Musings: When the "Spiritual But Not Religious" Crowd Asks Oprah the Big Questions

So, I'm home on a cold Saturday night, recovering from a foot injury, with a little extra time on my hands when I happen to check something on Amazon. I discover I can read some magazines for free as a Prime member, so I decide to see what's up in O Magazine from Oprah - just because it's free and because I haven't looked in a while.

Every month this year, Oprah will be soliciting answers to a question from readers. I was stunned by this:

With the exception of the question about James Cameron and Avatar sequels, these are, at heart, all spiritual questions. These are the cries of the heart that at least some people are hungry to learn answers for. Yet all of these can be answered in the teachings of Jesus Christ in Scripture - and through what the Church teaches about them and through our practices of the faith (i.e.,"religion"). 

Will anyone ever look at me the way my dog does?   God does. 

How can I best honor my friend's memory?  Pray for his/her eternal salvation and remember him/her at Mass... and never not know that he/she is still present. (Communion of Saints)

Why can't Democrats and Republicans think of us instead of just themselves when it comes to healthcare?  Multiple answers:  Catholic social teaching, Jesus' teachings about being merciful and his example as a healer without judgment against the poor and sinners, and for Catholics, going to Mass regularly to receive the Eucharist worthily in the quest of becoming a person of self-giving love like Jesus...

How can we make war obsolete? See some of the answers to the previous, but learning to love is a basic. So are Jesus's teachings about non-violence. Trusting that there will come a day when swords will be beaten into plowshares at the end of time may be our best hope here, but it's at least a hope. 

How does one learn to give unconditional love in a world that judges everything about you?  Look at how God loves us -everything in scripture points to his faithfulness to his half of the Covenant, no matter who we are.

Who hurt you so bad that you need to do the same to others?  A truly sad question, but one rooted in a lack of understanding of mercy and the difficulty of humans living according to "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." 

Hello, God. Are you there?  A question even the faithful will occasionally ask, but one that begs for evangelization, catechesis, spiritual accompaniment and the support of a faith community. 

If these are the questions the "spiritual but not religious" people are asking, the mission fields are out there, people. We just have to learn how to approach them as Jesus did, where they are, instead of coming on as Church Triumphant or as Church Judgmental.  These folks have, for the most part, rejected "religion" - so we need to understand that the encounter with Jesus Christ has to come first. "Religion" is, after all, how we live faith. It is not, itself, faith. 

Review: Liturgical Catechesis in the 21st Century

Just finished my full reading of an amazing book.  Liturgical Catechesis in the 21st Century: A School of Discipleship by James C. Pauley of Franciscan University in Steubenville is an effort to steer religious education toward a mystagogical apprenticeship formula, including proclamation of the kerygma, liturgical catechesis and individual mentorship.

In this book, Dr. James Pauley presents liturgical catechesis as an important tool to form disciples who grow through sacramental living.  He also sees the importance of recognizing and supporting the faith journey of each person, not merely assuming that a convenient "slot" in a school-model catechetical program fits all people. Pauley cites Sherry Weddell's individualized recognition of people's differing rates of spiritual growth, and steers that toward what the writers of the General Directory for Catechesis asked when they wrote that the Catechumenate (RCIA) should be the inspiration and model for all catechesis.  (GDC 90)

Pauley outlines an approach that combines proclamation of the kerygma (the Good News of Jesus Christ) with fostering skills that allow people to encounter God through the signs, symbols, words and actions of the liturgy. When supported by appropriate catechesis and personal relationship, such an approach can form people who find in the liturgy a touchstone to deepen their relationships with God, the Church and other members of the Body of Christ.

Pauley lays out the history and vision of the Second Vatican Council's desire for "full, conscious and active participation" in the liturgy and the ways in which we can be changed by liturgical experience and by mystagogical reflection on that experience. Never denying the scope of the challenges to changing the paradigm in today's Church, he gives real-life examples and concrete suggestions for developing a more liturgical catechesis in the parish. His suggestion is that parish leaders take "baby steps" when working toward a new way of presenting the faith. This kind of change is not easy, but it is very necessary if we are to form people who practice the Catholic faith in a lifelong way by attending weekend liturgy.

