Catholic Extinction

This weekend I decided that the Catholic religion is nearing extinction. As I was growing up, without fail, every week, every sunday, my family and I would go to church. When I took my first communion it was with about 50 other children dressed in white veils and little black suits. Little girls had to line up just to be an angel in the nativity play. Now there are more funerals than baptisms and each week there are less and less people in the pews. The church I have attended for 21 years is now being closed. I'm not going to say that I agree with everything the Catholic church has to say, and I won't even say that I like my priest. But there is something beautiful about 60 people you have known for your entire life coming together on sunday morning to sing the same songs you've always sung.

I just wrote my final paper about the possibility that God is Dead in our modern society, and now I'm worrying that He actually is. We constantly talk about Evolution, and the Catholic church refuses to evolve with the times. How do you expect men to come flooding into the priesthood by enticing them with life long chastity and solitude. Marriage and children are two of the most beautiful experiences our lives can offer. To take that away from a holy person renders them completely isolated from our society. How can I ask a priest for advice about my life, when he has barely experienced it? The Catholic church is so slow to evolve that it is almost completely obsolete. Other Christian religions have gotten the memo, and geared their services toward an actual member of society. But the Catholic church still ignores or shuns so many issues that confront it today. It is actually pushing parishioners away. I am frustrated because at its core it has good morals and potential for a wonderful community. But closing your eyes to the half of the world you do not agree with will not solve any problems. If the Catholic church could begin to accept the society it inhabits, with all of its imperfections and sins, it might have a chance at survival.