Connor Malloy covered World Youth Day Rio for Catholic World Report. He was mortified by most of what he saw: “In Rio it dawned on me that it isn’t atheistic secularization, Islam, or the federal government sinking Catholicism’s moral authority: it’s Catholics themselves.” Part of his worrisome report reads:
“Will the distractions continue when pilgrims are no longer pilgrims, back in their daily surroundings where they are meant to be evangelizers sharing the mission? I have little doubt that many of the Catholics who got themselves down to Brazil for WYD are serious about the faith. Again and again, however, incidents such as the obvious detachment of the audience during O’Malley’s and Dolan’s talks and the distractions during the beach Masses continuously raised two questions: Are we serious about the faith? And, what faith are we spreading?
“A roundtable panel featuring students from universities in Australia, Lebanon, Africa, Spain, Brazil and the US revealed similarly distressing undertones. The talk was entitled “Being young in today’s world,” and the majority of the student representatives, to strong applause in the half-filled auditorium, emphasized the Church as the people, that the people make the Church alive. The general dissatisfaction with the institutional hierarchy was palpable. Only the US delegate, a student from Marquette, mentioned the importance of communion with the bishop of Rome and of Church tradition. Her contributions were met with nothing but silence.”
Full report is here.
