I swear to you I'm not making this up. This is not from The Onion. Are you ready for it? Here:
Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation.
"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil.
These people have lost their faith, and quite possibly their minds. What on earth are they thinking?! Apparently, the spirit of the retired nitwit Bishop Muskens, who suggested last year that Dutch Catholics ought to start praying to Allah, lingers.
It's easy to make fun of this, and it really ought to be mocked, mercilessly. But the expiration of Christianity in the Netherlands is a terrible tragedy. Holland is the land of the ten Boom family, those heroic faithful (Protestant) Christians who went to the concentration camps for protecting Jews. You can visit the ten Boom house (I have), which is now a museum. The collapse of Christianity in the Netherlands is a terrible tragedy. Less than a century ago, the Catholic world was very different in the Netherlands. I was once informed, can't remember by whom now, that early in the 20th century, tiny little Holland sent out more Catholic missionaries around the world than any other nation, except possibly Ireland.
And now look.
"Christian Ramadan." What a world...
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A people suffering through a Dark Age not only have forgotten something essential about themselves, they have forgotten that they even knew it once upon a time. By that standard, the Dutch are well into a Dark Age, at least by my Christian standard of judgment.
Seeing that the ancient Friesans' pagan rituals and holidays are as forgotten, maybe the alternative conclusion is that Lent has lost its value because it teaches little or nothing worth knowing.
Heschel calls orthopraxy whose reasons and lessons are lost on the people performing the rituals "religious behaviorism".
Isn't every day Lent for a Calvinist? ;-)
Maybe the Dutch need Mardi Gras to help them remember what Lent is. That has surely helped the residents of New Orleans remain a spiritual people.
Did you know that the Maltese (who are Catholics, but have a language which is Arabic with lots of Italian borrowings -- just as English is Anglo-Saxon with lots of French and Latin borrowings), call Lent "Randan"? They also call God "Alla".
I think the World Wars are a major reason for the decline of Christianity of Europe, for three reasons:
a) The devastation of the war cause many Europeans to "lose faith"
b) The Christian (and especially the Catholic) establishment tended to support right-wing reactionary politicians, many of whom were discredited by collaboration with the Nazis
c) Many Europeans were impressed with (atheist) Communism, because most of the anti-Nazi resistance groups were Communist-dominated. Note that Poland (which had a mostly non-Communist resistance) is the most strongly Christian country in today's Europe.
Using Muslim terminology seems to be a necessary part of the liturgy led renewal in the RCC. JP II approved of this behaviour as he kissed the Muslim bible.
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