Those are very Protestant reasons articulated in the article--a Protestant service is centered on the sermon and the people are concerned with what they get out of it. Mass is all about the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ being offered to God for petition, adoration, reparation, and thanksgiving and it's about uniting ourselves to Him in Holy Communion when we give our whole beings to Him. It's not about what we get out of it, Mass is about what we give to God--Sacrifice, prayer, and self.
True enough. But it is also true that whether one likes it or not one does have to endure horribly shallow homilies, liturgical abuses and a host of other unavoidables.
People don't go to Mass for one reason. They do not believe. If they truly believed Jesus Christ was present in the Eucharist only the most mailicious laziness or repulsion of God would keep them away. There's only two reasons why someone may not believe: they don't actually know what we believe (they have never been taught that we believe in the Real Presence) or they've simply abandoned the faith and gone the way of the world.
There are more then 2 reasons my friend.
Maybe someone does understand what the church teaches and sees that it is not even understood by most clergy.
Maybe one disagrees and follows another interpretation of scripture- this is not going the way of the world.
Maybe one finds oneself seeing the church in a different way and needs to decide if it's worth it. Maybe.
It is correct to say this issue is not new with Vatican II--it has been slowly growing for about 300 years. Rationalism and naturalism have permeated Western society with the growth of godless civil societies--this didn't happen because everyone was a good devout Catholic--it happened because very few people were. These societies which relegate religion to a matter of private opinion and which indoctrinate the youth to accept such pluralism as a virtue, have engendered a sense of individualism, personalized faith, and an overall me-centered approach to religion. Likewise, this naturalistic and rationalistic culture has destroyed the power of the sacred and has made true miracles, like transubstantiation, into some backward superstition from the dark ages. The Catholic Church's divinely instituted authority structure, inflexible teaching of religion, and embrace of the sacred, makes it diametrically opposed to the doctrines modern society embraces as virtues.
Where do you think this Rationalism of western culture was born?
It is from the Catholic church. Luther is a product of the Catholic church. Scholasticism is Catholic through and through. THis is one of the noticable differences from the Eastern Church.
Nothing sacred can truly be destroyed, especially if it is lived. Fact is few live it. Could be a bad egg in the nest from the get-go that is proof.
You will know them by their fruit.
I think the fruit you speak of is in fact from the tree of Catholicism.
So how do we fix this? In my opinion, the overarching point of the Second Vatican Council was to give the Church a missionary spirit geared towards evangelizing modern man. Obviously, and for many, many reasons, little fruit has been born. The fact that it came during one of the most culturally turbulent periods in history didn't help much. Sadly, I think many in their desperation to address this issue have compromised or hidden some of the faith--which has failed to accomplish anything but alienate even more people. In my opinion, the best thing to do is just to uncompromsingly keep presenting the message of salvation in the fullness of truth and charity--some people will accept it, but most won't, and when people don't we just brush the dust off our sandals and entrust them to God's mercy (while still treating all with charity regardless of whether they accept the Gospel or not).
