Religion is society’s glue
In an interview with conservative news website Newsmax, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said: “If you listen to secularists, they would have you believe that religion is toxic for society – and it’s just the opposite: Religion is the glue, the cohesion, the nobility, the dream, the aspiration, the tempering factor on raw emotions. Religion and faith is what makes culture potent. We’ve got a culture of entitlement, selfishness. No wonder we’ve got the crisis that we see every day.”
Taizé: seeking to build unity
Pope Francis, in a message to the Taizé community, delivered through Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said: “Does our planet have a future? What responsibilities do we have to take to ensure its protection and make the earth habitable? As polarisations increase, how can we, according to your theme for the coming year, ‘become builders of unity’? Instead of giving in to defeatism and running away from these questions, you have decided to tackle them head-on, to pray, to listen to the Word of God, to let it shed light on increasingly complex human situations.”
Technology use or clerical abuse
According to the ‘Notes from Poland’ news website a survey has found that less than 25% of young Poles practise religion. In the early 1990s, the figure was almost 70%. Those who practise religion at least once a week fell from 69.5% in March 1992 to 43% in August 2021.
Wojciech Polak, Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland, said these are devastating numbers. He blamed the result on the Church’s failure to deal with sex abuse by clergy. On the other hand, the conservative Archbishop of Cracow, Marek Jędraszewski, argued that the Church was a “victim” of the pandemic and of young people’s use of technology which alienates them from their parents’ guidance.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)