BOOK REVIEW - Jesus: The Story You Thought You Knew

How's your walk with Jesus these days? That's really the question that Deacon Keith Strohm wants to know.

In his new book, Jesus:The Story You Thought You Knew  (Our Sunday Visitor) Strohm retells the story of salvation from Creation to you - explaining it in an easy, accessible way. It's a bit like being on the road to Emmaus and having Jesus break open the scriptures that explain who he is, why he came and why he died and rose again.This isn't a long book, but it's one to spend time with.

Strohm preaches it. This is not so much a narrative, but a series of engaging, evangelizing tracts. The book reads like a collection of extended homilies with a purpose. Each chapter is a powerful encounter with the truth of the kerygma, from the story of Creation to the Cross and beyond. All this is presented with the fervency of witness, by a man who has walked the journey himself.

Strohm, former director of the Office for the New Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Chicago and a protegee of Sherry Weddell (Forming Intentional Disciples) and the Siena Institute, has, with this endeavor, put his own voice out there as he strikes out on a new part of his own journey, an independent ministry, M3 Ministries, which is in development.

In this short but powerful book, each "Act" of the story, as he refers to them in "How to Use This Book," is an invitation to a journey -  one that begins with Strohm laying out the scriptural background and its meaning. He then adds theological implications and includes stories and examples from his own real, imperfect human life, ending with an invitation to reflection on pertinent scripture passages. The chapters conclude with life implication questions to consider individually or to use in group discussion, which means it could be used for evangelizing older teens, adults, or as part of RCIA pre-catechumenate sessions.

Once the reader has encountered the meaning of the Great Story, he/she is invited into relationship with Jesus - to repentance and participation in the sacraments, to openness to the Holy Spirit and finally to discipleship and action.

This is a book to savor and study. If the reader takes the time to go to the scripture passages, to read and pray over them, there is ample opportunity for conversion. There is real potential for becoming a disciple who understands who Jesus is, why he came, and what he means for us today.

(Overdue) Book Review: Jared Dees - "To Heal, Proclaim and Teach"

What if parish ministers treated everyone they encountered as if they truly wanted them to become disciples of Jesus Christ?  What if they used the same methods Jesus did to attract his followers? These are the important questions that Jared Dees attempts to answer in To Heal, Proclaim and Teach: The Essential Guide to Ministry in Today's Catholic Church.

Dees starts by noting the crisis in catechesis, which has resulted in many young people leaving the Church after Confirmation. He begins probing the problem by noting the 5 stages of evangelization described in the National Directory for Cathechesis, all of which are inspired by the Catechumenate (RCIA):  Pre-Evangelization, Missionary Preaching, Initiatory Catechesis, Mystagogical or Post-Baptismal Catechesis and finally, Permanent or Continuing Catechesis

In effect, Dees implies, we tend to move right into the third stage without giving attention to the first two. Then, we skip the 4th stage and wonder why people are not around or not interested in the fifth. An experienced teacher himself, Dees admits that he, too, has spent a great deal of time doing things in less-than-effective ways.

Jesus, Dees points out, had a specific method. He reached out to people in ways that they most needed. Quite often, Jesus first healed people, either physically or by attending to what it is they needed most spiritually.  Then, he proclaimed his message about the love of God the Father. Only when he had done these, did he teach them. The disciples and those most closely connected to Jesus received a deeper form of teaching. The crowds, however, he taught in parables, because they were not ready for the fullness of knowledge of the faith. "In other words, writes Dees, "we do not teach the unevangelized. We cannot expect them to understand the mysteries of God's Kingdom because they are not yet ready."

The first step is healing. We need to listen, get to know people and understand their deepest longings. Catechists cannot move forward effectively if they do not know those whom they teach. We need to help people discover the sin and brokenness in their own lives. We do that best when we get in touch with our own brokenness - so that we can recognize it and approach it authentically in others. This, of course, echoes the "threshold conversations" of Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples, aimed at building up trust.

The second step is to proclaim. He suggests we share four things with those we evangelize: the Paschal Mystery, personal testimony, saint stories and the way we live. (See Chapter 6 for how to have something to share on these.)

