CV NEWS FEED // Bad news is not the only news for the Catholic Church in America, according to Catholic analyst and Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow George Weigel.
In a First Things article published last month, Weigel challenged Italian historian Roberto de Mattei’s statement that the Catholic Church “appears today as a wasteland.”
While Weigel noted challenges in Germany, Belgium and Rome, he said the Church in the U.S. is a “chiaroscuro landscape, with both shadows and light,” not a wasteland.
According to Weigel, seminaries in the U.S. “are in better shape than they’ve ever been,” with Pope Saint John Paul II’s reforms now deeply rooted across the country.
“Seminary rectors and formators in many North Atlantic countries marvel at what they see here and hope to imitate it,” he added.
Furthermore, despite the current struggle to preserve the original Catholic identities of many U.S. institutes of higher education, Weigel pointed out the existence of several that “are set firmly on the path of fostering intellectual rigor in an environment that supports ongoing and ever-deeper conversion to Christ.” The latter category includes Thomas Aquinas College, Belmont Abbey College, Benedictine College, the Catholic University of America, Christendom College, the University of Dallas, the Franciscan University of Steubenville and the University of Mary, according to Weigel.
“Give up Catholic bad news-mongering,” Weigel concluded. “The Holy Spirit is animating good things among us. They should be celebrated and supported.”
