What happened to The Church in America? It has been attacked. We may help by forwarding this understanding to a lapsed Catholic. They amount to about one half of the people within forty miles of most cities:
Dear Former Catholic:
Once, our cities were strongly Catholic. A solid manufacturing base provided good jobs. Catholic parishes were the heart of safe cities.
The Church provided schools, hospitals, and charities. Some sought political power and prestige by replacing Catholic institutions with government-provided education, hospitals, welfare, food stamps, heating assistance, and public housing.
Safe, Catholic neighborhoods were destroyed as crime, drugs, and broken families became profit centers for many institutions. Many parishes were fragmented when expressways smashed through.
As failing programs proliferated, taxpayers had to pay higher taxes for salaries, benefits, and pensions. People were encouraged to take advantage of the benefits provided by social agencies. Crime and taxes made cities too expensive for working people. Working people fled as parishes, property values, and neighborhoods were destroyed.
Many Catholics decided, “We’re moving to the country!” Half the people in many rural areas less than fifty miles from cities still identify themselves as “Catholic” because their Catholic parents and grandparents moved here.
It was smart to escape the collapsing urban core. It was intelligent to move beyond the high-tax suburbs to the remnants of freedom existing in our rural areas. It was not wise to abandon the Body and Blood of Jesus that is at the heart of Catholic teaching.
We know that Jesus fulfilled The Prophecies. We know that He is never wrong. We know that He repeated His clear call to Catholic Communion an astonishing EIGHTEEN TIMES, saying “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.”
Our parents, grandparents, and a thousand years of Catholic ancestors cry from above: “For Heaven’s sake! We withstood invasion, famine, tyranny and oppression! You cannot even withstand a little prosperity! Return to The Only Church Jesus Founded! Receive His Body and Blood! Have life in you! You are only a Confession away!”
It is the most important thing we have to consider.
Sincerely,
A Catholic friend.