Key to Pauley's vision is a model of apprenticeship that involves discerning the needs of the individual person and mentoring him/her in developing skills that allow full engagement with the liturgy and the ability to receive its fruits. These benefits can take the form of a deeper relationship with God and a life-giving understanding of the ways in which fully participating in the liturgy opens us to God's grace and helps us to change and grow in holiness. Chapter 8, in which he describes three skills: "Attuning Ourselves to God," "Uniting Ourselves to God," and Cooperating with the Grace of God", is pure gold. Not only does he specify and define these three important skills, but he gives particular actions steps for the catechist to help mentor learners to develop these skills.

In the last part of the book, Pauley gives over his authorial voice to four experts on emerging practices: Sr. Hyacinthe Defos du Rau, OP, of the "Come Follow Me" program for catechesis and initiation of young children is the first. She is followed by Mary Mirrione, of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori-based approach for children. Jim Beckman, whose expertise in youth ministry and in empowering parents to mentor their teens in faith, is next. Finally William Keimig discusses a truly liturgical format for RCIA formation.

All of these programs have in common a liturgical catechesis/apprenticeship model and have shown great success in real practice, which is why Pauley gives space to them in the book. The inclusion of these helps the reader see how a eral-world apprenticeship in Christian liturgical life can be successful in forming missionary disciples who grow through a fruitful encounter with Christ through the liturgy and the liturgical year.

NOTES FROM NOTRE DAME SYMPOSIUM ON LITURGY & LIFE 2: "Jesus Christ in the Liturgical Year"

"Jesus Christ in the Liturgical Year" - Simone Brosig, PhD
Second set of notes from the June 19-23 symposium at University of Notre Dame. Videos of the talks will  be posted on the McGrath Institute for Church Life YouTube Channel.

Simone Brosig is Director of Liturgy, Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Photo by Tim O'Malley

Name your favorite moment in liturgical year.

School liturgy example from real life - it's all about them. Diocesan school leadership Masses on August 31 and Nov. 1st built around "theme of the year" - same music, same readings, all picked to support the theme,  unaware that the liturgical year is primary. They started with their agenda - it was not about encountering Christ. Liturgical year should be their starting point.

See Sacramentum Consilium 10, General Norms on the Liturgical Year p. 2

Liturgical year first started with Easter, then gradually, over time, it became a season... By 4th century Christmas was added. These 2 cycles make up the lit year - everything else is geared around them.

Proper of Time takes precedence. (SC 108) Easter Cycle, Christmas Cycle, Ordinary time.  Sanctoral time (saints' days) is secondary.

Starting with Advent at the beginning was not a practice until the 10th or 11th century.

Liturgical year not conceived as a whole. It grew out of the Paschal Mystery. Every encounter of the liturgical year provides opportunity to encounter a particular aspect of Christ's grace.

We should ask where did we meet Jesus this year in the celebration of ______?
This helps us develop our spirituality and attitudes.

See SC 12 - we are touched by the mysteries of redemption.

Liturgical year shapes us and our discipleship. An instrument of evangelization and invitation to encounter with Jesus Christ.

People who aren't connected to the liturgical year aren't connected to themselves.  (Her story - stressful family issues around Christmas had distanced her from Advent/Christmas) Spiritual director told her to participate in the whole Christmas cycle. That practice gradually changed how she sees Advent and Christmas.

To connect to the liturgical year, we have to connect to ourselves.  It can shed new light on our inner life.

Advent to Dec. 16 - Eschatological emphasis.  Dec 17-24 - oriented toward the Lord's birth.

Cycle A
Psalm 85 - first Sunday - comfort
Psalm  second Sunday - promise
Communion antiphon 3rd Sunday - courage

Overall Advent is an invitation to get in touch with our fears and vulnerabilities. Not penitential in the same way as Lent. Devout and expectant delight. Yet, we may discover our own exile.

When the Baby comes, we put aside our agendas. That's what the liturgical year calls us to. Paradox of triumph through weakness.

Liturgical year is not a passion play. We are not expected to change our moods to correspond with it.   Even in the 50 days, we may experience grief.  The good news of the Resurrection comes with an edge -  we remember his suffering,  Palm Sunday reminds of us the willingness of Jesus to go to Jerusalem even though it meant death.  The Empty Tomb is not a source of joy, but of grief until the Resurrection is discovered.

Evangelization through the liturgical year needs to be invitational, not directive.  Ritual greetings of the Eastern church are faith statements:
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
Jesus is born. Let us glorify him. (invitation)

Liturgy and Life
We need to discover moments in the Liturgical Year that we look forward to. We need to allow the liturgy to work on people. It's not directive, it's invitational.

