Pell Concerned Over Pick & Mix Attitude to Religion
Oct 05, 2006
The Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell has expressed fears that the Catholic youth of Australia is being let down by increasing secularism in the education system.
(The Universe, September 29, 2006) Speaking in his keynote address to a National Catholic Education Conference the cardinal praised the huge contribution made to Australian public life of Catholics in over 200 year’s of Australian history.
But he warned that modernity is now threatening Catholic life, pointing out that a recent study of the youths of ‘Generation Y’ indicated that only ten percent of Catholics believe "only one religion is true" and that a staggering 75 percent believed it was acceptable to "pick and choose beliefs." Also, worryingly for the cardinal was the fact that young women were no more religious than today’s young men.
"This has enormous consequences for the future," he said.
"Generations of children across most ethnic groups in Australia had the faith passed on to them and nurtured by the devotion of their mothers. It remains to be seen how many Gen Y women revert to this role once they have children of their own.
"Too many young Catholics have been led by the pressures of contemporary propaganda, whatever might be said about the inadequacies of family life and Catholic religious education, so that their religious confusion is worse than that of all other young Australian Christians.”
He added: "They are also poorly equipped for any return to the fold when they have little instinct for or understanding that there are truths of faith and morals, which are to be sought after and judged according to rational criteria."
Despite making up almost a quarter of the population of Australia, Cardinal Pell pointed out that with the percentage of Catholics attending Mass regularly, currently standing at just 16 percent, the Catholic education system needed to 'clarify our goals, try to learn from our mistakes," in order to better instil the inherent teachings and values of Catholicism to the youth of today despite opposition from secular society.
"Secularists strive to remove religion from the public domain and restrict it to private life, where individual religious choices reflect personal preferences unrelated to truth and general principles," he said.
"They see religion as another area for consumer choice. Catholicism calls to faith and reason as well as love and hope.
"This is now profoundly countercultural," he added.
Pell Concerned Over Pick & Mix Attitude to Religion