This is so powerful!
On this week’s episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Fr. Rich Pagano, and Ryan DellaCross discuss the future of the Catholic Church.
In “What Will The Catholic Church Be Like 100 Years In The Future?” the group discusses if the Church will have fewer or more adherents, the demographics, whether or not there will be married or female priests, if persecution will force the Church back into the catacombs, and more.
In this clip, Ryan DellaCrosse touches on lay ministry, explaining that within the last 10 years, he’s seen a wave of lay organizations wanting to “bring Christ to other people.”
“We go back to what Cardinal Ratzinger said. It’s a smaller church but there is a fertile soil of all these people out there who are ‘nones’ who are not atheistic–they’re agnostic…They don’t know of the Christ of the Church.”
Fr. Rich Pagano later says, “The lay movement is an important facet to consider when we’re thinking of the Church in 100 years and where it’s going.”
Scheel adds, “Yes, I think that’s a lot of what Benedict said.
“Look, a lot of these services are going to have to be provided by the laity. You see that with groups like Exodus 90, Paradisus Dei, and Stewardship Mission of Faith. These are groups out there on the initiative of laypeople providing services and ministry that, traditionally, priests have provided.
Ryan Scheel then quotes Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who challenges lay Catholics to step up and fight for the Church.
Listen to the clip below:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said these words about the laity:
“Who’s going to save our Church? It’s not our bishops, it’s not our priests and it is not the religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that the priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and the religious act like religious.”
Scheel then adds, “He’s really saying that the Church is not just the hierarchy. The hierarchy provides the sacramental structure of the Church. But in the future, I really think the laity will have to do more things.”
Do you agree with Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen?
[See also: The 12 Tricks of the Anti-Christ to Steal Souls, According to the Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen]
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