In Christianity Today I read that… I can hardly bring myself to type… the horrific revelation that
Cat Owners Are Less Likely To Go To Church
This explains a lot, doesn’t it.
By Schrödinger… is anyone really surprised, much less shocked?
In other news,
On that note, I sense that, as the demographic sink hole is opening up under the Church, a couple of groups will probably survive and, eventually will find each other and start to mesh and mutually enrich: on the one hand charismatics and converts from evangelical Protestants groups and, on the other, traditional Catholics. When the growing throng of beige Catholics and disinterested nones – and cat owners? – drop out of even pretending to be attached to the Faith of their Fathers, who will be left? There will be some friction at first, but I am convinced that the results – which I may not see in my lifetime – will be amazing.
These groups are also having babies. They are not aborting our future. Abortion is a form of societal suicide.
I saw a note from Ed Pentin the other day that the bishops of Hungary issued a pastoral letter to emphasize what some prominent American bishops do not, namely, that life begins at conception. The Hungarians noted that since abortion was legalized in 1956 (Communists) “6 million of our compatriots have not been born”, which is “almost as many lives as the children born in Hungary in the same amount of time”. Now the Hungarian government is providing incentives for larger families. It’s working.
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I must be an outlier in that survey…not only am I the lowly servant of two vocal and demanding members of the genus and species Felis Catus who run my life, I also attend whenever I can the Extraordinary Form, have served for many years as an installed acolyte, RCIA catechist, MC, and would NEVER ever (within the bounds of human frailty) miss making my happy obligations to the Faith. Oh, yeah, there’s this Shrine, you see, which occupies most of my time apart from taking care of Chuck and Sasha when I’m not working to pay the bills. Chuck and Sasha (the above mentioned) still complain (but love chasing a red dot on the floor…)
Like they say, there’s lies, damn lies, and survey statistics. Proudly deplorable, unreconstructed, and Catholic.
Meanwhile back in the fantasy world of WHO statistics “Ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the world’s biggest killers, accounting for a combined 15.2 million deaths in 2016.”
I also do not fit the statistical profile, but Bryan Boyle says it much better than I could. Blessed to be a faithful member of our FSSP parish, and “staff” to Fox, Chance and Pearl… (Dogs have owners, cats have staff.)
I second Brian D. Boyle and HyacinthClare; we live in a French cat house, with Simone, Adel and Yvette. Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
On the other side, owning a cat helps one develop the virtue of humility. Also, cats can be left longer alone while one attends extraordinary form Mass, which is generally longer than an ordinary form Mass and may require additional travel time.
Hmmm. I don’t know what it means, but Pope Benedict XVI prefers cats.
[Hmmm… clearly an outlier. I remember seeing him, before elected, on a stroll in the Borgo area and stopping to pet cats and even being followed by them! Then again, maybe they were really wolves in cats’ clothing waiting to attack him. It’s a puzzle.]
Cat owners attend Mass less frequently? Not only would I be shocked, but so would be my ten-year old female feline, who adopted me.
kinda like when a priest is delivering his homily and he’s looking down at his notes everyone in the congregation is neither sleeping or awake—it’s only when he looks up do they instantly appear sleeping. Kinda like that?
We have four cats in residence, but we do not consider ourselves as their “owners” – we think of ourselves as having been given stewardship over them as they actually belong to God. Two of them are “special needs” cats – one diabetic and one blind. The diabetic one was a “rescued” feral kitten, and the blind one was the only kitten of a street stray who wanted human shelter. The other two are healthy young adult males who latched onto us at a rescue agency. One was a returned cat who was likely abused as a kitten, and the other was a street stray who was very scrawny. (Not any more!)
They all seem to be very happy with us.
We are convinced that God put them into our care for good reasons, not all of which we understand. The relationships have been very mutually beneficial, so they do qualify as blessings.
Faithful conservative Catholic here. Am all about Trent and Pascendi. Vatican II? Not so much. OK up to a point . . . I guess. But rather dodgy around the edges. One has to be cautious. “Spirit of Vatican II”? Bah! Humbug! Pascendi trumps Spirit on each and every point.
Love cats. Love dogs. Love birds. Love squirrels, groundhogs, chipmunks, turtles, foxes, deer, frogs . . . you name it, all animal life, wild and domestic. Not rats, though. Or snakes, or spiders. Mice are OK, but not inside my home. Think people who try to keep undomesticated predators like cheetahs, etc. in their homes are two bricks short of a load, though.
My universe stays steady state since my labradork counteracts my grey tabby.
I am a lot more concerned with finding a good priest at a good parish than I worry over some Vulcan mind meld with fundamentalist protestantism which I left decades ago for Catholicism. Sorry guys, I am Catholic and get first dibs before ever you get the word. IF I am successful, ability to move at the drop of a hat getting tougher and tougher with age and less income to squander in what mainly a notable series of duds.
There’s nothing wrong with being Cat-tholic! Ask St. Gertrude of Nivelles, or the scribe who owned Pangur Ban!
Sadly, suicide is also a more common cause of death than heart disease.
Well duh . . . they all get weighted down by cat lap duty.
I’ll continue to follow the great example of the Pontifex Emeritus and keep loving cats.
I’m surprised at you, Fr. Z, quoting the leftist drivel of CT.
[What no longer surprises me, is the lack of a sense of humor some of the wonderful readers have! o{]:¬) ]
Pope Benedict even wrote a book about his childhood cat Chico: https://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Chico-Life-Pope-Benedict/dp/1586172522. It must be a chore though to keep his white habit from turning into a fur coat…
Vexilla the Viking cat lover
Are we sure it isn’t the other way around, i.e. the irreligious are more likely to own cats?
(Obligatory XKCD)
Apparently St. Philip Neri was fond of cats, and actually had one of his penitents carry his cat through the town as a penance. Of course, St. Philip was also known to stand on his head to get a too-serious novice to lighten up.