Letters

Men at church

Rosanne Turne

Contents - Dec 2003 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The challenge of Christmas - Peter Westmore John Paul II's 25th anniversary: the impact of his teachings - Cardinal George Pell News: The Church Around the World INTERVIEW: New Melbourne and Sydney Religious Education texts - Msgr Peter Elliott VOCATIONS: Melbourne's 'Hearts on Fire' vocations congress a success - Fr Paul Stuart EVENTS: Adore 2004: a Eucharistic Congress for youth BOOKS: DANIEL MANNIX : Wit and Wisdom - new edition - Michael Gilchrist Social Justice Statement 2003: a response from Bishop Saunders Letters: Social Justice Statement - Michael Barr Letters: Centrality of tabernacle - Marie Cassey Letters: Common sense - Michael Barry Letters: Inspiring article - Thomas Jones Poetry: Ex Maria Virgine - Delia Craig Letters: Voice of the Faithful - St Michael's Group Letters: Heresies - John K. Hannon Letters: Unwarranted school closure - Maurice McGrath Letters: Men at church - Rosanne Turne Letters: Perth homeschooling conference - Lorraine Haydon Books: Confirmed in the Faith, by Dora Nash - Joanna Bogle (reviewer) Books: Adventures in Orthodoxy, by Dwight Longenecker - Richard Egan (reviewer) Books: Celibacy in the Early Church, by Stefan Heid - Fr Peter Murphy (reviewer) Books: You Are Peter, by Olivier Clément - Peter Westmore (reviewer) Books: Socrates meets Machiavelli, Socrates meets Marx, by Peter Kreeft - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: AD Books - Top Ten Sellers in 2003 Books: AD Books - A happy and a holy Christmas! Reflection: 'Jesus Christ: the door of our salvation' : the meaning of Christmas - Pope John Paul II

As a convert from the Low Church of England, I had a good laugh when I read page 10 of the October AD2000. As long as I can remember, men have never been great church attendees.

I began Anglican Sunday School in 1949 - long before the Marxist Feminist Newspeak Bibles. During school holidays (both my parents were in the paid workforce) I would go to a Congregational Sunday School, where I would hear complaints of the problems of motivating men to help during the planning and on the day of the church fete. Men usually think religion is for women and children.

Every man is different, so religion should be explained to each man in a way that he can relate to and enjoy, i.e., if he is fearful, say Jesus can wipe out all care; if God is an ogre inflicting suffering, say Christianity is the Way of the Cross, so each believer has a "cross" and "suffers" too; if the man loves adventure, tell stories of the saints and Church history.

Always remember, I first heard Church history when I began instruction in 1967. Church history is anathema to most non-Catholics, which is why they don't understand devotion to Our Lady and the saints.

ROSANNE TURNER (MRS)
Mt Druitt, NSW

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 16 No 11 (December 2003 - January 2004), p. 15