you don’t think that he is the son of God. And you think we don’t have guidance? Yes, Jesus is the son of God brother. He came down from heaven, gave his life for our sins, died buried and on the 3rd day he rose again. Open your eyes BrotherI. Open your eye! May God Have mercy on you. Open your eyes.
Amazing!!! God already knowing this era change, inspired the Vatican II council.And also as one modality inspired its practice through the neocatechumenal way. With the Virgin Mary telling Kiko Arguello, “Lets make Christian communities as the sacred family of Nazareth, who live in humility, simplicity, and praise. The other is Christ.” Currently, this itinerary of faith has many fruits. Bring people back away of the faith, reconstructed destroyed families, transmission of faith to children, gave consecrated vocations to the church, families in mission who abandon everything for the new evangelization, bring the presence of the church in deschristianized places through the mission ad gentes, in which four or five families and priest go to a hard place to live there and make visible the love of God through a Christian community (Church) and people watching how this community live bring the non-believers to the faith. A missionary Church.
Hi , father Casey, plz visit Tanzania in Africa when everything is settled if the Lord wishea
I love you my fellow brother in Christ, may the Lord bless you and guide you always in your life and your ministry
I never understood the reason why people call other people father... it just doesnt seem right considering that we call God the Father.
@@q2lover58 The priests are father figures who assume the spiritual care of their respective congregations. The nuns are referred to as mother, women engaged in a ministry are referred to as sisters, laymen dedicated to a particular order are brothers, etc.
Father don't forget Kenya!
This video brought me to tears. Thank you so much for this. Thank the Lord for everything. God bless you Friar Casey😊😊😊
All the churches I have attended where the Extraordinary form is celebrated are growing! Reverence and love for Christ is blooming more there. :) Praise God. We must pray for our supernatural faith in God to grow. Pray to your angels, they love you and want to help you. Happy Divine Mercy to you all!
Bless you Fr. Cassey for your Video
Father, that was beautiful. * chefs kiss *
God Bless you Father Casey
In the very old times the Holy Mass was the "Main Event" of the week.
Back in the days the average people didn´t have any electrical music, no TV, no radio, no light-bulbs, no perfume. What they had was a tough farm job 6 days a week, 15 hours a day (in summer) and they did not even smell the manure anymore, because the smell was all over the place.
Now imagine what kind of almost super-natural experience the Holy Mass was with it´s pipe-organ, it´s latin-sung mysteries and it´s clouds of incense.
In the 1960s a lot of this mysteric character was reduced in a false attempt to create a "modern" worship. That´s why you can see this drastic change in the number of mass attendends.
Even so called "humanistic" (atheistic) organisations are wondering, why the catholic church did this.
The comeback of the traditional Holy Mass would be a HUGE improvement, because the modern people are looking for such an "Main Event" of week aswell. Something supernatural in a world full of stuff without any value at all.
I´m not a member of a traditional parish, but each time when I was invited to a traditional Holy Mass I was buffeld when I saw the large amount of young catholics in those "not-modern" churches.
One time my Grandfathter said to me when i asked him about traditional mass he told me: "it was like this, when the priest turned withhis back to the people, everybody started chatting"
Vatican II and parallel liturgical reform movements in Protestantism were a reaction to the heart of Christendom in Europe turning itself into the charnelhouse of the world -- twice! -- while the excesses of Orthodoxy made a splendid catechumenate for Stalinism. Be careful what you wish for, lest it be granted when you're not ready for it.
Except Pius X was lamenting this huge loss of faith among Catholics at the turn of the century didn't matter what language you were giving at mass
and @breakingintheHabit I think you misunderstand, and represent a false face of the Traditional movement. What you seem to be saying is the reason why @BreakingintheHabit isn't in the Trad movement. You say, "Now imagine what kind of almost super-natural experience the Holy Mass was with it´s pipe-organ, it´s latin-sung mysteries and it´s clouds of incense. " But that's a terrible and false approach. The true worth of the Traditional Latin Mass lies not in the beautiful outward signs. You seem to be focused on aesthetics. This is exactly what he is speaking against in the video. The Bible plainly shows that God is after our hearts, not the way we act and feel exclusively at Church. Christ says, the ones who Love me are those who keep my Cammandments. This would seem like a trad statement, and it is. However there are unfortunately so many people that claim to be in the trad movement who are mostly in it for the aesthetics and feelings. Very. Very unfortunate. Read the Bible (With traditional Catholic Guidance, of course). You will find that God is after our Heart. The Problem with modern Catholics and protestants is that they say, "God ONLY cares about what is in our hearts", but this becomes the trap of relativism where people think only intentions matter, and that the outward does not have to reflect the inward. lex orandi lex credendi lex vivendi. We need the Traditional Latin Mass. We need to return to Tradition. But when aesthetics become the end and not one of the means, we are doing the exact opposite. God Bless!