- The Word is a starting point.  Proclaimed well, liturgical preaching...
- Music should shape the celebration
- Bring the liturgy to the life of the parish - sing seasonal music at meetings and gatherings
- Good liturgical art. We can create it to sanctify other spaces - and bring it home  Candlemas candles and Advent wreaths bring the liturgical year into the home.

Liturgical practices can become part of identity. Ash Wednesday, for example. Young adults mark time, take it into their bodies and identify.

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 8: Liturgical Catechesis - An Apprenticeship

JAMES PAULEY: "Liturgical Catechesis: an Apprenticeship in Mystery and Mission"

Cultural shifts in US affect how we do catechesis.  

Jim Beckman in Becoming a Psrish of Intentional Disciples  proposes small group ministry

"Apprenticeship" in the Decree on Missionary Activity

"The catechumenate is not a mere expounding of doctrines and precepts, but a  training period in the whole Christian life, and an apprenticeship duty drawn out, during which disciples are joined to Christ their teacher." [14] 

Characteristics of an Apprenticing Relationship:

• We put ourselves under the direction of someone who has mastered/is mastering the craft
• Objective: learning a new way of seeing and learning new abilities
• Learning happens through the experience of sustained presence with the other.

Three Related Concepts: 

1. Pope Francis has freqently mentioned "Spiritual Accompaniment"  (EG 169-170)
2. GDC 47 "Slow Stages" of Evangelization  - Before relationship with God is proposed there needs to be a sustained conversation
3. Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples: Thresholds of Conversion. - We need to study the person... And tailor our approach based on who they are. 

How  Would "Apprenticeship" Inspire our Catechetical Approaches?

• The Content of Faith would e communicated in a genuinely personal way
• All that is taught would e oriented to how it may be lived
• Time would be set apart to allow for responsiveness, dialog and mentoring
• Participants would learn a new way of seeing and a new way of living

Sophia Cavelleti allows time for silence... 

Apprenticeship model is most germane to liturgical catechesis because the liturgy is a place of encounter with God. 

See CCC 1624 on marriage role of Holy Spirit...  

If catechist is teaching in impersonal way, the richness  will be missing

Four Necessary Skills Needed to Live a Rich Sacramental Life

1. The ability to disengage from distractions and attune ourselves to God in the sacramental action  - How do we help people disengage and attune to God? How the catechist starts the session is crucially important.
2. The ability to "see" and "receive" and "give" in a sacramental way  - Seeing in a sacramental way gives us the ability to unite ourselves to see the invisible in the visible (Sohia Cavaletti) we need to help people to see the invisible. Then, we need authentic witnesses
3. The ability to unit the mind and heart to the language of the liturgy  (is this even possible today - is it too much to expect? Children can. See Sophia Cavalletti Religious Potential of the Child, p. 43 
4. The ability to be responsive to the gift God gives so that a change is effected in how we live

3 challenges to doing this.  From 2013 institute of church life survey

1. Lack of trained personnelL
2. Insufficient intentional disciples
3. Catechesis takes place in larger groups

Maybe we start out small...

Organic Opportunities Today for Apprenticeship:

1. It remains a deep conviction within our tradition that parents are the primary educators of their children... - Challenge to help parents apprentice the sacramental life.. Need homes where faith is lived organically
2. A vitally important element of our ecclesial vision is that adult evangelization and catechesis  is "the axis around which revolves the catechesis of childhood and adolescence as well as thoat of old age." (GDC 275)...   We must pour our efforts into evangelizing adults 
3. We can invest deeply in the mentoring roles that are already clearly defined... - Invest in mentoring roles sponsor, godparent...
4. We recognize that the year after receiving a sacrament is a sensitive period... - The neophyte years is important. In marriage, the 1st year establishes behaviors
5. The practice of spiritual direction is an already familiar model...   Spiritual direction is an apprenticeship model
6. Opportunities may be found in catechetical sessions as they are currently structured...  Build time for mentoring into catechetical sessions 
7. Many of the Saints [our mentors] apprenticed others in the Christian life...  If the task is beyond our strength,   like St. Therese, turn to God

Our catechesis should be rooted in respect for the mystery of God and the person.

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 7: Preaching - Relational Evangelization

KARLA BELLINGER:  "Liturgical Preaching and Evangelization"

YOU matter. YOU are the way. Pope Francis embodies this. Jesus was like that too. This is a theological statement. Yet we wonder if any word WE say matters. Do our words matter?

