'I do not mean to suggest that the desire to meet infidelity half-way is the sole or even the main cause responsible for the loose theology of our time. No preacher would deliberately judge the credibility of his message by the credulity of his audience. But the prevalent irreligion of the age does exercise a continual unconscious pressure upon the pulpit; it makes preachers hesitate to affirm doctrines whose affirmation would be unpopular. And a doctrine which has ceased to be affirmed is doomed, like a disused organ, to atrophy.'
Mgr Ronald Knox - 'The Belief of Catholics' (1927)
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You make a good point.
ReplyDeleteHow many times do we hear people in our parishes make comments like, 'Oh, of course we don't believe that any more' or 'Oh, we stopped doing that ages ago.'?
If church teaching is not referred to and reinforced from time to time via the pulpit, then it appears that some people seem to think that 'the rules have changed'. I think we all need to be reminded from time to time about what the Catholic Church teaches on a whole host of subjects.