This was certainly a wake up call. I’ve been teaching the public school children in my Parish religious education ( CCD) for over 35 years and it’s sad to see how lax the Catholic families are that send their children. I teach 7th graders preparing for Confirmation and most never go to Mass and haven’t been to Confession since their first Holy Communion, unless we take them once a year. Your right Father, it comes down to weather you really understand what being Catholic means and how important that meaning is to either make you follow Christ or abandon His Church. Very disheartening what’s going on. Life should not return to the “normal” after this pandemic, for if it does we’ll have learned nothing and I fear be worse off than we were before. God help us and guide and enlighten us......Sr. Diane Joan, FCMDM.
The church needs to stop this New Age music and go back to the old traditions that made it so unique and special. I’m 22 and would much rather have an organ and Latin liturgies rather than some dude with a guitar.
I agree with you that so many churches are changing for all the wrong reasons. “Putting the cart before the horse” as you said.
“A church who marries the spirit of the age becomes a widow in the next”
I have been denouncing our Caucasian Priest playing secular Country music for decades already .He based his homily on the lyrics of played song/s . This Bishop is fearful of him,as they label him " Cowboy Priest" and is very outspoken.Some parishioners have car sticker that says" Dont mess with Fr .Roy". He also tug along his gargantuan pet dogs,during Masses to the altar close to him.He is anti-Trump too and couldnt careless, if there are proTrump parishioners ,during homilies .
David Campbell Having a band play every song hymn and response is so cringe worthy. I almost walked out of a mass once because it was so horrible. I felt like I was at an evangelical church. I don’t understand why they think this is making mass better. All you need is an organ and choir...
RamManNo1 exactly. If I see a guitar Or a keyboard I’m just like 🙃 I drive 30 minutes to my cities basilica just to have a real catholic mass
I agree David, check out my comment to Cristina Dinella for this video.
Spot on, we need to encourage our clergy to do this instead of being careful who they may offend.
I really appreciate you Father Casey. I’m grateful that I have been lead to your missionary work here on RUclips. God bless you.
Am thoroughly enjoying your book! It's one of my Great Lenten meditations! Thank you!
Glad you enjoy it!
Well said. All the scandals of late against the church are not helping to show the best of our faith or our church.
Thanks you very much I am so ❤️ your videos
Father, yours faithful reverend here, I am thoroughly stunned by your understanding of the underlying reasons for the Mother Church fading away from the lives of people as an encapsulating body. While I travel to places many, and can unfortunately agree with you that in the West religion is now private, I am thoroughly convinced that the end of Christ the King will NOT come as transforming parishes into mystical gatherings. Hossana the Highest will not allow His bride to fall away like that. I feel and believe that there will be a resurgence. When the Church is at the bottom, thrown away by many and disregarded as unimportant, there will be a statement. A claim for Christ the King. A land, a people, where an example will be set on how to govern, to live with happiness in knowing Him. I extend my praises to you, Father, for your work is the work of the soul. Dominus vobiscum!
The Saints themselves were mystics.
Obrigada por colocar a legenda em português. Sou brasileira e católica, reconheço que não vou à missa regularmente, mas explicações como as suas e demais religiosos católicos sobre o catolicismo vieram a fortalecer ainda mais a minha fé na Santa Igreja Católica. Obrigada 🙏🏻 Deus o abençoe. Thank you for putting the caption in Portuguese. I am Brazilian and Catholic, I recognize that I do not go to Mass regularly, but explanations such as yours and other Catholic religious about Catholicism have further strengthened my faith in the Holy Catholic Church. Thank you 🙏🏻 God bless you.
