On October 11, 2012, the “Year of Faith” began. Announced a few months ago by Pope Benedict XVI, the latest in a series of “Years of…” is intended to aid Catholics in learning more about their Faith. Given the horrific catechesis since the 1960’s and the woeful knowledge of the Faith that too many Catholics now possess, this is long overdue.
The general idea is that Catholics learn about the Faith through reading the Catechism, becoming better acquainted with the Bible, study the documents of Vatican 2 and maybe get involved in whatever Diocesan- or Parish- based programs that are being offered.
I waited a while in blogging about it, as I wanted to see just how well I was doing regarding my own plans. And so here it is.
I am doing two things, and will start a third.
The two things that I am doing are reading a few sections or pages of the Catechism as a part of my Morning Prayer. I had been doing this off-and-on, but since the Year of Faith began, way more on than off. 😉 In the evening I have been reading the Documents of Vatican 2. I have found that they are not as dry or inaccessible as I had thought and am thinking that perhaps if more people actually read them back in the 1960’s, we’d be better off today and could have dispensed with the silly “Spirit of Vatican 2” nonsense long ago.
The third thing that I will be doing harkens back to the reason I started this blog way back in 2007. That is to reach out to Catholics who have fallen away from their Faith due to their alcoholism and/or subsequent participation in a secular or non-denominational recovery programs. Too often in my experience in Twelve Steps I have witnessed Catholics leaving the Church due to their exposure to non-Catholic spirituality and the effects of “indifferentism.” Indifferentism is the sin that “it doesn’t matter what you believe in, as long as you believe in something.”
And so I will try and delve into the core values of this blog and its primary purpose. I will endeavor to link things like Scripture and the Catechism to recovery, more so than perhaps I have done. Not that I have strayed away from that, but I think I can do better than I have been.
At any rate, I hope to make it more obvious to Catholics in recovery the very existence of this blog, and to perhaps bring more of them along for the ride.
Here are some excellent web resources to help your Year of Faith journey:
Home Page of the Year of Faith
Catechism of the Catholic Church – Table of Contents
The Holy See – The Roman Curia – Congregations – Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Aleteia (Beta): Seekers of the Truth
Inter Mirifica.net – Catholic Mass Media Directory
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