When the Holy Spirit asks say yes!  You matter, words matter, liturgical words matter!

Many people have deep feelings about preaching.

Name one word that comes to mind about Sunday preaching: (mine is "Forgettable")

Is preaching epiphenominological?  (i.e., Does it cause something to happen to the listener?) Too many people say "I come for the Eucharist not for the preaching." The homily is the 21st century hair shirt!

Priests and deacons think: Is anyone listening? 

Those in the pews think: Are you talking to me?  

Preaching is a relationship... When we don't have the connection there is a gap. Deep feelings on both sides... A conversation we are not having.

Study: 94% of those who gave feedback gave it to preachers they liked.  Only one in four catechetical leaders would pass a comment they heard on to a preacher... Zero would do it if the feedback was negative in nature.

Preaching is relational.

We need: new methods, new ardor, new expression

Andrew Greely said 1 out of 6 are preaching well.  CARA study says 1 out of 6 people in the pews is active. The target audience is the other 5.

Preachers should aim at those who only come once a year... If preacher yells at them or the music is bad, why would they ever come back?

For evangelization the homily that speaks to the inner circle does not work.

7-10 minutes can make or break a parish for a visitor.

The homily matters to the relationships in the church.  Connection and authenticity. Be real. Young people: don't talk AT us. Talk TO us.

Go deeper!

The focus should be on How can our people get an "A" in life? Let's call on the Holy Spirit to help us do this.

Q & A 

What does going deeper mean?   The spirituality of the listener and the preacher's content both matter.

Preachers need to get out among the non-active to listen.

What would a seminary formation in authenticity look like?  Like vinyl siding: paint scratches off aluminum siding. Vinyl siding is the same on the inside as on the outside.

.NEXT NOTE: James Pauley, Liturgical Catechesis and Apprenticeship

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 6: Music - Connecting Experience

FR. ANTHONY RUFF "What does Church Music Have to do With My Life? Music and the New Evangelization"

The Problem

Young people think organized religion is not for good and that rituals of the church are meaningless. Inherited structure is meaningless. 

But his students are curious open and searching for meaning. They are often surprised that the rituals of the church can have meaning. It's news to them that liturgy is participation in salvation history.

Why is it a surprise that the rites are saving? Poor catechesis?

What happens in the Eucharistic prayer?  EVERYTHING

Christian Symbol and Ritual Bernard Cooke and Gary Macy starts with human experience... Very Rahnerian. He uses it to teach, because students today need that approach.

Five aspects of Ritual:

1. Hermeneutic of experience
2. Maturation
3. Presence
4. Service
5. Friendship

Rahner  Foundations of Christian Faith all experience is open to God

vs. Von Balthaasar Intentions A very Critical Intorduction (Kilby)  beauty aesthetic acknowledging the beauty of revelation

Rahnerian starting point is a better approach in the Church today rather than zealots with an attitude that church teaching is good and the world is evil

Book he uses is Patrick T McCormick, A Banqueter's Guide to the All-Night Soup Kitchen of the Kingdom of God.  Students don't see any of this as spirituality. No connection between social justice and spirituality. Spirituality, in reality,  is an entire world view.

MUSIC

How is it meaningful?

Does it relate to spirituality?

Does it relate to my life?

We need a realistic piety around texts we sing

Do the texts of the songs line up with our longings?

Or, are they epiphenomenological?  (Do the texts cause the longings?)  Or are the songs overly cut off from the real world?  Do we balance our faith and doubt?

We don't want to be pious in a sloppy way.  No need for a layer of lace and holy water 

Instead, we need to respect artistic ability and musical impulse. Do musicians have to be disciples? Sing to the Lord 39  says yes, but we should expect them to be human and not to be perfect.

The Appropriate use of Tradition

SC 112 we need a Thesaurus Musicae Sacrae 

Overly traditional impulse comes from a sense that what we have is  not working. It's not all bad... 

Idealization of chant and stylistic Euro-centrism ignore the culture people come from.

Some agendas  more chant, fewer hymns...

The reform of the reform starts with Musical tradition and points to the liturgy... Is backwards. We should start with liturgy and work toward musical tradition

Alcuin Clark T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy.   Critique 

nothing positive about congregational singing or participation

Musical traditionalism attempts to make music meaningful. Escapist. Misreading of hermeneutic of continuity

We can indeed have a preferential option for tradition in Vatican II 

We need a hybrid hermeneutic for interpreting SC chapter 6. 

