Fr Longenecker: “Be Subversive — Get Married!” and Fr Z rants a little.

Fr. Longenecker has a good piece at Stream.   It’s as subversive as his advice to young people.

In the setup for his argument for young couples (male and female) to marry in church, have kids, stick close to the Church and stay married, he wrote:

[…]

We then go on to talk about the situation in our society. It used to be normal and respectable to get married, stay married, have lots of kids and go to church. That is not the new normal.

Instead, the sexual status quo is that anything goes. The creed is that of the 1968 revolution, “The only thing forbidden is forbidding.” Our society says about sex, “It’s no big deal. Any sex act is OK as long as the participants are consenting adults … and we’re not too sure about the need for consent or the definition of “adult.” The anthem is the 70’s pop song, “If you can’t be with the one you love, baby, love the one you’re with.”

Sexual intercourse between two men? No problem. Sado-masochism? Whatever turns you on, man! Two women together? That’s cool. Not happy with your husband going with another man’s wife or your wife with another woman’s husband? Get a good lawyer — there’s no fault divorce. The girl’s pregnant? Hop down to Planned Parenthood, they’ll get rid of the kid for you. Pornography and masturbation? It’s natural. Get over it.

When it comes to making babies everything is also up for grabs. A lesbian uses sperm from her gay man friend and impregnates herself with a turkey baster? No big deal. Two gay men pay a woman in Thailand to be artificially inseminated so they can have a baby? “That’s not abusing women. That’s giving her employment!” Aborting unborn baby girls for sex selection? That’s not misogynistic. That’s reproductive choice! Abortion clinics targeting racial minority neighborhoods? That’s not racism. Give them the Margaret Sanger award!

Sexual identity? There’s umpteen genders, don’t you know? If you don’t like who you are, save up, go to the clinic, and if you can pay, they can change you from a woman to a man. You’ll have to endure weird hormone shots, start growing a beard and have part of your arm cut out so they can make you a pretend penis. Wait … you’re only sixteen? Now’s the time to choose, honey! If you’re a man we can make you into a lady! Look at Bruce Jenner. He’s called Caitlin now!

[…]

The next years will be critical for the future of the Church in these USA.  True marriage and nature itself is under attack by forces now also inside the Church.   At the same time, we will see a massive drop of people attending church or pretending that they are Catholic in any meaningful way.  It will be like sinkhole opening up under us, and properties and swathes of people will fall through and be gone.   Demographics matter.

On the other hand, where Tradition is tried you inevitably start seeing young families with lots of kids or kids on the way.  I had another confirmation of this a few days ago when I met some priests for a meal.  No surprise: young people and kids at the Traditional Mass.

When will more priests and bishops figure out that Tradition is the future?   What we have been doing is not working.   Yes, there must be efforts at New Evangelization and other initiatives as well.  However, were they to be integrated with traditional sacred liturgical worship… then we’d see something new.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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8 Comments

  1. This post couldn’t be more spot on. I grew up with the Novus Ordo but I don’t want my kids, present and future, to have the ignorance of the faith that I once did. Catechism taught me nothing. Priests in the parish I attended taught nothing. It wasn’t until adulthood that I learned what mortal and venial sin were. I hadn’t heard about it once in my youth.

    Young people aren’t leaving the faith because it’s not “nice” or doesn’t have a band. It’s boring and watered-down. Permissive. Effeminate. And leads souls astray, which is the scariest part. So many people don’t know or don’t want to know the truth.

    Marriage is for the procreation and education of children, and you can be darn sure any child of mine will know the truth from the beginning, not decades later. Hopefully young families will grow the Traditionalist movement further and it’ll be more widespread. The rule, not the exception. We’re all called to seek the fullness of truth, after all.

  2. mo7 says:

    When will they figure out that the answer to the culture of death is for Catholics to lead by example and have big families? Don’t be afraid – preach it.
    Aside: I’m hoping your daily YT masses will resume soon.

  3. Padre Pio Devotee says:

    Sometimes I wonder if the “New Evangelization” is just like trying to reinvent the wheel.

  4. WVC says:

    @Padre Pio Devotee – more like trying to reinvent the wheel in the shape of a square.

  5. VForr says:

    Please in your charity pray for those of us who want to be married, but are having difficulty finding a spouse.

  6. Jones says:

    Can confirm. Just had child, only because I found the Traditional Catholic faith.

  7. NOCatholic says:

    Are Traditional Masses (the TLM) attracting people into the Church? Or are they simply attracting already churchgoing Catholics away from NO Mass parishes?

    I don’t claim to know the answer, but this is an important question to ask. For Traditional Masses to be the future of the Catholic Church, they should bring people into the Church, not just move them around within the Church.

    As always, an excellent article by Fr. Longnecker.

  8. JakeMC says:

    I think if you scratch some of these seniors objecting to the TLM, you’ll find an old hippie underneath. They may have abandoned the bellbottoms and generally sloppy appearance that was once their trademark, but they still embrace the “revolutionary” spirit of the 60s. Many of them bemoan the fact that their children and grandchildren have abandoned the NO parish of their childhood to travel to a traditional parish.
    .
    Ten years ago, I was privileged to be able to attend the Church Music Association’s annual Colloquium, a week of total immersion in Gregorian chant and glorious polyphony. Most of the attendees were far younger than I; most of the priests there could have been my own children. It’s the only time I was ever able to go, and I came away from it absolutely overflowing with hope for the future of the Church.

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