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WHAT IF THE CHURCH HAS BEEN GETTING EVANGELISATION COMPLETELY BACKWARDS? A devastating irony is emerging in the Catholic Church, and I wonder whether our bishops and the architects of the great synodal project are paying attention? @catholicEW @CatholicBishops Theos, working with the Benedict XVI Centre at St Mary's University, has launched research into why young men are increasingly drawn to Catholicism. Early indications suggest something interesting is happening, and the researchers want to understand the attraction of tradition, ritual, masculinity, community and the search for meaning. Now imagine the implications if these young men are being drawn towards PRECISELY THOSE ASPECTS OF CATHOLICISM THAT MUCH OF THE CONTEMPORARY ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT SEEMS DETERMINED TO MARGINALISE!!! While vast amounts of energy are devoted to synodal listening exercises, endless dialogue, LGBT inclusion initiatives and the environmental priorities of Laudato Si', what if young men are actually searching for solemn liturgy, unambiguous doctrine, the confessional, Eucharistic adoration, moral discipline, authentic spiritual fatherhood and the extraordinary beauty of two thousand years of Catholic tradition? (BTW — this is what some of us have been saying for literally decades!!!). What if a generation raised on pornography, moral relativism, fatherlessness, consumerism and the suffocating emptiness of radical individualism is discovering that the answer is not more accommodation to the modern world, but a radical alternative to it? Perhaps they are not looking for a Church that reassures them they are fine as they are, but one that calls them to repentance, conversion, sacrifice and holiness. Not a Church embarrassed by its supernatural claims, but one that actually believes them. Not another institution offering them an opportunity to express themselves, but one that teaches them to kneel before something infinitely greater than themselves. Of course, welcoming people, listening to them and caring for creation are legitimate Christian responsibilities. But they are not substitutes for proclaiming Christ crucified, calling sinners to conversion and leading souls to salvation. The research has yet to establish what is driving this phenomenon, but the possibility alone ought to provoke some serious examination of conscience among those directing the Church's pastoral priorities. Because if young men really are coming to Catholicism in search of the very things its progressive reformers have spent decades trying to downplay, we may be witnessing one of the most spectacular failures of institutional self-understanding in modern Church history. The world does not need the Catholic Church to become another NGO with religious decorations. It needs the Catholic Church to have the courage to be Catholic. theosthinktank.co.uk/researc…