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INTERIOR OF ST. PETER'S
Basilica in Rome during Vatican 11 Council.
of priestly vocations has fallen dras–
tically, and the rate of defection
from the priesthood is higher in the
Netherlands than in any other Eu–
ropean country.
Paul VI , reportedly quite dis–
turbed by this turn of events, has
taken positive though relatively re–
strained action in dealing with the
problem. Part of his approach con–
sists of appointing staunch con–
servatives to fill vacant posts in the
Dutch hierarchy. In this manner,
and through his personal contacts
with Dutch bishops, he has been
trying to put the Church in Holland
"back on the right track."
Troubles in France
With more than 90%of its citizens
baptized Catholics, France has tra–
ditionally been a key nation in the
Vatican orbit. Yet indications of a
weakening of the Church there are
undeniable.
A paper issued by Pierre Talec,
director of the catechumenical
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1973
Ernst Herb
-
Ploin Truth
headquarters for the Diocese of
París, pointed out that the number
of adults converting to the Catholic
faith has
fallen in halj
in just two
years.
Jean-Fran~ois
Six, director of the
Church's secretariat for nonbelie–
vers, prepared a report on a recent
series of meetings of French dioce–
san delegates. They concluded that
France was experiencing a "tidal
wave of unbelief" among Catholics.
In November 1971 , studies made
by France's two largest public-opin–
ion organizations, SOFRES and
IFOP, disclosed that only 75% of the
population felt that the existence of
God was certain, or at least prob–
able. Only 36% expressed belief in
the divinity of Jesus Christ.
These figures are surprisingly low
for such a masssively Catholic coun–
try. They go hand in hand with di–
minishing church attendance. lt is
estimated that less than one fourth
of aH adult Catholics are regularly
in their pews each Sunday.
The problem of unbelief, skepti–
cism and a "turned off' attitude
toward the Church is particularly
acute among the nation's you th -
an occurrence that could cast a
shadow on the future strength of
Catholicism in France. More and
more young people are being at–
tracted from Ca tholicism to the
mystery and meditation of Zcn
Buddhism or other Oriental reli–
gions. This innovation. wbich would
have been found thoroughly shock–
ing a decade ago, has been almost
welcomed by certain French clerics
as indicating a return to the monas–
tic traditions of the Church!
Sorne call the trends in French
Catholicism evolution; others label
it revolution. Either way. there can
be no doubt that religion. in France.
is experiencing pervasive change
and upheaval. The Church's in–
fluence on daily life is no longer
what it used to be.
The Decl ine in the
United States
American Catholicism. like its
French counterpart. is openly
fraying. The recent ly released vol–
ume of the Vatican's new statistical
yearbook shows that the United
States has the largest number - and
highest overall rate - of priestly
dropouts in the world.
American Catholics - both laity
and clergy - are no longer content
to docilely follow the doctrines of
their Church. A comprehensive
study of the American Catholic
priesthood, prepared by the Na–
tional Opinion Research Center
(NORC) at the request of the Na–
tional Conference of Catholic Bish–
ops, found that only 42% of the
priests
in
religious orders and 40%
of the diocesan priests are in agree–
ment with the official position of the
Church on divorce. Only 40% of the
Ameri can priests s u pport the
Church's teaching on birth control.
A 1970 national fertility study.
conducted by the Office of Popu–
lation Research at Princeton Uni-
9