When you look at the rate at which people stop attending after receiving sacraments, I don't know if making people prepare longer is such a bad idea. In the early church, people were required to be a catechumen for three years before baptism!
The canon law issues need to be resolved, but requiring more catechesis is not a bad thing in my …
When you look at the rate at which people stop attending after receiving sacraments, I don't know if making people prepare longer is such a bad idea. In the early church, people were required to be a catechumen for three years before baptism!
The canon law issues need to be resolved, but requiring more catechesis is not a bad thing in my opinion. Especially in a diocese like Salt Lake City. It's my diocese, and as you can expect, Catholics are a minority in Utah.
This is not a place where casual faith exists. I don't mean that Utah is hostile to Catholics, that's not my experience, I love it here, but if you're not practicing the faith, there is nothing culturally that will connect you to the faith.
When I lived in Houston, TX, it seems like every other person I met was Catholic, some practicing, some not. But in Utah, I think I've only met one Catholic at an event that was not related to the church. It is very easy here to lose a connection to the church if you are not actively practicing.
When you look at the rate at which people stop attending after receiving sacraments, I don't know if making people prepare longer is such a bad idea. In the early church, people were required to be a catechumen for three years before baptism!
The canon law issues need to be resolved, but requiring more catechesis is not a bad thing in my opinion. Especially in a diocese like Salt Lake City. It's my diocese, and as you can expect, Catholics are a minority in Utah.
This is not a place where casual faith exists. I don't mean that Utah is hostile to Catholics, that's not my experience, I love it here, but if you're not practicing the faith, there is nothing culturally that will connect you to the faith.
When I lived in Houston, TX, it seems like every other person I met was Catholic, some practicing, some not. But in Utah, I think I've only met one Catholic at an event that was not related to the church. It is very easy here to lose a connection to the church if you are not actively practicing.