The paradox of great Catholic community in irreligious places

Last night I watched a homily that Archbishop Sample from Portland gave at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC about six years ago, and from there I did some Googling. One thing I noticed in my search results is that, like the San Francisco archdiocese, there were a lot of social media posts, threads, etc about how great the Archdiocese of Portland is (and apparently Abp Sample is highly regarded, some even going so far as to say he's the best bishop in the West). I know it's not always the case but here we have two of the most liberal cities in America and their Catholic culture has a sterling reputation. Minneapolis and Chicago seem to be Archdiocese in similar situations, the latter even in spite of its prelate.

The common denominator, with the exception of Chicago, seems to be a good prelate. But why else do you suppose a Catholic community might thrive in such darkened places? These cities are notorious as havens for sinful lifestyles.

One comment that caught my attention about Portland was that Catholic culture never took root there the way it did in the northeast, so there's not much cultural Catholicism. And being such an irreligious city, people feel no shame in opting out of religious practice altogether. So the people who go to Mass really want to be there and are very serious and sincere about practicing the faith, because if they're not they simply wouldn't go.

I thought that was an interesting characterization and also a bit of an indictment on places, like for example where I was living for a bit on Long Island. There Catholicism is just part of the broader culture so it's not uncommon to see Catholic paraphernalia in public, there are stores where people go to get their kids outfitted for their baptism or first communion, even some municipal events that have Catholic roots. But the flip side of that is I saw a lot of seemingly (I don't know their hearts but judging by appearances) lukewarm Catholics and problematic things like what I call "microsacrilege" (like wearing a rosary as jewelry) to more egregious things like liturgical abuses.

So repeating an earlier question, why do you think some of these "godless" towns have such thriving Catholic communities, and also do you think such good communities ever justify living in places that may be socially problematic in a secular sense?

chevyontheriver said:

For the same reason Catholicism thrived under Polish Communism. It just happens when the Church is up against a challenge, by neighborhood, city, diocese, nation, or whatever. It's almost like you can look for the best parishes in the worst neighborhoods.

By the way, Minneapolis does have a basilica but the Cathedral is in St. Paul, a city that was known as 'Pig's Eye' before the first Catholic priest insisted the name be changed.

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That's an interesting factoid about St. Paul. They really do have some beautiful churches and cathedrals there.

What you're saying kind of reminds of something Rob Bell, of all people, wrote in his book Jesus Wants To Save Christians. He made this claim that the Bible "was written from the underside of oppression" (and he didn't necessarily mean oppression the way the woke mob does today). But just like the ancient Hebrews were oppressed by the Egyptians, their descendants were oppressed by the Babylonians, then the Romans, etc. So I think there's a thread there, that the Catholic faith originates from underneath and within the context of oppressive society and perhaps is most at home in similar situations. Even to a lesser extent like 21st century America where technically we have religious freedom and won't be crucified or throne to lions for worshiping God, but there are still areas that can be hostile towards us and the faith.

I don't know, I don't mean it to sound politicized.