I am both hopeful and despairing when I think of where America is today and where she’s going in terms of the faith.
On the one hand I am very much encouraged by what I see as a burgeoning men’s movement, which can only lead to good things. Authentic Catholic men means authentic Catholic fathers, which will create a much needed ripple in society. The effects may not become apparent in our churches and other institutions until decades from now, as the prevailing culture will continue to fight its flourishing. But I believe in our men and I’m seeing a conviction in them that I didn’t see ten years ago.
On the other hand, the population rate will probably continue to decline. Our contraceptive and abortive culture, where children are more often than not seen as commodities or liabilities, will take several more decades to reverse, if it ever can. While a small segment of the population will continue to raise large families, I don’t know if it will be enough to make a difference in the society or the economy.
What encourages me most is seeing our youth who are on fire for the faith and continue to engage the culture in novel ways. Though Christian beliefs will increasingly be unwelcome in our universities, I am convinced that our youth will not take this sitting down.
Despite the minimal uptick in vocation numbers in recent years, I remain optimistic that more will be called to the priesthood and religious life, and respond generously with their yes.
Faith will always have a future here in America, because we are created with a thirst that only God can fill. And no matter how we pretend that it can be quenched by the material or through our own efforts, deep in our core, there will remain that need that will not be satisfied by nothing less than communion with our Creator.
People may say they don’t need faith, but it will be in the most unexpected of times that they will be confronted with the need for it. Too many have come to associate religiosity with falsity, and it will take us living authentic Christian lives to bring about conversions, which usually happen when Christ is encountered in relationship, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul.
There will continue to be debates about Christ’s resurrection, Mary’s Immaculate Conception, the Holy Trinity. Those debates won’t go away but they are also secondary; converts to the faith usually come to embrace those bit by bit. While modernity and technology may continue to erode our relationships, there are those of us who will continue to swim against the tide and spread the Gospel where we are.
Truth has a way of getting out. Wherever it is encountered in its fullness, it will be recognized and embraced, and bring about peace. That’s why living that Truth is our #1 challenge today as Catholics — we who strive to remain faithful will have to infect the world around us. But then again, the circumstances may be different, but in a sense our mission has never changed.
And we still know how this story ends.
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