One evening on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. talked about who watches the Network. He stated that EWTN reaches out to the "Forgotten Catholic." That person, he said, is not liberal or conservative or middle of the road. Rather he can best be characterized as the devout Catholic.

In all of the changes of the last 35 years the person most ignored has been the devout Catholic: the young mother kneeling at the side altar praying for her husband and children, the immigrant family anxious to have their shrine to Mary blessed, the guy for whom NCR only means National Cash Register but who continues to say the prayers he learned as a child.

These devout Catholics have been taken for granted--even mocked. I admit with a certain shame that I have participated in discussions which looked down on folks who took literally the six days of creation or Jonah being swallowed by a fish. Or who believed in the Nine First Fridays, the prayer to St. Jude or the secrets of Fatima. Yet it was we who were in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water. It was they who were keeping alive something more vital than "solid biblical exegesis" or "good liturgical principles."

For sure some "devout Catholics" were abrasive, even destructively arrogant. But that small group does not represent the forgotten Catholic. He is really more like Noah quietly building his ark, even tho others ignore or shuffle him aside. But it is time to stop. The flood waters are already up to our waists. If he stretches his hand out to you, don't be too proud to climb aboard.

P.S. Don't be afraid. You won't have to check your intelligence at the gangway. Sure, some baggage (slogans) won't fit, but you will discover a new clarity when you stop hauling that dead weight. It is you who are needed, not all that stuff bending down your shoulders.

***************

The challenge of secular humanism.

The mission of this website.

The Disney boycott: A case in point.

Some background in philosphy.

A representative of secular philosophy: Carl Sagan.

An illustration from the Abortion controversy: Why "pro-choice" is a contradiction in terms.

**********