The third step is to teach. Not in the ways that currently bore young people, but by challenging them to look at the world differently:

In order for us to to be truly remarkable teachers and catechists, whether it is in religious education of children, youth ministry, marriage preparation, RCIA, or adult faith formation, we have to think of ways to present our beliefs in ways that challenge conventional thinking about the world. We have to offer new and creative insights into the stories and teachings Catholics have heard for years or even decades. Or, at the very least, we need to make sure that we do not strip all sense of wonder and awe out of the process.  (p.105)

It all hinges on Chapter 6, "Be Evangelized."  Dees issues a series of nine challenges to the reader to deepen his or her own faith... and skills for sharing it. We cannot accompany learners unless we ourselves live our faith.

The rest of the book is dedicated to exploring methods for one-on-one evangelization, for fostering small groups, and to suggesting specific age-appropriate approaches for children, teens, college students, young adults and adults.

Dees has offered us a blueprint for deepening our formational approach in parishes from teaching ministries to what Pope Francis calls "accompaniment." Parish ministers who, like Jesus did with the disciples at Emmaus, listen first, then reveal what people most need to hear in ways that reach them deeply will revolutionize parishes by truly forming disciples.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair review. 

Hindsight is Always 20/20: The Tyranny of Low Expectations

Over the past week since the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, there have been many opinions posted by Catholic bloggers, some of the more-challenging ones are about why our own people are not convinced of the Church's teaching on marriage.  (Just look at the number of Catholics who have changed their Facebook profile pictures this week to include a rainbow in support of the Supreme Court ruling.)

I have been particularly in agreement with two writers who focus directly on the general failure of catechesis and evangelization in the U.S. - and on what must, from now forward, change. These echo my own column in Ministry and Liturgy magazine's January, 2015 issue, where I opined on the state of catechesis in the US today (available by subscription.) It also echoes much of what Sherry Weddell has said in her best-selling book, Forming Intentional Disciples. Far from being mere hand-wringing, this is necessary self-reflection on what needs to change and why.

Jonathan Sullivan, director of the catechetical office of the Diocese of Springfield, IL, wrote this scathing nugget of truth:

If I'm going to be angry with anyone it is with a Church that for too long allowed the ambient culture to shoulder the burden of forming its members. We were all too happy to outsource the work of building up culture and people when the culture agreed with us. Now that the culture has turned against us we are reaping the rewards of that transaction. 

What we have discovered it that, for too long, the Church allowed its evangelization muscles to go unexercised, seemingly content that, even if the culture wasn’t forming disciples of Jesus Christ, it at least passed on a cultural Christianity that kept butts in our pews.  [bold is original]

Anger is an entirely appropriate response. The Church has only itself to blame. We are experiencing the fruits (or lack thereof) of what I like to call "the tyranny of low expectations" in catechesis.

In a similar vein, Patheos blogger Jennifer Fitz writes of  the necessity of discipling people one at a time to form mature Catholics - and how parishes have, instead, become virtual assembly lines:

What we have instead is cafeteria-model Catholicism.  The soul-food service line consists of weekly Mass and a series of classes for designated life moments, intended to prepare us for the sacraments.  If you’ll just start where it says “enter” and followed the roped-off course, you’ll end up with something like the Catholic faith on your tray by the time you get to check-out.

...The assembly-line mentality is so deeply engrained [sic] in Catholic thinking that whenever an evangelization or discipleship problem is discussed among parish professionals, it’s guaranteed that at least one person will propose a better assembly line.  Parents presenting their children for baptism don’t know the faith?  Make them go to more classes! Longer classes! Start them sooner!  Have them fill out attendance forms!

I'm not going to pull punches here. The "blame," if any, belongs to the bishops - and the clergy in general. When a new liturgical rite is promulgated, dioceses form their clergy with workshops. They did it for the revised Rite of Christian Funerals, and for the revised Roman Missal.

