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The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism

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Tired of hearing what's wrong with the Church or listening the doomsayers predictions of a bleak future? In The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism you will find an accurate account of what really is going on in the Catholic Church--and it is good news.
Author of the highly informative The Catholic Report blog, Dave Hartline shows that he has his finger on the pulse of the Church and sees a different picture than what is often portrayed in the media in the United States. One has only to think of the media's surprise at the overwhelming turn out for the funeral of Pope John Paul a few years ago, or the record breaking crowds that turn out to hear Pope Benedict XVI's weekly audiences and Angelus messages--much to the confusion of the popular media to see that not only is the tide turning as Hartline argues so convincingly but it threatens to be a tidal wave that will baptize an entire generation of undercatechized young people with an explosion of faith that would have seemed inconceivable only five or six years ago.
Hartline's book gives us all the positive message we've been missing out on.

Listening to the contemporary world news on any particular evening, one would begin to think that our world is ridden with corruption, hate and fear and fated to an inexorable slide to oblivion. In that context, the Catholic Church has also been a very large target for those would agree with the above statement, with it's promise of Heaven, it's emphasis on the nobility of sacrifice and it's counter-cultural agenda and it's very personal promise that Jesus died for my sins.
In the decades following the Second World War, indeed the news for the Catholic Church has been challenging...increasingly empty seminaries, the rise of divisive theologies within the Church, seemingly lost ground in the culture wars. But then, in 1979, a little known Polish Priest named Karol Woltyla was chosen as Pope and combined with the orthodox faithful (that never left, their voices and faces were just drowned out by the din), the Tide began to turn.
One of the things that first jumped out at me as I started reading Dave's book (disclaimer: Dave did use a quote from me in the book)was that it was manifestly obvious that the book with written with such joy and hope. It just emerges from the pages. I can't help but have the feeling that we live in such an exciting time for the Catholic Church! Even the secular press is both surprised and confused by what they have to report. World Youth Day's with absolutely mind-numbing attendance by young people (who weren't supposed to be interested in such a tee-totaling, guilt ridden religion), explosive growth in the Third world and a return to orthodoxy everywhere else. After a 1000 years, the rift between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church openly being healed and the possibility of reunion tantalizingly within our grasp. This is not just reason for me to hope, this is about our children and our children's children. This is a story about why we should "be not afraid" to bring new life into the world and as individuals, to shed our anxieties about how people will perceive us and "live our faith out loud" ;-)
Ramon

A grass-roots revolution is occurring within the United States Roman Catholic Church. I believe it is the result of several trends and events which includes: the aging of the population with a spiritual awakening of the "boomers" who are now trying to make sense of their lives; young adults who have not been impressed with secularism and all that it does not offer; the failure of relativism; Pope John Paul II (JP II); the sex abuse scandal involving Catholic clergy; the shortage of clergy in the US; and the rise of protestant fundamentalism.

Author David Hartline in his "The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism" highlights this grass-roots revolution by providing an overview of the visible signs marking its existence. He begins with Pope John Paul II's papacy, his death, the election of Pope Benedict VI, and the collective impact these have had on the Church.

The rest of the book expands on themes established by JP II with chapters on:

The Defenders of the Faith - Laity
Youth Embrace Catholic Traditions
The Growth of Orthodoxy in the Clergy and Religious Orders
Defenders of Faith - Clergy and Religious
There's Something About Mary
The Eucharist and the Catholic Embrace of It
Catholic Schools
Catholic Higher Education
Catholicism and Popular Culture
Catholic Athletes and Coaches
Mega-Churches, Salvation, and Other Debated Issues
The Decline of the Liberal Church
The Catholic Crusades - Mean Old Catholic Bullies or Defenders of the Faith
The Catholic Vote
Catholic Social Issues, Social Action and Good Works

While Hartline does a very good job outlining existing trends, "The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism" is not a quantitative work so it will be vulnerable to critics. Whether these trends continue to grow, strengthen and reshape the US Catholic Church is open for discussion. They do, however, exist.

Any orthodox Catholic seeking good news about the US Catholic Church will find "The Tide is Turning" to be very good news.

Sick of hearing about the sexual scandals in the church, sick of Leno's unending swipes at our priests? Then you will enjoy this book, which brims over with cheery news about the state of Catholicism.

There was a decline in vocations, a very steep decline, in places where nuns tossed out their habits and seemed to lose their faith as well. But there is a growth spurt today in convents where orthodoxy is preserved. And in places like Asia and Africa, seminaries and convents are flooded with applicants.

When Pope John Paul "lay dying..an estimated five to seven million people came to Rome. It was the largest throng ever to attend a funeral...Some 70 percent of those mourners were younger than 25" (p 2). The secular press seemed perplexed that so many young people loved Pope John Paul. Andrew Sullivan, "the openly homosexual...editor..went on a literary rampage against the Pope...Against all the evidence...Sullivan said the late pontiff's papacy was a failure" (p 5).

In the United States, Catholicism seemed in grave trouble following the social upheavals of the 60's. Yet even here there has been a true turnaround. Much of this is due to one nun who had $200 and decided to found EWTN, the Catholic network.

This is a cheerful book with a lot of interesting information.

I found this book highly readable and full of things that will give people -- Catholics and non-Catholics alike -- a lot of hope. And it's informative, too. I thought the parts about the Crusades and Mary were worth the price of admission alone.

The author starts with a convincing documentation of the effects of the ministry of John Paul II and Benedict VI on youth and vocations in selected places throughout the world and in the US. These are the strongest points. As he proceeds to make these linkages in other parts of the Church (education, lay involvement, etc), his argumentation devloves, somewhat into "de uno dicit omnes" (from one thing you conclude all things) and although the examples cited are interesting, they require much further analysis before conclusions of a significant turnaround can be made. One example of the stretch, in my humble opinion is in the return to classic church music. I think the point is that some modern music does not stimulate spiritual reflection, to which most can agree; however, the urging of a return to spiritual music is not meant to impy that all modern music fails the reflection goal. I think there is a very good idea in the theme of the book, but it needs much tightening

If the tide is truly turning then why is the Vatican bemoaning the fact that so many Catholics are leaving the church to join protestant denominations. Until the church heirarchy starts facing the fact that their laws and prejudices are really turning Catholics away from the church, the tide will in fact be turning the other direction.