By Bob Sullivan
Several years ago, Matthew James Christoff made a splash in the “Catholic world” by writing and talking about the Catholic Man Crisis. He arrived at his conclusion by observing men, conducting surveys and looking at national statistics. In the process, he identified things most people already knew or suspected, but he also identified deeper concerns. The deeper concerns were typically related to men and the experiences faithful Catholic men had on a day-to-day basis, within the faith and in the culture at large.
There is no single cause of the Catholic Man Crisis. Many things have contributed and caused various forms of decline in the faith of Catholic men over the past century. Certainly the sexual revolution, radical feminism, the idolatry of sports and entertainment, pornography, hedonism made possible by daily comforts and times of abundant economic success, etc., have all taken their toll on men. This is especially true regarding our ability to recognize and appreciate the benefits of a virtuous life as the only alternative to a life spent chasing possessions, comfort, pleasure, entertainment, popularity, and all the other distractions Satan uses to lure us to Hell.
A fair portion of the crisis has resulted in the isolation of men. The isolation is not limited to Catholic men. In fact, as isolated as many Catholic men are today, the average man in the United States is even more isolated. This is very troubling since God created us all for community. Satan’s efforts (military maneuvers, really) to cause this increase in isolation have a double-effect of evil. It severs us from the people God created us to be with, and it leaves us highly vulnerable to demonic attacks. Satan thrives on division because when we are alone, or separated from people we love (or should be loving), we are easy targets. King David comes to mind.
Christoff found that most Catholic men have no other men in their parish who they consider to be a friend or a mentor. Most Catholic men do not even know their pastor well enough to have a light conversation with him. Some of this is due to the enormous size of many U.S. parishes, but it is also due to the fact that most Catholic men do not even attend Mass on a regular basis, much less engage in other parish functions and activities.
Even the secular world is taking notice of a larger “man crisis.” In a 2023 opinion in the Washington Post, Christine Emba wrote of today’s young men: “They struggled to relate to women. They didn’t have enough friends. They lacked long-term goals. Some guys — including ones I once knew — just quietly disappeared, subsumed into video games and porn or sucked into the alt-right and the web of misogynistic communities known as the ‘manosphere.’… It felt like a widespread identity crisis – as if they didn’t know how to be.” (emphasis added)
When it comes to human anthropology (the study of people), be it cultural, societal, biological, or psychological, everyone notices when things just aren’t right. Unfortunately, very few can do anything to make it right.
Emba referenced studies and statistics which paint a grim picture for the future of our nation: “Last summer, a Psychology Today article caused a stir online by pointing out that ‘dating opportunities for heterosexual men are diminishing as relationship standards rise.’ No longer dependent on marriage as a means to financial security or even motherhood (a growing number of women are choosing to create families by themselves, with the help of reproductive technology), women are ‘increasingly selective,’ leading to a rise in lonely, single young men — more of whom now live with their parents than a romantic partner. Men also account for almost 3 of every 4 ‘deaths of despair,’ either from a suicide, alcohol abuse or an overdose.”
Emba, who admits to being a liberal from a political and social stance, describes the “right-wing” idea of masculinity as 1950s throwbacks that depend on castigating women for providing for themselves.” In her opinion piece, she commits the common logical fallacy of using extreme examples of poor behavior and labeling them as the conservative idea of masculinity.
She then interviewed intellectuals who identify as liberals in order to propose an alternative definition of masculinity which seems much more acceptable to progressive liberals. Even so, she still agrees that there is a problem: “I’m convinced that men are in a crisis. And I strongly suspect that ending it will require a positive vision of what masculinity entails that is particular — that is, neither neutral nor interchangeable with femininity. Still, I find myself reluctant to fully articulate one. There’s a reason a lot of the writing on the crisis in masculinity ends at the diagnosis stage.”
Turning to a podcaster named Scott Galloway, Emba writes about a “new model for masculinity.” In Galloway’s opinion, masculinity and femininity are social constructs… “we still get to fill that vessel and define what those attributes are, and then try and reinforce them with our behavior and our views and our media.”
Isn’t it interesting that nearly every social ill since 1960 gets boiled down to a “social construct”? Conveniently, all we need to do is change the way we think about everything and suddenly, the problem is solved.
As Catholics, we have the ultimate model for masculinity as well as the entire “owners manual.” We also have the manufacturer to consult, and He makes house calls! No, His name is not Jordan Peterson. In the next “In Layman’s Terms,” we’ll discuss more of Emba’s article, and look at what masculinity is and how our Catholic faith provides us with a unique advantage in recognizing it and living it.