It feels kinda cool thinking of myself as a modern day mystic. Oh yeah. B-)
Meaning
Thank you Fr Casey may God Bless you.
Amen! We are all mystics. We are all contemplatives. Our deepest desire and our ultimate goal in life should be a close, loving relationship with Jesus.
And we can’t do any of these things on our own. Come Holy Spirit!
Dude....YES! What you said. So glad to hear a young priest say these things. I am older and have some problems so I seldom make it to Mass anymore....but the foundation I received in my 20s, 30s, and 4Os and even 50s has given me a solid foundation so that I am still experiencing God in my living room over coffee. Hope to get back to Mass soon but keeping that mystical experience going here in my living room.
I became an atheist in school (I went to a Catholic school) because I just thought Catholicism was too childish, cringey and lame. The reading of the Gospel every morning before class, having to personally 'meditate' the text and all of that just seemed like a yoga class. Then we had masses that were tedious and irritating: taking each other hands for prayer, 'meditation' with religious-themed vernacular music with sexual-sounding lyrics and going to exhausting religious trips (you can imagine it: guitars, dancing, all of that). Then, the wave of New Atheism came in: George Carlin pointing out how stupid it all was, atheist scientists arguing against religion, ... all things you can imagine.
Then, I actually grabbed books. I studied history, loved it. Found out how the Church really came to be, how it developed through history, found out that it was an actually serious thing and not a yoga class. I read Aquinas, I read Dominican friars, the Jesuit`s labour in my country... I found out how serious the Church actually was, I got very hooked with theology and history and I started admiring clergymen and nun`s intelligence. All of my understanding of Catholicism when I was an atheist was nothing but ignorance.
I think that's the reason the number of atheists is exponentially growing: religion just seems childish. It is, as just say, the lacking of ambience for mysticism: contemporary life is just too accelerated and nobody is interested anymore in a dying Church. The spiritual need, however, is not dead: it craves for other ways. There is an increasing revival of European paganism, for example: the extremist left-winged youth tends to oppose Christianism and seek for other, more attractive ways of spirituality, such as nature`s worship. I'm pretty sure that if you ask random people on the streets in these first world mostly-Atheist countries about spirituality, most of them wouldn't mock it and they would say that it is an actual thing.
The Church tried to 'adapt to modernity' and failed miserably. In fact, I'm convinced that returning to the old fashion would gain the Church some souls: Latin prayers, tridentine mass, heavenly-looking parishes and all of these things that create the 'ambience' for mysticism and clean the 'childish' image of contemporary Catholicism.
Now I just learnt there are more than the merely Latin rite! I always wondered if imposing Latin on so culturally different environments would work out, but turns out it was always possible to be a non Latin Catholic! It makes Catholicism even more beautiful. I still, however, think that the image of the Church -particularly Latin Church- is nowadays seen as childish and this is what makes atheists.. atheists.
You're an old soul, Fr. Casey.
Traditional Christianity and especially Catholicism, is grounded in fear, guilt and shame. The Church emphasizes how unworthy we are and its prayers require expressing that unworthiness: “Oh Lord I am not worthy that I should come into thy presence….” and many other examples. During my Catholic school years in the 1940’s and 50’s, I, along with my Catholic schoolmates, went to Confession almost every Saturday to avoid the pains of hell (explicitly stated in the Act of Contrition) and to reduce our suffering in Purgatory. Based on Catholic teaching taught by nuns, brothers and priests and not CCD teachers, the very best outcome for a baptized Catholic would be to die before reaching “the age of reason” unequivocally defined in the pre-1992 Catechism as age 7. That kid would go straight to Heaven with no detour to the horrible suffering in Purgatory. But if a pubescent kid willfully retains a sexual thought and dies in an accident before going to Confession, that kid goes straight to hell! Purgatory was a frightening destination for almost everyone who was not destined to hell. So we sought all those indulgences sprinkled throughout Our Sunday Missal indicating the exact number of days we could lessen our time there by performing the specified action such as a novena, stations of the cross, etc.. Many of the prayers at Mass were offered for “the poor souls in Purgatory”.
In short, Catholic indoctrination in those days was psychological child abuse.
