A 2019 Pew Research Center Survey of Americans aged 13 to 17 found that only 50 per cent believed religion was an important part of their lives, as opposed to 73 percent of their parents.

This trend has caught the attention of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which published on its website an article titled "Confronting Secularism Today" by Robert Spitzer, S.J., who posits four causes for this trend:

• A perceived contradiction between God and science.
• A lack of evidence for God from science and logic.
• An implicit belief in materialism.
• A general disbelief in the historicity and divinity of Jesus.

While all these factors may indeed cause some young people to abandon their faith, the list feels incomplete to me. After all, the same Pew survey found approximately 85 percent of teens believed in a higher power.

As a 17-year-old Catholic, I know many people my age who are abandoning their churches and their faith.

I spoke to a few to understand why. (I've used pseudonyms, due to the personal nature of their comments.)

The institutional church, to many of my peers, is seen as antiquated and corrupted by greed, paedophilia and bigotry.

They place the blame for these things on the shoulders of church leaders.

Still, many also feel personal dissatisfaction with the church.

While the answers my friends provided are anecdotal, a common theme emerged: The most prevalent issue that is widening the gap between young people and the church is the institution itself.

Stigmas and suffering

The tone and emphasis of catechesis, especially in preparation for the sacraments, can have a real impact on how young people perceive the church as a whole.

One of of my friends, Jo, talked about an abstinence and pro-life lecture she was required to attend in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, a lecture she found deeply uncomfortable.

She felt the presenters left no room for genuine questions from those who doubted the church's teachings and focused too much on shame.

Jo told me she became concerned that people would assume that she would be similarly closed to the discussion around her politics or personal beliefs based on her religious affiliation.

"I would just [tell people] I'm a Christian, but I wouldn't say Catholic," she said.

The idea that somebody can be turned off by the church because of the church can be tough to grasp.

One of the people I spoke with is a friend of mine named Dominic, who has a strong faith in God and attends church every Sunday.

When I asked him if he thought the church was driving people away, he told me, "I think it is impractical to believe in God in the 21st century because people want to believe in what they see, not something that requires faith alone… They aren't used to the idea that something that cannot be seen can be real."

Dominic's answer also resonates strongly with the belief that people are leaving the institution because of a growing sense of materialism and a feeling that God doesn't have any room in daily life.

Another friend decided to walk away from religion because of a perceived separation between themselves and God.

James, who was raised Catholic and attended Mass every Sunday as a child, is now an agnostic.

While preparing for his confirmation, he began feeling that relying on an invisible God to help him out when times were tough wasn't enough.

Witnessing the long and painful deaths of his aunt and uncle, who were both very religious, also frustrated him.

James reflected on this experience by saying, "I guess it kind of set me back from religion just to realize what God can do to such kind people who also believed in him."

Today, James has abandoned the church and, for the most part, his faith.

James says he only entertains the idea of God existing when someone he knows is religious is going through a sad or painful ordeal.

In those situations, he says that he does pray for that person on the off chance that there is a God listening.

Confronting a secular trend

My friend Andrew is an atheist, raised by Catholic parents, who rarely attended Mass growing up.

For as long as I have known him, he has been vocal about his stance on religion as an unnecessary institution that sets unnecessary rules.

He says he is not against the church; rather, he simply feels no desire to attend. He also says the lack of exposure to religion has made him question its validity.

For Andrew, the concept of faith itself is challenging.

And indeed, Father Spitzer's four reasons do apply in Andrew's case, too, as he believes science and God contradict each other, and that there is little to no appreciable scientific evidence of a creator.

Andrew isn't opposed to going to Mass, but doesn't see himself as the type of person who would join the church.

He told me, "Maybe if the opportunity ever arose, I'd be open to it. But as of now, I don't really see a reason to attend Mass or attend church regularly."

While an intellectual approach may be able to answer some of the questions my secular-leaning friends have—like Andrew's questions on God in relation to science and James's questions on suffering—I believe the church leaders need to approach the issue from another angle, as well. Continue reading

Of course, one man's sin is another man's natural human inclination.

Look at those seven vices through the right lens and they might not seem so terrible after all. In fact, they could even be good for you...

Pride

According to Christian theology, pride is the worst of all the seven deadly sins.

It's wrapped up in arrogance and selfishness and acts as a gateway sin, leading you to lust, envy, and all the rest.

The idea was borne out by a recent literature review from the University of Missouri, which found that arrogance is on a spectrum.

It starts with individual arrogance, which is an inflated view of oneself, moves to comparative arrogance, where that inflated view fuels a feeling of superiority and ends at antagonistic arrogance when superiority leads people to treat others poorly.

However, a hint of pride could also be a good thing. After all, loving oneself is associated with feelings of confidence, self-worth, and assertiveness. Many people who lack those qualities would say it's better to have them than not.

