Religious indifference―the belief that all religions are equally valid and able to lead people to salvation―has rapidly gained global ascendency over the last five decades. It’s even infected the Catholic Church, wreaking havoc on her mission to the world.
Why is indifference deadly to Catholicism?
Because it turns Catholicism into “just another religion,” neuters the Church’s role as our path to salvation and converts the parish into little more than a social gathering place.
The result?
Former Catholics now constitute the second largest “religion” in America. Seventy percent of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist―and even higher percentages reject the Church’s moral teachings. Mass attendance is in free fall, and even the most basic habits of Sunday-going Catholics, such as regular Confession, have been lost.
Eric Sammons, a former diocesan director of evangelization and now the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, pulls the curtain back on the rise of religious indifference, uncovering a wealth of fascinating particulars about what made the “old” Church work, and what is causing the “new” to collapse. He identifies the most damaging distortions of the Faith, presented as progress, and explains why Church leaders felt compelled to upend traditional Catholic life.
In captivating detail, Sammons explores why the New Evangelization was destined to fail and explains how the decision to de-emphasize the Church’s exclusive role in the process of salvation inevitably led to mass abandonment of the sacraments. He identifies how certain teachings were ignored or toned down―leading to their sudden collapse―and how progressives elevated ecumenism over evangelization and supplanted proclamation of the Gospel with “dialogue.”
Deadly Indifference is both a vital examination of the current crisis facing the Church and a blueprint for how to overcome it. Let’s recover what was lost and return the Church to its unique rank as the light in a darkened world.
About the Author
Eric Sammons is the editor in chief of Crisis Magazine and the author of several books, including The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did (Catholic Answers Press) and a high school textbook on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. He holds a degree in Systems Analysis with a concentration in Economics from Miami University in Ohio, where he was received into the Catholic Church in 1993. He earned a Master of Theology degree from Franciscan University and has worked for decades in Catholic evangelization at the individual, parish, and diocesan levels.
Eric and his wife, Suzan, have seven children and live in Ohio.
