Ratzinger on a smaller Church

Time for some Resourcement.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki predicts the Future of the Catholic Church to be smaller quantity but higher quality in the blog post adapted from his July 22, 2014 "Love One Another" email.

In turn, a post on it at The Badger Catholic drew an Anonymous comment with a link to a quote from Joseph Ratzinger to the same effect at Fr. Z's Blog.

He links to his source, a quote at the Catholic Education Resource Center from Faith and the Future (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009) by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Note its original publication was in 1969 when he was Father Joseph Ratzinger.

He did speak to the same effect as a Cardinal in a September 5, 2003 interview by Raymond Arroyo on EWTN's The World Over.

"Raymond: Talk for a moment about the New Springtime. The Pope has talked a great deal about the New Springtime and you, yourself have laid out your own ideas. Your vision is a little different from some. Some see the numbers growing and everybody believing and dancing hand-in-hand (the Cardinal chuckles) into the millennium. You see a different picture. Tell us what that picture involves. How do you see this Springtime evolving?

"Cardinal: As I do not exclude even this dancing hand-in-hand, but this is only one moment. And my idea is that really the springtime of the Church will not say that we will have in a near time buses of conversions, that all peoples of the world will be converted to Catholicism. This is not the way of God. The essential things in history begin always with the small, more convinced communities. So, the Church begins with the 12 Apostles. And even the Church of St. Paul diffused in the Mediterranean are little communities, but this community in itself is the future of the world, because we have the truth and the force of conviction. So, I think also today it should be an error to think now or in 10 years with the new springtime, all people will be Catholic. This is not our future, nor our expectation. But we will have really convinced communities with élan of the faith, no? This is springtime — a new life in very convinced persons with joy of the faith.

"Raymond: But, smaller numbers? In the macro?

"Cardinal: Smaller numbers, I think. But from these small numbers we will have a radiation of joy in the world. And so, it’s an attraction, as it was in the old Church. Even when Constantine made Christianity the public religion, there were a small number of percentage at this time; but it was clear, this is the future. So we can live in the future, just give us a way in a different future. ..."

So there are your links for future reference.