If the young Hispanic population continues to blend with digital innovation that would fly directly in the face of these tech bros power grab that they've had on us since at least 2015 and that they have no intention of stopping. Because young Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic in the United States, a shift in the massive manipulation of tech bros stealing elections (Brexit, 2016, etc.), the influence of young Hispanics in the digital world could turn Silicon Valley on its head. Young Hispanics could turn social media into what it was originally intended to be: a community where people unify and find common ground instead of the rage inducing divider it has turned into.
Wow.
I'll be marinating on this most of my day today because I know, or rather have a sense that, our elections may be turning away from the darkness we've known for far too long.
The Latino Century has arrived and I am def here for it.
Meeting people where they are! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that an institution as old and experienced as Catholicism should have a long view and be so surprisingly progressive in its wisdom and advocation of Christ. I’m impressed.
I've blogged about religion for years at a blog called The Wondering Eagle. There's another issue at play that is helping the Catholic church. And that is that evangelical Christianity is deeply corrupt. Christian nationalism is penetrative the reformed crowd. Just look at how Al Mohler is evolving his theology. 81% of American evangelicals support Donald Trump for his authoritarian practices. When you look at pastors Luke Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald, etc...Donald Trump is a natural fit. But is the sexual abuse crisis in the Southern Baptists going to be resolved when 81% of evangelicals rally around an adjudicated rapist? Today l am secular. My blog came about due to abuse and being a whistle blower in a DC area mega church years ago. Evangelicalism is broken. I find it amazing and profoundly sick that Jesus taught that he doesn't want you to worship him if you have wounded or offended your brother, and how you are to lay down your offering and make amends before worshipping him at the alter. Evangelicals never apologize. They never make a sincere effort to right a wrong. It's why the movement will never be fixed. The only explanation l can think of is that Evangelicalism attracts sociopaths and people with narcissistic problems. When l blog l can't tell you how many times victims in an abuse situation wanted to hear an apology or to right the wrong. But that is asking too much of an evangelical. My .02.
Hi! I 100% agree with you. I’m also ex-evangelical and secular. My perspective is that the corruption that has always been there, but has evolved into a grotesque expression of faith in the evangelical church is not any different than the Catholic Churches own history of abuse and political corruption, so it’s curious to me that people want to turn a blind eye and embrace Catholicism now. I believe it’s a testament to the primal need to belong to a story.
Yes, it is definitely a need to belong, among other key elements. I tend to think of religion as a tool in the toolbox of humanity. We humans seek to be part of a bigger story, to explain the inexplicable in our world, and our societies looks for moral guardrails to encourage civil behavior. Religion checks all of these boxes that we need. Also, the theme of forgiveness runs deep in Christianity, so it is not surprising to me that there is an embracement of Catholicism, in spite of its history.
I love the idea of religion as a tool. How do we use it, and not be used by it? It’s needed in our humanity, but we brutalize each other with it when we fully embrace it and identify with it. If we could work with it as observers of it rather than identifying fully with the stories, maybe we could benefit from it without the harm it has wrought on humanity for millennia.
As with any institution power corrupts. The trick is to recognize how to best safeguard against that within any organization, including religion. However, I do believe that most religions and their followers by nature seek goodness and that generally they only become hurtful when they are bastardized by those who seek power over others. Unfortunately, much of modern evangelicalism is unorganized and lacks the checks and balances it needs to prevent demagoguery and power-seeking. Most religions I’ve encountered do more good than harm in their communities. Now, getting people to realize if their religious practice has become bastardized through selective translation and cherry-picking interpretations is a whole other issue.
You are a man after my own heart, the Gesú is my favorite as well. Stumbled in there to pray one weekday afternoon and to see the Baroque Machine, without realizing it was the feast day of St Francis, so my husband and I were blessed to experience Mass concelebrated by numerous Jesuits and Franciscans together. It was extraordinary and wholly unplanned but sticks with me still.
But I digress.
Your post, as always, informs and leaves room for much thought. Perhaps this moment with digital evangelization and catechesis taking place in unorthodox but clearly effective ways, provides a glimpse into how the Church has survived every empire and political movement for over two thousand years. As an institution, does it move at a glacial pace and resist change? Certainly. (Now to be fair, this creates the sacred bulwark which withstands the vagaries and folly of the secular world at any given time, we talked about that in your last post.) But the people within it, the Body of Christ itself, are often radical and courageous, saints and prophets, living up to the moment of the times in which they live. Their examples keep the church alive and growing. Ever ancient and ever new, as Augustine would say, all at once. It’s easy to get lost in the tragedy and anxiety of the moment the American project finds itself in. But having a horizon that is eternal helps, particularly when we can be aware of … well… God in All Things, as the Jesuits believe. So thank you for sharing the locus of ancient and new for you.
Anecdotally, I tend to agree with the data on young adults converting. I’ve lead OCIA at my parish for several years and numbers of young adults and particularly men coming into the Church is significant. They are searching for a home and are often led to us through social media and digital sources (some good, some bad). It’s fascinating to hear the stories.