I agree on most of what you said but “child abuse” is kinda heavy for an accusation 😅 well that could be subjective...
I love the focus on a personal God as a solution to our current religious crisis.
The main problem with Religion (and all human organization) is our limitations with communication. Presumably, we can have perfect communication with God as there is no limit to what God can understand about us. It is also possible to have a deep relational connection with another human being. It takes many hours, many discussions, and the willingness to be vulnerable. But it can be done. It can also be done for a small group of people, say 10. When you get to 100, you the communication limitations begin to show. People need to work together with a common theme, mission, and vision. It can still work as a group of 100 is really just 10 groups of 10. However, once you get larger than that, once you get to 1000, 10,000, 100,000, you run into problems. There aren't enough hours, time, and emotional capacity to connect to everyone and people necessarily begin to rely on unspoken forms of communication. These unspoken forms of communication becomes what we understand as "culture". It works when it is founded on kindness and patience. But it can quickly turn into a cliquish clustering of power (also known as high school). This is why large organizations, not just religious ones, begin to create a life of their own. This includes the Catholic Church.
Small Religious organizations have the challenge of being able to sustain the original mission without distorting their values. If they succeed, they'll run into other organizational challenges. The Catholic Church has succeeded in maintaining a consistency throughout its church with solemn deliberation of the sacraments and other process (that protestants would accuse of being "unbiblical").
However, such growth runs into the limitations of human communication. And it makes me wonder if a large religious organization can ever truly follow God. Rather, it may be better to stay small, stay personal, stay individual with deep relationships of a small group of people. However, social media runs counter to that philosophy and encourages large scale communications. What happens is that the most generic information is understood by the masses and is adopted quickly. This rapid adoption is known as "media" and becomes seen as "the truth." Unfortunately, depth is lost in the process.
What's the solution? I believe teaching people to understand mysticism is one component. But I believe a different model for "the church" will be necessary in our modern day. I'm wondering if a structure like Toastmasters is something worth looking into. But hay, what do I know?
Great video Fr. Casey!
Bring back the statues the crucifix and the receiving of communion around the altar and the tabernacles!
Is that why Church attendance in Protestant Churches is declining as well?
@@BreakingInTheHabit Their absence represents a shift towards Protestantism, due to the fact that Protestants don't believe in The Real Presence and in praying to the Saints
Breaking In The Habit good point
@@BreakingInTheHabit Thanks so much for your videos, don't classify me as a hateful person, I am only saying this out of Love for my protestant Family. Do NOT capitalize the word Church when talking about Protestants, (before you tell me to watch your Video on Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, I've watched and and think it's partially true and partially heretical→), here's why (an exerpt from former protestant minister Steve Wood's "A Prodigal's Journey" featured in Patrick Madrid's bestseller conversion compilation, "Surprised by Truth"):
"Then it hit me. Protestants are blind tot he fact that divorce and remarriage is unlawful because Protestantism itself is an unlawful divorce from the Church. As in Hosea's case, the true spiritual condition of the Covenant People with God is reflected in marriage. There may have been several areas within the Catholic Church that needed change at the time of the Reformation, yet problems within the Church, like problems within a marriage, do not merit a divorce."
Let me know what you think!! God Bless!!
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
"So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I AM the gate for the sheep.
All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I AM the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10)
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Again would love to have some thorough feedback! Christus Vincit!
Now, who in their right mind would give this video a thumb’s down, is beyond me. The man speaks the truth.
To say that the Catholic Faith existed because of “guilt or culture or social pressure” is such an insult to all those great saints, priests, religious and lay people, who kept the faith “in season and out of season” for 2000years and literally built the greatest civilisation in history because of their love and faith in God and his people. They are the ones who passed on a solid Catholic faith from one generation to the next, year after year, century after century. There were no “leaking walls” until the modernists usurped the faith at Vatican II !! And incase you are unaware of it, we are commanded by God to pass on our Faith to our children, instruct them and teach them the way so that when they are older, they will not depart from it. The Church is only dying because the modernists are stabbing it to death with their heresies! However they should have learned by now that the true Catholic Faith, ie the Church Christ established on St. Peter, can never die.
AMEN!