In contrast, when a catechetical document is released, there is no universal expectation that the clergy even read it, much less study it or take it to heart. The General Directory for Catechesis, the National Directory for Catechesis, both of which devote much space to new understandings of evangelization and the centrality of Jesus Christ in catechesis, had virtually no study days, and few clergy resources. The USCCB document on the primacy of adult faith formation, "Our Hearts Were Burning," was ignored by most clergy and parishes, who continue to pour resources into children's programming instead of refocusing on adults who would then be better equipped to form young people.

Compounding the situation, as enrollment numbers and Mass attendance (and consequently parish collections) have declined, many parishes are responding by hiring part-time, non-degreed parish leaders to run catechetical programs  - not just in my own diocese, but, from what I hear from other diocesan leaders, across the country. The practice is more and more to hire internally, to elevate an experienced catechist or even worse, to assign a parish secretary, to the task of organizing and running children's catechesis. When they meet with our office at the beginning of their first year and we talk about the needs to refocus catechesis and sacrament preparation, evangelize parents and form catechists to be disciples and witnesses, we often hear "But, Father never said anything about all of that!"

At a time when we most need qualified, well-supported leaders to redesign parish catechesis to include the entire community, to evangelize whole families and to build teams to spread a culture of discipleship to permeate all of parish life, many parishes are instead settling for the minimum. If the status quo continues and the pastor receives few complaints, the situation is deemed acceptable. Meanwhile, well-meaning and sincere, but under-qualified leaders are over-worked, underpaid and often have little support. In short, parishes often give the least amount of attention to the area that is sorely in need of the most.

Back in January, I wrote (in Ministry and Liturgy) of this situation:

This is deep Paschal Mystery for the Church. Change will only come through God’s power to bring new life from the worst of situations. But first, we need trust, courage and to let go.  

What needs to go? Clinging to old catechetical methods. Using books and blackboards to teach children who learn everything else using technology. Catechesis on doctrine with little relation to liturgy, community, or to real life. Sending kids home to families who neither pray nor attend Mass. Failure to foster conversion and to help people rely on the sacramental life of the Church for their well-being. Failure to invite people of all ages to personal encounter with Christ.

Our own people discount our teaching because they do not know and love the Lord. They have no relationship with the Father that would motivate them to obey God's laws out of love. We only have ourselves to blame for spending decades teaching about the institution's teachings, at the cost of bringing people to discipleship in Jesus Christ. Nowhere to go from here, really, except up. 

Ready, Set, Go! Short Winter Ordinary Time Journey Begins

Today, with celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, we end the Christmas Season and begin a rather short and breath-taking narrative of Christ's ministry and teaching, leading up to Lent.

For the next five Sundays of our short winter journey that begins with the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, we will hear the Year B readings - mostly Mark, which is kind of the speed-reading version, since Mark never embroiders his narrative, but portrays a Jesus who gets right to the point. We will spend the first two Sundays collecting disciples, using one reading from John to fill in what is not present in Mark's short account.

On the 4th Sunday, we encounter Jesus teaching "with authority" in the temple, on the 5th, we witness him healing Simon's mother-in-law, and then on the 6th, we see him healing a leper. Then suddenly, it will be Lent. when the readings of those five Sundays bring us almost abruptly to the Passion.

It will not be until Summer Ordinary Time, after Pentecost, that we will have time to explore the life and ministry of Jesus at a more leisurely pace, although in the year of Mark, it will still consist of rather brief accounts.

So, what are we to gain from the next five Sundays? As usual, the priest's prayers in the Roman Missal provide a key.  Here are some key phrases we will hear over the next five Sundays:

2nd Sunday:  "...make those you have nourished by this one heavenly Bread one in mind and heart."

3rd Sunday:  "...direct our actions according to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works."

4th Sunday: "...that we may honor you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart."

5th Sunday: "...grant us, we pray, so to live that, made one in Christ, we may joyfully bear fruit for the salvation of the world."

6th Sunday: "grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you."

What's the takeaway from these five weeks?  This is about developing unity, good works, agape love, participation in God's mission to save the world and personal relationship with God. In short, we are working on our discipleship - getting a short refresher course about what it means to be a community of disciples together on the journey before we enter the time of introspection and preparation for renewal that is Lent.

