The demographics of the Catholic Church will soon shift into the southern countries of Uganda and Congo.
These words of change were the focus of John L. Allen Jr.’s speech Tuesday, Oct. 27 held in the Cabrini College Mansion.
The CNN Vatican reporter talked about the future of the Catholic Church.
“You don’t hide your religion, you shout it,” Allen said.
Allen’s thesis focused on the globalization of the Catholic faith.
Allen predicted that by the year 2050, 3/5 of Catholics in the world would be in the southern hemisphere, and African countries will replace countries like Poland and Spain.
“The importance of religion in the south is more predominate than Europe,” Allen said.
Allen has traveled to 75 different countries and interviewed thousands of ministers and bishops. He has also written 10 books and is currently working on another.
“I thought the information he gave was very revealing, the mega- trends he talked about look to be very important for the Catholic Church,” John Cordes, assistant professor of communication, said.
Allen discussed four of the 10 mega-trends that he describes in his new book “The Upside Down Church” in his speech.
“A mega-trend, by the way, does not have to be specifically Catholic, but rather something that affects Catholicism in a significant way,” Allen said.
These trends included world church, Evangelical Catholic, globalization and the biotech evolution.
Allen also expressed his views on human cloning, stem cell research and abortion.
“As science expands its capacity to preserve life, where does the distinction lie between ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’ measures, between a necessary defense of the right to life and a needless prolongation of suffering?” Allen said.
Allen ended his lecture by noting that the old Catholic World, Europe and the U.S. need to help those in need.
He further emphasized that it was up to the goverments of those coutries to help their people but “the Catholic Church should be a voice of reason,” and advocate social justice.
Father Michael Bielecki agreed with the teaching of socal justice, especially to students.
“If we can change our minds about the way we live the way we consume, we become aware that our lives frequently affect the lives of others,” Bielecki said.
Allen hoped that his lecture could accomplished his main goal of “helping people realize that they will at one point face the judgement of god, and because of that will base their descisions to those who are in need.”
