Secular world rings 'hollow and empty'

It's a question of 'Where to go from here?' Photo Angelo Duranti

Some observations from a Norwegian man, Matthias Ledum, speaking about the consequences of changes in religious practice in his region, which takes in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. It struck me that he could have been talking about much of the WEIRD world. He says:

The trend for a long time has been a strong secularization and a growing irreligiosity. However, I see more and more people feeling hollow and empty after having tried the postmodern atheistic, relativistic and materialistic project, leaving them unsatisfied and hungry for meaning and purpose, for something greater and deeper. Neither money, career, fame nor hedonism have been able to give them the happiness and peace they all seek.

The Catholic Church’s great philosophical and theological intellectual tradition might also be a place of refuge for people living in a world where subjective truths are idolized and people are canceled for not having the right subjective truths. In the Catholic Church, they find not only that there is such a thing as objective truth, but also that Truth itself has a name and a face.

Here's a snippet of Nordic history from the same source:

The beginning of religiosity in the Nordic countries can be traced back to pre-Christian Norse paganism, which lasted until the 12th century. Thanks to the missionary efforts of St. Ansgar and English missionaries, and even the Vikings, who were converted to Catholicism during their travels, Denmark was first Christianized in A.D. 965 followed by Norway in the 11th century and Sweden in the 12th century. Finally, thanks to the  Swedish Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church became established in Finland.

Until the reformation in the 16th century, Catholicism blossomed in the Nordic countries. The heroic lives and martyrdoms of the Nordic saints — King Olaf  of Norway, King Erik of Sweden, King Knut of Denmark and Bishop Henrik of Finland — all  bear witness to this. 

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