The Eucharist is NOT "Comfort Food"

(photo source: Getty)

Here in the Chicago area, we have been experiencing an early cold-snap, with temperatures we normally don't see for about another 6 weeks. Cooler weather typically brings out the cozy blankets, space heaters and puts me in the mood for cooking and baking.. and yes, it brings a craving for comfort food. The thought of a hearty soup when it gets down in the 30's at night and barely into the 60's by day is certainly more attractive than it was about a week ago when it was in the upper 80's and humid!  When we are cold, it's natural to seek comfort.

It strikes me that likewise, when one's discipleship is cool, there can be a tendency to look to God primarily for comfort, while avoiding the challenge of the Gospel, and to see the Eucharist as mere "comfort food." 

Jesus referred to himself as the "Bread of Life" and said that "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (John 6:54) He promised eternal life to those who eat.  But what does it mean to allow Christ to remain in us? Is that just about being comforted?  Televangelist Joel Osteen famously preaches the Prosperity Gospel - that "God just wants you to be happy."  But is that what it is all about?

If Jesus is in us, that means all of him - and all of his life. Take a look at what Jesus asked of us. Jesus calls us to do as he has done - to wash feet and to sacrifice ourselves for others in his name. To preach, teach and baptize (evangelize).  He never said, "Come, sit in the pews and feed on me, and then go home and be comfortable."  He never said, "I just want you to be happy and to have everything you want." That is the trap we can fall into when our faith is just about seeking comfort - about us instead of about truly following Jesus Christ in all our thoughts and actions. He is not only the comforting Good Shepherd, but also the "narrow gate."

Instead of simply resting in him, Jesus asked us to live for the sake of the Kingdom - God's will for the world. He said “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."  (Matthew 16:24-25)

And where do we go, what do we do when we follow Jesus? We heard the apostle Paul tell us in this weekend's second reading that Jesus "emptied himself,taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Phillipians 2:7-8)  He did that for us, not for himself.

Discipleship is about learning that obedience, even to death, even death on a cross. The true disciple does not receive the Eucharist as if it is comfort food. It should be received to embody a total union with the One who calls us to submit to the will of God, whatever that may be, and wherever it leads us. It's not about us. It's all about you, Jesus. 

"Late Have I Loved You" - Loving the God Who Loves Us

Music has a way of getting into my soul...  That's not particularly surprising, since according to the Called and Gifted process, one of my charisms is music. Anyhow, the song that keeps making me hit the repeat button on my iPod lately is this one from musician and blogger Sam Rocha, based on this famous passage from St. Augustine: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!"

It's been about a week since I purchased this song, from the album of the same name, which has been haunting my every waking moment. The question that came to me strongly a day or two ago was "Do I really love God?" Sure, I thought - intellectually speaking. That's not hard. But that answer did not seem good enough. I was gripped by Augustinian restlessness.

I was awakened very early this morning with a strong sense of that restlessness. Rolling around in my brain were lots of fragments, along with the refrain from "Late to Love." I struggled to recall what it was that had hit me as I led another song at Mass recently. Ah, "Servant Song" by McCargill - that old "chestnut!" The phrase "I am your song" had jumped out at me, along with the plaintive "Jesus, Jesus..."  Sure, I love Jesus, I thought. I have come to know and love him more deeply over the years - no problem. And for the past few years, I had come to a deeper love of the Holy Spirit, who fills me with song and inspires my writing.

But the Father. That's another thing entirely. But, I wondered, how could I say I love God, if I only have a formal, reverent respect and awe for one person of the Trinity - an intellectual assent to his authority and power? How does one move from the formal respectfulness of the public prayer of the Church to the Father to a lived sense of "Abba" - the Father who loves and is loved?

I won't go into the complicated history of my own stormy relationship with my father and father-figures in my life. It's messy. Affection, divorce, death, betrayal... yeah. Each person has a paternal relationship story of either presence or absence. Each of us has to navigate that and discover what it means to be loved by and to love the Father.

Botticelli: "St. Augustine in his Study"

The only answer to falling in love with an ineffable being is to see the face he showed us: Jesus. It's still a journey, but I feel like I'm getting closer to discovering the kind of love that Augustine found within the struggle to know God...

Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance the innermost places of my being; but only because you had become my helper was I able to do so. I entered, then, and with the vision of my spirit, such as it was, I saw the incommutable light far above my spiritual ken and transcending my mind: not this common light which every carnal eye can see, nor any light of the same order; but greater, as though this common light were shining much more powerfully, far more brightly, and so extensively as to fill the universe. The light I saw was not the common light at all, but something different, utterly different, from all those things. Nor was it higher than my mind in the sense that oil floats on water or the sky is above the earth; it was exalted because this very light made me, and I was below it because by it I was made. Anyone who knows truth knows this light. 

O eternal Truth, true Love, and beloved Eternity, you are my God, and for you I sigh day and night. As I first began to know you, you lifted me up and showed me that, while that which I might see exists indeed, I was not yet capable of seeing it. Your rays beamed intensely on me, beating back my feeble gaze, and I trembled with love and dread. I knew myself to be far away from you in a region of unlikeness, and I seemed to hear your voice from on high: “I am the food of the mature: grow, then, and you shall eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily food; but you will be changed into me”.

Accordingly I looked for a way to gain the strength I needed to enjoy you, but I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who is also God, supreme over all things and blessed for ever. He called out, proclaiming I am the Way and Truth and the Life, nor had I known him as the food which, though I was not yet strong enough to eat it, he had mingled with our flesh, for the Word became flesh so that your Wisdom, through whom you created all things, might become for us the milk adapted to our infancy.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Confessions of St. Augustine, Office of Readings for August 28, Feast of St. Augustine

There's a reason this song is haunting me. God is calling. Thank you, St. Augustine... and Sam Rocha for being "the bell that chimes."

Fifth Sunday in Lent: The Discipleship of Love of Neighbor

Here is the last installment of our parish bulletin series for Lent - taken from RCIA 75:

 We have been, through our journey together this Lent, looking at how baptism calls us to be disciples who give a good example to those learning the faith from us: the adults preparing for baptism and the children who were baptized as babies.  Our final element is one of the most important for Christian life – after the example of Christ, we are “to practice the love of neighbor, even at the cost of self-renunciation.”  (RCIA, 75)   A true disciple gives until it hurts. We are asked to love even those who may not love us, who are not our friends or family, who are strangers – whenever they are near us and in need, they become our “neighbor.”  How do we do this? We are called to die to our own desires, so that we may do the right thing for others when they are most in need. Like Lazarus, we will then live.  

This concludes our Lenten exploration of our baptismal call to be disciples.  Next week, we follow Jesus through his Passion to the Cross, the grave, and to the Resurrection at Easter.  When we renew our baptismal promises at the liturgies of Easter, may we be more truly disciples of Jesus Christ – and may those who are baptized and formed in faith in St. John’s community always see the fruits of our discipleship and learn from us.

Joyce Donahue, for the St. John’s Liturgy Planning Committee

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Discipleship of Christ-like Deeds

Here is the installment for the Fourth Sunday of Lent that will appear in my parish bulletin this weekend:

As baptized disciples of Jesus, we should be good examples of mature Catholic faith for adults preparing for baptism and children baptized as infants learning faith from us. We do this whenever we follow “supernatural inspiration” in our deeds. (RCIA 75) What does that mean? It means whenever we face a choice of how to act, we think first about what God would want us to do.  A popular expression describes this as “What Would Jesus Do?”   How do we know what God wants, or would Jesus would do in any situation? Our conscience tells us, sometimes quickly, sometimes after some period of prayer and discernment.  As Christians, our actions should never be ours alone. They should reflect the moral teachings of Jesus, Tradition and the teachings of the Church.   

We are called to be different – to go against the culture of the world in making decisions that are best for God’s plan, not just for “me” right now.  Jesus said it best:  “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)   

This is a call to see as God sees, not as man sees, as Samuel saw the potential king in the young David in the first reading this week. As disciples we need to have a well-trained conscience, know Scripture and Church teaching, and pray for God’s guidance in all we do - to see the right choice – God’s choice, not our human one.

Joyce Donahue, for the St. John’s Liturgy Planning Committee