If anything indicates for me the proximity of Our Lady's intervention, it is the Church's crisis in Poland. It appears that Africa might be our last Bastion! https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/11...in-poland-especially-among-young-finds-study/ Lord have Mercy!
Jasna Gora really packs them in, the live webcam shows this and it is fairly regularly. Also, the pilgrims walk on their knees around the alter. It's covered with Churches: I would look to Africa for vocations but also I'd look to South America and maybe the Philippines can contribute. Africa of course, suffers from civil turnoil, unfortunately, terrorists like Boko Haram so, while I don't think they may be lacking in vocations, this other can not be helpful. Pro-Ecclesia Sacred Heart Sisters is an order founded by Spaniard Pablo Menor in Peru. They sent some of their order to the US. It's not perfect at all, as far as size, if that is one looking at but still a positive. Argentina produced the Smiling Nun, Sister Cecilia. So, no, there are not enough vocations but there are a number coming through nonetheless. Meet Rev. Sister Cecilia Maria, The Nun Who Died With A Smiling Face - Catholics Online (francismary.org) It's all a bit like Ireland, yes, vocations are hurting, still, our pastor just got back from there and his feedback was very positive.
I am 36, mother od 3 sons, wife, slave of Our Lady. I live near East polish border - this half of Poland is still conservative catholic. The Church is bleeding, mainly with the same proccesses of distruction that has changed face od West Europe. However I observe some new sparks within polish catholics. Near 15 000-20 000 of viewers every day pray rosary at 20.30pm with Youtube channel leaded by young catholic priest (Teobankologia). Second extraordinary organisation is Mary's Warriors - they often pray rosary together on streets of the biggest cities. On knee, hundreds of men. I hope this sparks come from Our Lady Mary. She gathers Her children. This forum is the best example.
Now, an article on Latin America from the Wall Street Journal: Why the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America Conservative Pentecostals make huge inroads despite region’s first pope; Brazil is poised to become minority Catholic as soon as this year ... Many Pentecostals preach the “theology of prosperity”—more commonly known in the U.S. as the Prosperity Gospel—which holds that God’s grace is reflected in material wealth. At Solomon’s Temple in São Paulo, suited men regularly line up at the altar with velvet red sacks and credit-card machines to receive offerings as the pastor promises his followers that they too will get rich if they donate generously. ... Since the 1970s, Charismatic Catholicism has been a way to keep many Catholics attracted to Pentecostalism inside the ranks, with faith healing and speaking in tongues, combined with distinctively Catholic features including devotion to the Virgin Mary. In 2020, 22.8% of Catholics in Latin America were charismatics, according to the World Christian Database, maintained by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. A more recent movement is in militant conservative Catholicism which stresses apologetics, or the defense of Catholic doctrine. A major leader is the Brazilian Rev. Paulo Ricardo, a priest with 1.5 million followers on Facebook who has condemned liberation theology as heresy and enthusiastically supported elements of Mr. Bolsonaro’s agenda such as relaxed laws on gun ownership. Pope Francis, while embracing a different kind of politics, has hardly neglected Latin America in his ministry: He made the first international trip of his reign to Brazil, in July 2013, and has since traveled to nine other countries in the region. But he is clearly not leading a crusade to reclaim the region for Catholicism. “The church certainly can’t expect to turn back history, let alone impose some sort of centralized hegemony,” said Pedro Morandé Court, a Chilean sociologist who sits on the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, an international body of scholars that advises the pope. Why the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America - WSJ So, sort of a mixed bag... WSJ had a paywall; but this article for free seems to be the same article: Why the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America | The New York Ledger (thenyledger.com)
People crave holiness and Truth. They crave Jesus not a political agenda dressed up as "social gospel." "If you build it they will come." (Field of Dreams) Restore the true Church dear holy father and prelates and you won't be able to build the Churches fast enough. But that requires letting go of "Marxist" Christianity and serving up the real thing!!!
Consciously or not, Pope Francis is doubling down on the policies that have brought about the collapse of Catholicism in South America. Catholicism per se is hard and only (!) offers Eternal Salvation, a doctrine that requires Faith. Liberation Theology seems to offer nothing, so naturally people leave. Prosperity Pentecostalism offers weak, childish pie in this world and a weak, childish version in the Next. The latter, in the absence of Faith, is the obvious way to go.