Indeed, a recent study from Queen's University Belfast found that narcissism, or excessive pride in oneself, increased mental toughness, which helped to offset symptoms of depression. People who scored highly in tests for grandiose narcissism were also less stressed.

Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, from Queen's School of Psychology, said: "This research really helps to explain variation in symptoms of depression in society. If a person is more mentally tough they are likely to embrace challenges head-on, rather than viewing them as a hurdle.

"While of course not all dimensions of narcissism are good, certain aspects can lead to positive outcomes." Continue reading

Greed can distort reality, manipulate truth, coerce sinful actions, and compromise virtue and a desire to follow the ways of God.

This weekend, the Lenten journey continues but lightens up with "Rejoice Sunday," often called by its Latin name Laetare Sunday. The observance gives Christian believers a reminder of the glory of the Easter celebration that awaits them at the end of Lent.

Rejoice Sunday is a consolation, but also a call to perseverance through the soul-searching and self-accusation of the Lenten season.

It's a summons to keep our focus on the ways of God and to keep pride, vanity, and greed at bay.

These three ‘bad spirits' were identified by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his monumental seventeenth century work The Spiritual Exercises. In the Exercises, which have drastically shaped the spiritual worldview of Pope Francis, believers are called to a sober examination of their consciences.

Among the dark spirits, they are to search for greed. Where has greed distorted reality, manipulated truth, coerced sinful actions, or compromised virtue and a desire to follow the ways of God?

As we desire the joys of Easter, we have to explore and dig out greed. Greed can pertain to our faith, love, forgiveness, time, abilities, and our finances.

While each area needs to be examined, we must especially assess our finances since they reveal so much about us. If we want to know what we love, we just have to look at what we spend our money on.

And so, the review begins. Where do we spend our money and why? In our spending, do we tithe to our faith community, to the poor, and to others in need? Does our spending seem to revolve only around us, our interests, and our well-being? Continue reading

• Father Jeffrey F Kirby is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina.

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the territory will use the the frequent flyer miles to help medical patients travel off-island when needed, or help students travel for educational programs.

Key issues discussed in the booklet include:

• The "scandalous" aspects of wealth and poverty in the US and other countries;
• The current growing uprising against capitalism in many parts of the world;
• The benefits for everyone of having greater equality in a society;
• The need for greater sharing, compassion and concern for the common good and how this message is affirmed in the major religious traditions of the world; and
• The need to rethink what real development is all about and what economic system will best promote authentic development.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Image: Kester Brewin

Is the disaster a result of the "loss of balance" Dame Anne Salmond spoke about in her DomPost opinion piece on Thursday? "In the pursuit of profit, everything in the world - the earth itself, other species, knowledge and, indeed, other people - has been turned into a 'resource' to be exploited, often without care or conscience," she says.

In his encyclical 'Charity in Truth' Pope Benedict argues that "Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers, or abandoning mechanisms of wealth redistribution in order to increase the country's international competitiveness, hinder the achievement of lasting development."

Rena it is owned by one company, chartered by another and possibly operated by at third, registered under a flag of convenience and crewed by poorly paid seamen; the Captain and Mate are under arrest. Is man or profit at centre of this affair?

Joe Fleetwood of the Maritime Union asks "If we allowed trucks on New Zealand roads that were licensed in Liberia or some other semi-functioning failed state, and driven by unregulated overseas drivers, there would be an outcry. Yet that is what we allow on the New Zealand coast and now we are paying the price."

Source

• mybroadband: Pope in Spain
• Stuff.co.nz: Our small country needs a change of heart
• Voxy.co.nz: Responsibility for Rena lies with the Govt - Union
• Image: Auckland Scoop

The small protest known as Occupy Wall Street has grown over the past 4 weeks. Occupy Wall St protests have spread across the United States and are now going world-wide. There is even a group planning a week-long protest at Civic Square in Wellington, starting on Saturday. The Occupy Wellington group is also planning to protest in front of the Reserve Bank from November 5 to 30.

Occupy Wall St protesters are speaking out mainly against economic inequality and corporate greed. Usually, in a recession, income inequality shrinks, but in the present crisis this is not happening.

In the United Sates, in 2005, the richest 1 percent of households earned as much each year as the bottom 60 percent put together; they possessed as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent; and with each passing year, a greater share of the nation's treasure has been flowing through their hands and into their pockets. The analysts, Ajay Kapur, Niall Macleod, and Narendra Singh, coined a term for this state of affairs: plutonomy.

According to The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS), only twenty years ago New Zealand was one of the most equal countries in the western world. Now it is considered one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.

"Inequality increased faster here than in any other OECD country. Most of this increase is due to larger rises in overall incomes for the top 20 per cent of income earners."

Source:

• Coindumonde
• Stuff.co.nz: Occupy Wellington
• 3 News: Occupy Wall St gains momentum
• The Atlanic.com: Plutonomy
• Catholic Online: The effects of greed
• Catholic Online: Pope: Greed, the root of global economic crisis
• Image: Coindumonde