Theological dynamic,culturally sensitive rite plus a solid musical tradition 

Music-Makiing as embodied Spirituality: 

Sacred Music divinizes us by humanizing us.

Great tradition of music making in the church as humanizing got subverted In The 18th and 19th century when we first had concerts.  "Concert culture"

Before 19th century most music making was without any written page 

CONCLUSIONS

We need:

• More comfort with our bodies and voices
• Greater relationality in our ensemble music- making -see Voice Care Network website
• Naturalness in proclamation of texts
• Comfort with rhythm and dance
• Relationality in engagement of assembly - cantor eye contact...
• Affirmation of musical professionalism - Greater musical skills enable us to be more human

Multicultural music  we need openness to all culture

NEXT NOTE: Preaching and the New Evangelization

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 2: Liturgy in a Digital World

DANIELLA ZSUSPAN-JEROME: "Digital Media and the Liturgical Capacity of the Christian"

The myth of the Golem (Jewish) symbol of dark side of technology... he was a created monster... Digital technology is our Golem today.  Digital culture has spiritual implications  profound relationship to the liturgy.

Not talking about technology IN the liturgy. EWTN Mass -example: book, glasses, TV camera... We forget these are also forms of human technology.

Techne (Greek) =art, skill or craft

Practical things that extend human capacity - always paired with human action

Technology sometimes has become symbol in the liturgy.  Candle is example. So is microphone headset... it means leadership.

However, objects and tools matter. They make sense in broader cultural context. Multiple meanings "Madonna headset" became a name for the headset mic, for example.

Technology always has a interactive human element.

Digital culture has subcultures, lots of layers.

LENSES to look at technology:

• Values - innovation participation, ubiquity, collaboration simultaneity, creativity
• Beliefs - newer is better, belonging matters over content, partipation matters, access is possible
• Practices - (missed it - sorry)
• Artifacts- mobile devices with cameras, apps, bio-responsive technology, social media platforms, Internet of Things

Curation - focusing and filtering information to avoid information overload. Individuals choose trusted filters.  The Missal and Lectionary are  examples of curation of texts.

Key question: How do we (re)establish the liturgy as primary curator of meaning?

Connection: we are plugged in all the time and loosely connected to others through information... Belonging to the network.  Continuous partial attention. We are not in the habit of going deep.

How can the liturgy be way to move us from connection to communion?

Self instrumentalization. Data about us is currency of digital age. As data we are means to an end. We are willing to do this as a price for continual connection. Violent communication is one outcome. (We are critical and some people do not care what they say (trolls)

How do we recover encounter instead of instrumentality and primacy of person in communion?

Liturgy gives us an Incarnational model for culture, including digital culture. see Ad Gentes 10

The incarnation speaks to digital culture. Communion et progressio 11. 

Liturgy embodies culture. Offers context for how incarnation offers model for digital world

Communicating in the manner of the incarnation:

• Listen First - Mary as open to welcome the Word her fiat is trust choosing a posture of -trust and authenticity 
• Words  Give Life -  Mary with child in womb - mutual encounter communication - body and presence
• Self Gift in Love  Christ is perfect communicator. Communication begets communion. Deeper connection  to liturgy
• Bear the Fruit  - openness to Spirit... faithful and authentic communication Galations 5:22 in the liturgy how do we connect the Word as fruit

What can the liturgy do? What can it not do? What do we want it to do? How can it reveal the pattern of the incarnation? How can it be prophetic?

Q & A

Shallowness of encounter in parish life... Distinction between digital culture and reality is not there

Value of the new. (New is better.)

Relationship between digital culture and the aesthetic....


NEXT NOTES: 3 - "Popular Culture and the New Evangelization"

Never. Stop. Evangelizing.

There is a little controversy going around on Facebook - and in the com-boxes over a post by Kathy Schiffer over on Patheos  in which she wonders aloud why kids who sat through catechesis and received their sacraments can later not remember things they were "taught" in that catechesis, like the obligation to attend Mass and the teachings on sexuality. The comments I have seen are about the difference between evangelization and catechesis.... but I think it goes even deeper to the unity of the two.

In Schiffer's final sentence is the key: "Maybe next year, when a teacher tells them again, the Good News will fall on good soil and will stir their hearts to Faith."

