"That Sorry Decade': Change Is Painful but Necessary

By Harry Woodruff
Philly Burbs
January 12, 2012

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/opinion/guest/that-sorry-decade-change-is-painful-but-necessary/article_f52932c2-34c5-5550-8933-83ca00d7ced8.html

“That Sorry Decade” the 1960s! Columnist J.D. Mullane embraces minor changes in Catholic Church liturgy but laments a time of great changes in the 1960s and refers to that period as “That Sorry Decade.” He apparently did not experience that decade but must have heard about it from others of his conservative ideology. Conservatives don’t like change. Progressive means change.

Our society and culture were changed dramatically in the 60s and for the better when civil rights, gender equality, and a rejection of a failed war by American citizens forever altered the landscape of this great country.

History has shown that “real change” always brings upheaval as the “old” way of doing things is no longer acceptable nor possible. In the 60s decade, black and brown people refused to accept discrimination and demanded inclusion in the “American Dream.” Women became empowered and refused to accept their second-rate status in employment, education and other areas. Homosexuals began their quest to be treated equally in the “Land of the free and the home of the brave.” Young adults subject to the draft and other conscientious members of society protested the government’s reasons for and participation in the costly, disastrous war in Vietnam. The “Sexual Revolution” also emerged as young adults and others began to reject the puritanical societal and religious views on sexuality.

There were some “sorry” activities that were happening also; increased drug use and abuse, riots in the streets, subversive militant groups formed. Change was and is not always positive.

It was also a time when child sexual abuse was buried in the culture. A “sorry” time when allegations of child sexual abuse by priests were routinely resolved by moving the priest to a new parish often able to continue with their criminal behavior. Decisions that the Catholic Church deals with to this day.

This decade was also a time when the Catholic Church attempted to modernize and change with a desire to have its members feel more connected to the process. Now, as J.D. explains, some of those changes have been reconsidered to accommodate the “traditionalists.” What J.D. and the leadership of the Catholic Church don’t get is that the dramatic decline in attendance and participation in church matters is not because of the liturgy but because their members have finally begun to think and act for themselves and their families.

When a religious organization insists that they have divine authority to condemn contraceptives and condom use, which would prevent pregnancy and the need for an abortion, and then condemns abortion as murder, do they think their members and society can’t see through the irrationality of that position? How many Catholics have used condoms and contraceptives in their lifetime? Do they need to have eight, 10, 12, or more children to fulfill God’s plan?

Unlike the 60s, today’s Catholic-raised parents think for themselves and reject absurd dogma. That the Church has fully aligned itself with one political party hasn’t helped in maintaining members either, and threatening eternal punishment in the afterlife if one votes a certain way doesn’t work with the educated unfettered majority.

So, J.D., you can blame society, secular progressives (which I am one), the 1960s, or even the devil, but the truth is that your thinking and that of the Catholic Church is being rejected by a significant number of birth Catholics. Continuing to “stay the course” and hoping that with God’s help the nation will revert to a time when the people didn’t question the church, the government and the status quo won’t be happening. The young people today have been taught to think critically.

Change can be painful and hard to manage but give me progressive change anytime over the alternative, stagnation and decline.

We are going through some very trying times in this country today and individuals, organizations and governments have an obligation to seek a common ground to move the country forward, not insist on an adherence to a dogmatic belief on how it should be.