If the young Hispanic population continues to blend with digital innovation that would fly directly in the face of these tech bros power grab that they've had on us since at least 2015 and that they have no intention of stopping. Because young Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic in the United States, a shift in the massive manipulation of tech bros stealing elections (Brexit, 2016, etc.), the influence of young Hispanics in the digital world could turn Silicon Valley on its head. Young Hispanics could turn social media into what it was originally intended to be: a community where people unify and find common ground instead of the rage inducing divider it has turned into.
Wow.
I'll be marinating on this most of my day today because I know, or rather have a sense that, our elections may be turning away from the darkness we've known for far too long.
The Latino Century has arrived and I am def here for it.
Meeting people where they are! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that an institution as old and experienced as Catholicism should have a long view and be so surprisingly progressive in its wisdom and advocation of Christ. I’m impressed.
I've blogged about religion for years at a blog called The Wondering Eagle. There's another issue at play that is helping the Catholic church. And that is that evangelical Christianity is deeply corrupt. Christian nationalism is penetrative the reformed crowd. Just look at how Al Mohler is evolving his theology. 81% of American evangelicals support Donald Trump for his authoritarian practices. When you look at pastors Luke Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald, etc...Donald Trump is a natural fit. But is the sexual abuse crisis in the Southern Baptists going to be resolved when 81% of evangelicals rally around an adjudicated rapist? Today l am secular. My blog came about due to abuse and being a whistle blower in a DC area mega church years ago. Evangelicalism is broken. I find it amazing and profoundly sick that Jesus taught that he doesn't want you to worship him if you have wounded or offended your brother, and how you are to lay down your offering and make amends before worshipping him at the alter. Evangelicals never apologize. They never make a sincere effort to right a wrong. It's why the movement will never be fixed. The only explanation l can think of is that Evangelicalism attracts sociopaths and people with narcissistic problems. When l blog l can't tell you how many times victims in an abuse situation wanted to hear an apology or to right the wrong. But that is asking too much of an evangelical. My .02.
Hi! I 100% agree with you. I’m also ex-evangelical and secular. My perspective is that the corruption that has always been there, but has evolved into a grotesque expression of faith in the evangelical church is not any different than the Catholic Churches own history of abuse and political corruption, so it’s curious to me that people want to turn a blind eye and embrace Catholicism now. I believe it’s a testament to the primal need to belong to a story.
Yes, it is definitely a need to belong, among other key elements. I tend to think of religion as a tool in the toolbox of humanity. We humans seek to be part of a bigger story, to explain the inexplicable in our world, and our societies looks for moral guardrails to encourage civil behavior. Religion checks all of these boxes that we need. Also, the theme of forgiveness runs deep in Christianity, so it is not surprising to me that there is an embracement of Catholicism, in spite of its history.
I love the idea of religion as a tool. How do we use it, and not be used by it? It’s needed in our humanity, but we brutalize each other with it when we fully embrace it and identify with it. If we could work with it as observers of it rather than identifying fully with the stories, maybe we could benefit from it without the harm it has wrought on humanity for millennia.
As with any institution power corrupts. The trick is to recognize how to best safeguard against that within any organization, including religion. However, I do believe that most religions and their followers by nature seek goodness and that generally they only become hurtful when they are bastardized by those who seek power over others. Unfortunately, much of modern evangelicalism is unorganized and lacks the checks and balances it needs to prevent demagoguery and power-seeking. Most religions I’ve encountered do more good than harm in their communities. Now, getting people to realize if their religious practice has become bastardized through selective translation and cherry-picking interpretations is a whole other issue.
You are a man after my own heart, the Gesú is my favorite as well. Stumbled in there to pray one weekday afternoon and to see the Baroque Machine, without realizing it was the feast day of St Francis, so my husband and I were blessed to experience Mass concelebrated by numerous Jesuits and Franciscans together. It was extraordinary and wholly unplanned but sticks with me still.
But I digress.
Your post, as always, informs and leaves room for much thought. Perhaps this moment with digital evangelization and catechesis taking place in unorthodox but clearly effective ways, provides a glimpse into how the Church has survived every empire and political movement for over two thousand years. As an institution, does it move at a glacial pace and resist change? Certainly. (Now to be fair, this creates the sacred bulwark which withstands the vagaries and folly of the secular world at any given time, we talked about that in your last post.) But the people within it, the Body of Christ itself, are often radical and courageous, saints and prophets, living up to the moment of the times in which they live. Their examples keep the church alive and growing. Ever ancient and ever new, as Augustine would say, all at once. It’s easy to get lost in the tragedy and anxiety of the moment the American project finds itself in. But having a horizon that is eternal helps, particularly when we can be aware of … well… God in All Things, as the Jesuits believe. So thank you for sharing the locus of ancient and new for you.
Anecdotally, I tend to agree with the data on young adults converting. I’ve lead OCIA at my parish for several years and numbers of young adults and particularly men coming into the Church is significant. They are searching for a home and are often led to us through social media and digital sources (some good, some bad). It’s fascinating to hear the stories.
Thank you for this beautiful post Laura.