The Good News, the kerygma, is the key to all of this. Young people need to hear over and over why the teachings of God/the Church matter. It's the same issue I once encountered when a 7th grade girl asked me, point blank: "Why should I do anything God wants?"

Someone who has no relationship with the God of love and mercy will not understand God's desires for our behavior. Of course they tune us out. The other messages from the culture about "me first" are much louder and more attractive than we are... but that's because we deliver our message without conviction, minus the fire of the Holy Spirit. We often teach doctrine (especially those "rules" about sexuality) as if it exists apart from the love of God. We need, as Pope John Paul II did in his Theology of the Body, to connect these things continually to the love of God and God's plan for good for each person and for the world.

We need to punctuate all catechesis frequently with the Good News that Jesus' death took away the sins of the world and offers us eternal life. This was God's greatest gift - and it deserves a response of loving obedience. Jesus' sacrifice demands our response. That response would be to believe, to participate enthusiastically and gratefully in the sacrifice of the Mass, and to live according to God's desires for us, expressed in the teachings about chastity and other issues.

Pope Francis pretty much nails it in section 165 of Evangelii Gaudium:

We must not think that in catechesis the kerygma gives way to a supposedly more “solid” formation. Nothing is more solid, profound, secure, meaningful and wisdom-filled than that initial proclamation. All Christian formation consists of entering more deeply into the kerygma, which is reflected in and constantly illumines, the work of catechesis, thereby enabling us to understand more fully the significance of every subject which the latter treats. It is the message capable of responding to the desire for the infinite which abides in every human heart. The centrality of the kerygma calls for stressing those elements which are most needed today: it has to express God’s saving love which precedes any moral and religious obligation on our part; it should not impose the truth but appeal to freedom; it should be marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical. All this demands on the part of the evangelizer certain attitudes which foster openness to the message: approachability, readiness for dialogue, patience, a warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental.

That's the key. We don't evangelize young people a little every once in a while, at a retreat, by giving a witness talk, or providing the occasional meditative prayer or meaningful service experience. We must continually connect EVERYTHING we teach to the Good News. The Church teaches X because God loves you and wants you to have a fruitful life that builds up his Kingdom, not simply the Church teaches X: do it.

Never. Stop. Evangelizing.

What if Ordinary Time Were Mission-Driven?

The liturgical year has these great green stretches of Ordinary Time - and we have just entered the longest one. Our next two Sundays will be engaged in celebrating two important "white" feasts of Christ in Ordinary Time: Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, but we really have entered the time of the green.

The general description of Ordinary Time is a time "wherein the faithful consider the fullness of Jesus' teachings and works among his people."(USCCB Website) or when "the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays." (Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year.)  While the green of winter Ordinary Time suggests growth and learning, the stretch we have just entered is different. Rather, because of what has just preceded it, it offers an opportunity to move toward mission. We have just celebrated the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost - all of which call us to do something besides sit at Christ's feet. We have witnessed the power of Paschal Mystery and heard Jesus ask us to preach the Gospel to all the world. This year, it sounded like this:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. (Mark 16:15-20)

This is a pretty daring job description! I don't know that snake handling is the way I want to go, personally speaking! However, as he promised, Jesus then sent the Spirit to strengthen, equip and inspire us to do great things in his name. The alternate Gospel for Pentecost explains this best:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”  (John 15:26-27; 16: 12-15)

 I suggested in another recent post that perhaps summer Ordinary Time is really the moment to build the community and to evangelize, but that goes against prevailing American practice, which sees summer as "down time."

What would it mean if a parish were to take Ascension and Pentecost seriously and put mission on the summer agenda?  I see some interesting possibilities:

• Summer outreach - to families of those who have just celebrated sacraments, but are not coming to Mass - to the disabled, the elderly, young adults, to inactive parishioners and to others in the neighborhood 
• Summer faith formation - Vacation Bible School for ALL ages that lasts more than a week - Bible study, book-clubs, marriage enrichment and other gatherings to encourage adults  and teens to deepen their faith
• Intergenerational gatherings for all ages - not just parents and children - for prayer and learning
• RCIA Inquiry sessions begin - mid-summer - and run until the Rite of Acceptance/Rite of Welcoming just before Advent.
• Parish service projects to help the poor - not just youth mission trips - but practical local opportunities for adults and families
• Liturgies celebrated with joy and vigor. Choirs would not go on "summer break" - but continue (after all, most of them will still be at Mass every weekend) - perhaps with fewer rehearsals
• Parish festivals, picnics, etc. with a faith theme - not just fun and socialization, but with meaningful prayer/paraliturgies and a call for all to sign up for service and learning opportunities

Some parishes already do some of this, but even they would benefit from being more intentional. What do you think? Do you have more ideas for how a parish can be mission-driven through the summer? How can we keep the upcoming months from simply looking like a vacation from parish activities?

