The Undatables: A Crisis of Love

Monica Cooper's picture

Ask any single Catholic in their 20′s or 30′s why they are still single and you’re bound to hear a whole host of reasons. But lately there has been a common thread to all their replies; Catholics (of the opposite sex) are just awkward, socially inept, ungentlemanly/unladylike, and often, just plain ridiculous. I mean, who out there doesn’t have at least one CatholicMatch.com horror story? I have three.

Build cathedrals that hundreds of years later blow the minds of architects and engineers alike? Done. Defeat the most fearsome armies against unthinkable odds, preserving many a country in the process? Easy. Produce the greatest thinkers the world has ever seen? Yeah, got that covered too. When it comes to impressive achievements, the Catholic Church is hardly wanting (…our Founder is after all, God Himself). But lately we seem to be seriously struggling with something that even cavemen seemed to be able to do with ease, or at least with some success. And that is: court, marry, reproduce. We seem hopelessly stuck on the first step… Rather, we are hopeless at even getting to that all important first step.

So what happened? “Where are the good Catholic men?!?” laments every single Catholic woman at least weekly, and more often if anyone on Facebook has recently gotten engaged. “Why do Catholic woman think there are no good Catholic men out there?”, ask the men. And so we throw these questions out into the great void, wring our hands, and watch as the years go by and wonder, “when will it be MY turn?”.

Well, enough of the complaining and self-pitying finger-pointing. That is only getting us older, less fertile, more unattractive and more likely to stay single forever! I propose a forum where ideas can be discussed, opinions be given, and dialogue, actual dialogue, between the sexes, can begin. The Catholic Church is in a state of crisis; She is being attacked at every level, and we, the single, young Catholics, are one of those levels. Don’t you think the devil prefers to have us wondering around in sober stupors, convincing ourselves that members of the opposite sex are just un-understable creatures, that an insurmountable gap exists between US and THEM? And so we might as well give up and go back to reading Pride and Prejudice, or checking the status of our fantasy football teams, whatever better suits our fancy. Of course he wants that! Think about it, what love, other than that love between a husband and wife, more closely resembles the love Christ has for us, the members of His Church? None! Not even the love between parents and children.

And don’t bother looking to the future for brighter times in the Catholic Church, because there will be NO future if we don’t get busy… getting busy (within the context of marriage, of course). The devil is king of confusion. And he has successfully confused us about not only each other, but even ourselves: who we are, what we are, why we are the way we are.

So, here it is. The first in a series of blogs that will hopefully shed some light on this disturbing situation. Maybe it’s a small step, but the alternative is to take no steps, as we all continue to allow ourselves to become victims of a confusion that exists far more in our heads than in reality. Each post will aim at tackling one lie perpetrated by the King of lies, in the hopes that when all is said and done, we understand God, ourselves and each other better.

Here’s to new love in the new year!

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