TraditionalCatholicthoughts many thanks for your good wishes and blessings. The Catholic Church so desperately needs faithful Catholics to take their place in the “front line” of battle nowadays. Having lived through Vatican II, I’m reluctant to read the documents again, but will take your tip and do so. Sincere blessings. A rosary will be offered for your intentions.
Yea, the saints have been helping God to mend the holes of a crumbling Church from era to era, but let's not forget we also let down our own generation after generations. And when people of other faiths are more Christ like than 'christians' (whatever type of church and doctrine it may be?), it's human to look for spiritual comfort, support and guidance from other places.
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
I'm not Catholic, I was raised in various protestant denominations that were all evangelistic in their beliefs. Since becoming a Believer in Christ in 1971 as a 13 year old, I've lived through a number of dramatic changes in how the church interacts with society. I can say, with a certainty, that your words ring true for all Believers in Christ, especially in North America. The effort many churches have made to make their services 'seeker friendly' have undermined the sacrifice a person must make to live their life for Christ. We are not to draw nigh unto the world that they may have a 'glimpse' of God, but as James 4:8 says "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts". I subscribed to your channel today, keep preaching the good message Padre.
I totally agree; this is why I’m so excited for the future God has for organizations like the Avila Institute; My life was totally transformed by listening to Dan Burke on “Divine Intimacy Radio” and if we had more priests and lay people willing to speak about the mystical life, and great saints like Theresa of Avila, I think the church would be in a much better place
That has always been what we needed to be a strong church
There is no more better relationship with Jesus than at communion at the guard rails kneeling ..
There is no better relationship with Jesus than when you help and protect his most vulnerable bothers and sisters (Compare Matthew 25:31-46). Eating the body and blood of Jesus gives us the grace to do that whether we receive his body and blood on the tongue while kneeling or in the hand while standing.
Yeah nah I suggest you read the apparitions of Mary the mother of God who said do not take her son in our hand like a potato chip . But let’s look at the evidence since Vatican II . The pew research did a poll on the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and a whopping 70% don’t believe in that they think it’s just a symbol I would bet in the Traditional Latin masses where people receive the Eucharist on their knees it’s probably 99 % believe in the real presence maybe more . But let’s take a closer look in the hand a person in the morning usually goes to washroom touches door knobs and who knows where else and you want him to touch God then , Vatican II has been a disaster and the pew poll 70 percent Catholics don’t believe in the Body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and why would they when they take it like a potato chip...
Ian obviously you probably don’t believe in the true presence because as a cradle Catholic I was shocked when I went to the TLM and the church was packed just RUclips St John Cantius my Parrish now the Novus Ordo mass was about 20% filled which all reports by pew that is right on . When I went up to receive communion I am a sports guy I never fought back tears then I did kneeling for the Body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ and if you look at the pew polls the TLM is up 10 % in 2019 the Novus Ordo is dying . St John Cantius is almost all full and for all 4 masses with 70 % not believing in the real presence that is coming from the Novus Ordo mass because you grab communion like a potato chip. I suggest you go look up the pew poll research with Novus Ordo parishioners to the Latin mass parishioners it is stunning from the views of giving to the church 6.9 TLM 1.5 NO , homosexuals are you ok TLM 2% to NO 60% , abortion are you ok with 1% TLM , 53 % NO these are staggering so I will take you for your word you are definitely not the norm in your views . The church is going to go through a split especially if Francis goes to a one world religion , woman deacons and priests, changing cannon laws like Obama was doing to the Constitution. So my advice research the pew poll because it is not even close a blow out which mass is more Reverent by far the Traditional Latin mass in fact they have had exorcism people go to both masses the devil doesn’t get stirred up till communion at the N. O. But the exorcism person going to the TLM the devil gets stirred up from the beginning hey RUclips Anneliese Michel English Version tapes part 1 and 2 it’s audio that should give all the information you need to know on both masses ....
@@johnvitalli3751 I'll go out on a limb here and say St Mary said no such thing.
Yeah nah 2 different readings on my last comment go up then down to read them both ..
Hi Father. I really appreciate you talking about this topic. It is a conversation we should be having on social media. I am not sure I agree with everything here, especially Rahner's observation. But I do think this is a conversation worth having in a charitable way, as you have done. I shall certainly think about what you said. Hopefully I will get around to making a video response for you.