It is the fate of every generation to be defined by its extremes. Thus young people today are derided as the “snowflake generation”: thin-skinned, fragile, selfie-snapping narcissists who run in terror for a “safe space” when exposed to a contrary opinion. They are portrayed in the media as “censorious cry-babies” who “love to be offended by everything”.
This is, on the face of it, bad news for the Church. Catholic doctrine is taboo-shattering. Our teaching on, say, abortion or same-sex marriage presents a profound challenge to the social consensus. If the Catechism of the Catholic Church were on the reading list at a trendy university, it would be plastered with “trigger warnings”.
