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The Catholic Church must revive its use of the Latin language. I am convinced this work is more urgent and important than most realize.
Given all the crises we face, an ancient language may seem like a silly thing to invest in, but consider that language binds community and carries culture and identity.
A global and ancient religious community struggles without a global and ancient language.
A global and ancient religious community struggles without a global and ancient language.
It is simply a fact that the Latin language has been the language of the Latin Church for the majority of her history.
It is the language in which most of Western Catholic thought has been done.
It is the language in which most of Western Catholic thought has been done.
How will we prepare the Church of today for the next thousand years? It will not be by cutting her off from the previous two thousand.
Latin empowers the faithful by connecting them with their rightful inheritance. Keeping people in ignorance is not the answer.
Latin empowers the faithful by connecting them with their rightful inheritance. Keeping people in ignorance is not the answer.
We must have the courage to do what is unwise in the eyes of the world. Institutes for Latin using modern methods? Teaching the basics and specifically Catholic prayers, etc. in religious ed? Scholarships for young people from anywhere to study in Rome?
Are we serious about having a unified community embracing the entire globe and spanning from the distant past into the rest of this world's history?
I am going to take this opportunity to plug the tremendous work being done by Veterum Sapientia ( http://veterumsapientia.com ). I hope many more such drops will fill the lake.
Imagine an immense library filled with volumes recording the religious thought and experience of two thousand years of Catholics. Now imagine that library burning to the ground. Only perhaps a handful of books survive amid the ashes. This is where we are.
May I add that the experiences of past generations are not atomized? It is a stream of living memory, a truly inter-generational conversation spanning centuries. Shouldn't we be trying to preserve access to this font, this current?
This isn't about changing everything arbitrarily into some foreign language. It's about making Latin *not* a foreign language to Latin Catholics.
