Photo ~ Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan speaks at the 2012 spring general assembly of the U.S. bishops' conference in Atlanta, Ga.

Cardinal Dolan sees US as 'mission territory'

New York City, N.Y., Jul 17, 2012 / 04:41 pm (CNA).- The U.S. and other Western nations are “mission territory” for the Catholic Church in modern times, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York stressed in a July 17 online posting.

“I was raised – as were most of you – to think of the missions as 'way far away' – and, to be sure, we can never forget our sacred duty to the foreign missions,” the New York archbishop wrote on his “Gospel in the Digital Age” blog.

“Maybe, we have gotten way too smug. We have taken our Catholic faith for granted,” the New York archbishop suggested.
The entire Church, he said, can no longer “coast on the former fame, clout, buildings, numbers, size, money, and accomplishments of the past.”

On July 12, the Gallup polling organization released figures showing a historic drop in U.S. resident's confidence in religious institutions. Only 44 percent of Americans, from various faith backgrounds, now say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in “the church or organized religion.”

That figure marks the lowest point since at least 1973, when religious organizations were ranked as the country's most trusted institutions with around 66 percent confidence. The figure has generally declined since then, reaching previous lows of 45 percent in 2002 and 46 percent in 2007.

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