Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing.  This week actually was a lighter blogging week, with longer individual posts.

The first was about a new study showing that watching R rated movies as children increases alcohol use.  Next, I talked about the possibility of parishes scaring away "good enough" Catholics.

Finally, Scripture Saturday was a short verse from Romans.

I hope everyone has a blessed week and enjoys the Spring weather!

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing.  This week actually was a lighter blogging week, with longer individual posts.

The first was about a new study showing that watching R rated movies as children increases alcohol use.  Next, I talked about the possibility of parishes scaring away "good enough" Catholics.

Finally, Scripture Saturday was a short verse from Romans.

I hope everyone has a blessed week and enjoys the Spring weather!

Scripture Saturday

That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 
~Romans 14:9

This quote from today's morning prayer made me think not only of the literally deceased, but of the spiritually and pschologically "dead". Christ is Lord of them as well as of the "living".  He is Lord of those who have given up and have stopped trying.  He is Lord of those who have no hope.

We need to make sure that we, as a Church open our hearts and our parishes to the marginalized of the world and welcome them as Christ would.

Scripture Saturday

That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 
~Romans 14:9

This quote from today's morning prayer made me think not only of the literally deceased, but of the spiritually and pschologically "dead". Christ is Lord of them as well as of the "living".  He is Lord of those who have given up and have stopped trying.  He is Lord of those who have no hope.

We need to make sure that we, as a Church open our hearts and our parishes to the marginalized of the world and welcome them as Christ would.

Are We Scaring Away the "Good Enough Catholics?"

DotCommonweal has an interesting article on B+ Catholics--What Will Become of Them?  Oddly enough, I've been thinking something along the same lines recently, myself.  Will we be judged on the quantity  or type of our piety?  Do we judge ourselves, or others that way?  Does God?

We are a liturgical and sacramental church.  The years after Vatican II saw the pendulum swing so far away from traditional piety that it was often openly decried by teachers and priests.  Generations of the faithful were left standing out in the cold, wondering where the Rosary went.

Now, however, I think it may be swinging a bit too strongly in the other direction. In the DotCommonweal article Cathleen Kaveny asks what will happen to the "B+ Catholics in a church run by Millenials" (who tend to be more conservative in their piety) "and ecclesiastical movements" (which often insist that salvation depends on a particular style of piety or type of prayer).

She also asks an important question.  Do we want a "purer, smaller" church?  It is (and was for me) comforting in a rather contemptuous way to think that the Church would rid itself of all those "troublemakers" until I realized that a large majority of my own family falls into that category of the fallen away.

Personally, I can no longer rejoice when we seem to be deliberately running off so many who are hurting and so many more who just feel "not good enough" to remain in the Church because they "only" go to Mass on Sunday and can't manage much more, or because they struggle for years with sin .

Jesus came not for the well, but the sick.  He is the Divine Physician.  We need to welcome all to the Church--even the "good enough Catholics" and particularly those who do not meet even that standard.

Are We Scaring Away the "Good Enough Catholics?"

DotCommonweal has an interesting article on B+ Catholics--What Will Become of Them?  Oddly enough, I've been thinking something along the same lines recently, myself.  Will we be judged on the quantity  or type of our piety?  Do we judge ourselves, or others that way?  Does God?

We are a liturgical and sacramental church.  The years after Vatican II saw the pendulum swing so far away from traditional piety that it was often openly decried by teachers and priests.  Generations of the faithful were left standing out in the cold, wondering where the Rosary went.

Now, however, I think it may be swinging a bit too strongly in the other direction. In the DotCommonweal article Cathleen Kaveny asks what will happen to the "B+ Catholics in a church run by Millenials" (who tend to be more conservative in their piety) "and ecclesiastical movements" (which often insist that salvation depends on a particular style of piety or type of prayer).

She also asks an important question.  Do we want a "purer, smaller" church?  It is (and was for me) comforting in a rather contemptuous way to think that the Church would rid itself of all those "troublemakers" until I realized that a large majority of my own family falls into that category of the fallen away.

Personally, I can no longer rejoice when we seem to be deliberately running off so many who are hurting and so many more who just feel "not good enough" to remain in the Church because they "only" go to Mass on Sunday and can't manage much more, or because they struggle for years with sin .

Jesus came not for the well, but the sick.  He is the Divine Physician.  We need to welcome all to the Church--even the "good enough Catholics" and particularly those who do not meet even that standard.

Media with Adult Content is Harmful for Children

A new study of middle school students in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs suggests that children exposed to R rated movies are significantly more likely to drink alcohol that those whose parents did not allow them to watch such movies.

This study joins others in the field that show that watching media with adult content can increase risk taking and thrill seeking behavior in children, along with smoking, violence and early sexual acting out.

I have been noticing the disturbing trend to make children's cartoons more "edgy" and "adult".  This surreptitious media behavior often lures kids and their parents into watching a movie that seems child friendly and ends up exposing children to violence and/or sexual themes much earlier than is healthy.  Also, many parents don't give this a second thought.  "It's a cartoon" after all.

The trend toward "dark" superheros and PG kids movies is disturbing.  Just because something is a "cartoon" doesn't mean it is appropriate for small children.  Equally, just because something was originally marketed to children 30, 40, or 50 years ago, doesn't mean that current Hollywood types have stayed with that original goal.

A show as obviously adult in content as the Simpsons or South Park needs to be vigorously and persistently kept away from young children, who are, after all, naturally lured by the cartoon nature of such shows, something R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. discovered a long time ago!

Paying attention to the family's media diet is as important as paying attention to what they eat.