Ed T posted a very telling quote: Slowly but surely, the beatnik hippy culture is becoming the stuff of grannies and geezers...In many ways, the practicing Catholics of generation x, y and z have more in common with their grandparents than their parents. The solid moral compass of the 1940s and 50s seems far more appealing than the peace, love, 'rock and roll' philosophy of the 1960s and 70s.

I'm quite worried about the newer generation of Catholics. My generation held social justice as a primary concern - civil rights, feeding and housing the poor, working for peace, opposing capital punishment, and working for immigration reform and farmworker rights. The newer generation seek something else, the same thing they seek from the megachurches: self-affirmation and moral certitude. That's probably too cynical a view. Maybe it's better to say that in today's world, there is a loss of a sense of "rootedness," and that sense of solid ground and direction may be what the newer generations are seeking. It's probably good, if it isn't taken to an extreme - but we live in a world of extremes nowadays.

If we can only get the younger people to spend a little time working with the poor, they turn around and see that there's a real need to look outside themselves - but getting them to take that first step is really difficult. How do you get them to turn their iPods off long enough to listen?

Hey, give me the peace, love, and rock 'n' roll....The Beatles make everything feel all right to me.

-Joe Geezer-