We wonder why our Church services are not well attended, except by those who are rapidly approaching the time when their expectations of another life are around the corner.  Or those, who were brought up to believe, as I was, and continue to believe, that during the Mass, an amazing miracle takes place before their very eyes.

Bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus.  It is an amazing experience. Why therefore are attendances at Mass so very low when such an amazing miracle is occurring?

It is because the majority of services in our churches are not presented in a way that would interest and keep the attention of the congregation and especially the young people. The main miracle at the centre of the Mass is hardly noticed, and the sermon, for want of a better word, is hardly enlightening. And we wonder why youngsters are not going to church.

There are, of course, a handful of priests, who have very good communication skills and even include the congregation in their homilies, and here you may find youngsters who really wish to participate in the Mass.  But unfortunately, these are few and far between.

Now, what has happened over the last 50 years or more, is that the main street media has brainwashed youngsters to ignore the teachings of the Church and discourage them from even thinking of practising religion.

Everything you see, read or watch, is giving the wrong messages, and making them appear to be the normal thing to do or act.  The whole world is accepting things that go against our religious beliefs, because people are told it is normal to do so, and so very much easier to do so.

Social media is crippling the teachings of the Church and almost nothing is being done to stop or correct it

Social media is crippling the teachings of the Church and almost nothing is being done to stop or correct it.  It has always been the case that bad news travels faster than good news, and anything negative related to the Church makes the rounds even faster.

Facebook, which is very popular with youngsters, gives out the wrong messages to all and sundry every day and at all times.  All and sundry includes very impressionable young people.

The mainstream media seems to be determined to savage the Christian Church and those working within it.  Any bad news is headline news everywhere, whereas all good deeds are pushed to one side and no one hears about them.  Youngsters today speak very badly about the clergy in general because all bad deeds are blasting through their ears in every conceivable form. 

Thankfully, the Church, following the Pope’s guidelines, has taken very drastic action on clergy who brought shame to the Church and who abused those they should have guided.  But a lot of harm has been done, especially when those abhorrent incidents were covered up, and it will take years for people to once again have respect for members of religious orders.

What the Church must do is first see the situation as it really is.  Get rid of all the rotten elements within the body of the Church.  Start afresh with new younger more accessible Church leaders and ministers, who are in direct contact with the public.  The Church has to be seen to be pure and approachable and in tune with the people they reach out to, otherwise they will get absolutely nowhere.

Media and social media should be used by the Church as much as it is at present being used against the Church and all Church teachings.

Unless todays priests and future priests are taught how to really communicate with the youngsters of today, then these youngsters will never set foot inside a church again. Something has to be introduced in order to make the Mass interesting and meaningful for everybody, especially the youths.  At the moment it is doing the exact opposite.

Unfortunately when a person is doing well in life, earning good money and has no financial problems, religion becomes less and less important.  When a country is doing well, the whole population becomes less and less in need for religious solace.

This is what is happening in Malta at present.  It is okay to do everything that we were taught not to do, and know we shouldn’t do, because we are all doing very well thank you.

This is a problem throughout all the civilised world and not only a problem in Malta.  We carry on doing what is not correct because life is treating us reasonably well.

People in poorer problematic countries turn to the Church for help.  People in richer, more developed countries don’t need help from the Church, so they just don’t bother attending or following its teachings.

Malta doesn’t have to go back to the dark ages for people to come back to the Church.  The Maltese can still be prosperous and live well.  But, instead of ignoring the Church and its teachings, maybe we should thank the Lord for making us such a blessed and favoured people.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece

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