While “Cafeteria Catholic” is a somewhat new term, it is not an entirely new phenomenon; its roots are found in Renaissance humanism, Enlightenment philosophies and some of the subsequent errors of Modernism. Although some people today think that a self-guided moral autonomy is the intelligent way to live, it is not the path leading to human fulfillment but its opposite.
Catholic Church
How You Can Help Retard the Exodus
It’s no secret that large numbers of Catholics have drifted from the Church, which can happen slowly and progressively over time due to indifference, lack of piety and tepid devotion, or take the form of a more rapid departure. The heart of the lukewarm soon cools. If there is little love for what is true, there is little love for truth in its fullness.
Spiritual But Not Religious?
Everyone searches. Not everyone knows why; not everyone understands what to look for; not everyone recognizes who they seek. Some are on a spiritual quest for the divine and they know it; others do not. Some fail to discern who alone is capable of satiating their thirst and thus wrongly seek to quench it with creatures, poisons and pain. Still others are indifferent to the search itself; so long as they feel satisfied along the way, they remain blindly convinced of progress. Nevertheless, everyone searches.
Do Not Bury the Truth, Embrace It, Live It, Let it Transform You
There is something irresistible about the truth. You might try to bury it; that will not, however, bring satisfaction and serenity but only an irritating and persistent urge to seek it all the more. Although it is often mistakenly thought that an end can be brought to this desire by acquiring material objects, the heart cannot long be fooled, the depth of Eternal Beauty continues to draw you.
The Desire of Your Heart and the One In Whom It Is Forever Attained
God alone suffices. Exchange not reality for illusion, beauty for a forgery, or self-gratification and fleeting pleasure for perfect and lasting happiness, but gaze into history, find and embrace the sublime wonders of the plan of God, and forever sate the irrepressible thirst of your heart