After the Whale

In the first reading for this weekend, we encounter a totally cooperative Jonah, freshly released from the belly of the whale and finally off to do God's work without further protest.

Pieter Lastman - Jonah and the Whale

Jonah, who first ran, then tried to sail away from God's will, is now the willing mouthpiece to announce the destruction of Ninevah if its inhabitants do not turn away from their sins. Rather willingly, they immediately give up their ways and God does not destroy them. Somehow, Jonah, who was so reluctant a prophet, was totally convincing.

This weekend, no doubt, many of us will hear homilies about the need to repent and believe in the Good News, the message of Jesus, who has just appeared in Galilee following the death of John the Baptist.

But what of willingness to evangelize others?  Jesus, ultimately, will hand that to the disciples as their mission when he leaves earth at his Ascension. How many Catholics today are more like Jonah, ducking and mumbling, "Anyone else but me, Lord!"?

Truth be told, the best evangelizers are the people who have known the belly of the whale - the hopeless, terrorizing suffering of  "three days and three nights" in the dark (Jon. 2:1) before seeing the light of day again. People who have gone through the dark times in life and again have seen the light are often most willing to tell their story and of the God who saved them. Of course, the three days/nights parallel the three days of Jesus' own Paschal Mystery.

Those who have suffered in life make good evangelizers, but so do people who allow themselves to suffer with Christ by immersing themselves in the Easter Triduum. If you look out at the assembly of those who are willing to be there for all of the Three Days, you will usually see those active in service of others in the parish, through teaching, charity and other action. They are also the people who are most likely to regularly attend Sunday Mass, because they know what it means when the Church says that each Sunday is a little Easter. Their frequent participation in the sacrifice of the Mass strengthens their connection to Christ and to his message - and to their mission to proclaim Christ - and the joy of salvation.

These are the truly engaged parishioners - and they are most willing to take on the role of prophets and evangelizers.  So, where do we find the faithful witnesses who can become our best evangelizers? Look first for those who have their own stories of suffering... and look among those who fill the pews during those celebrations that others feel are "optional." Those who know that really know God.  Listen to them - and provide them with opportunities to testify to their faith in the parish and the community. They are a gift.

Why We Need to Start Talking More About Baptism

The Summer, 2013 CARA report shows a disturbing trend:  baptisms are declining. Not surprising, actually, given the culture and the continuing decline in marriage.  Do today's young people, who are less likely to believe in sin and Hell, take seriously the need for baptism? Obviously not.

Certainly, as a church we need much better marketing and press to get our message out there - that the sacraments have an important role in the lives of real people - and that baptism is the gateway to salvation in Jesus Christ.  More importantly, this situation points to weaknesses in sacramental catechesis and in catechesis of the young people and adults who are already in our parishes and programs.

When was the last time you heard baptism mentioned in a homily or presentation?  Original sin?  I can't say that I remember. When was the last time you had an adult conversation about the "baptismal call" of the laity?

And then there are the children and youth.  Take a look in the average religious education text series. Baptism is taught early on, in the primary grades, as a precursor to First Communion. After that, it gets a chapter here and there, or is included in a chapter on the seven sacraments. Good, certainly, but, are our catechists up to this? How prepared are they to help kids understand that baptism helps make us who we are as Christians? Can they talk about this sacrament as the foundation of the Church? As the gateway to the Eucharist? As the very reason we celebrate Confirmation?

In the face of this, it is important to bring sacraments - and baptism in particular - back into the Catholic conversation and as a key component in any evangelization initiative. We need to stop taking for granted that people understand the relationship between baptism and Eucharist, between baptism and Christian life. We need to stop assuming that they pass this on to their children.  Obviously they are not doing a very good job at that.

Archbishop of Canterbury Tells Synod Ecumenical Unity Enhances Evangelization

Wearing the ring that Pope Paul VI gave to one of his predecessors, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury today addressed the Synod on the New Evangelization in Rome. His message used a lot of "we" language and emphasized that Catholics and Anglicans share a common agenda for evangelization - which will be more effective if done together: "Evangelization, old or new, must be rooted in a profound confidence that we have a distinctive human destiny to show and share with the world," he noted.

Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams during Williams'  visit in March, 2012

Williams lauded Vatican II, saying that it was "a sign that the Church was strong enough to ask itself some demanding questions about whether its culture and structures were adequate to the task of sharing the Gospel with the complex, often rebellious, always restless mind of the modern world."

His basic message was that our human destiny is found in relationship with God, best discovered through contemplation. Evangelization, he said, should be grounded in contemplation, but more than that, contemplation is a gift we bring to a struggling world. "To put it boldly", he noted, "contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit. To learn contemplative practice is to learn what we need so as to live truthfully and honestly and lovingly. It is a deeply revolutionary matter.”

Speaking to the need for Christians to present a unified face to the world in order to evangelize effectively, Williams defined spiritual  ecumenism as "the shared search to nourish and sustain disciplines of contemplation in the hope of unveiling the face of the new humanity. And the more we keep apart from each other as Christians of different confessions, the less convincing that face will seem."

Read the full text of his address on his website.

What did he say today that is important? First, that all Christians share a common gift - contemplation - which is one of the most effective tools we have to grow closer to Christ,  and which  we can model for a frantic world which longs for peace.  That is wisdom for sure.

Second, that to reach the world with our message, our public disagreements and differences are a hindrance.   It is rather like a couple trying to convince young people to embrace marriage and family life, while bickering over its own divorce. Christians, to reach the modern world effectively, must stand together on what we have in common - the Trinity, one Baptism, a truly catholic (universal) Church and a common belief that Christ came to show us the love of the Father and died and rose again to bring us everlasting life.

If we preach what we have in common together, in a spirit of contemplation and love, Williams is saying, our message has a better chance of transforming the modern world.

Preparing for the Year of Faith - Music

(Apologies for the long hiatus on this blog - busiest few months ever - and the hottest summer in years...and... and... OK, I will spare you the "Litany of Excuses.")

Have to share the song our parish is preparing for the Year of Faith, because it is simply so perfect. We are practicing Ricky Manalo's "We Are Sent Into the World" (published by OCP)  Here is the refrain:

...and a recording of parish rendition in which you can pretty much understand all of the words. Once you hear it you will know why it is a near-perfect expression of the hope, postivity and sense of mission that underlies the Year of Faith:

As parishes around the country gear up for the Year of Faith, may we all resolve to become better followers, disciples and ambassadors of Christ, knowing we are chosen by God for this mission to share the story of our faith.

"The Evangelizing Liturgy" - a Review

I just received a copy of The Evangelizing Liturgy - a video presentation on DVD by Fr. Frank DeSiano of Paulist Evangelization ministries. It's not bad. It has a rather different focus from most resources about the Mass, in that it tries to get at the underlying purpose and dynamic of the Mass and the relationship to evangelization.

Evangelization, Father Frank says, is "a response to the Good News." The liturgy is evangelizing, because we can see the liturgy "as a very profound experience of responding to the Good News of Jesus."  He notes the importance of Paschal Mystery and how it manifests itself  both in life and in the Sacraments, which are a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. The fullest expression of this, he says, is in the Eucharist. 


However, in the last 40 years, Fr. Frank notes, we have seen a pulling away from eucharistic expression, toward a sensation-based worship service, rather than "the liturgy".  Are we an audience or are we a congregation? he asks.


In his sincere, reassuring style,  moving around a chapel with props, Fr. Frank goes on to explain in detail how the Mass is an interactive experience that celebrates conversion, calls us to re-commitment and sends us forth to be disciples.  He then names  and explains 5 ways we respond to the Word of God at Mass:

1. The Creed ("I believe" is a response)
2. The Offertory  (We give ourselves in love and response)
3. The Eucharistic Prayer (We respond in acclamations and give ourselves with Jesus)
4. Holy Communion (We give ourselves to Christ and identify with him)
5. The Dismissal (We accept the mission,  sent forth, commissioned and affirmed as disciples, to live like Christ in the world.)

He calls for us to pay attention to intensity, focus and concentration in the way we celebrate, rather than merely doing it "like we've done it a million times before."  He raises evaluative questions about how well we welcome and celebrate, calling attention to the worship and not to ourselves. Mass, he insists, should be focused on "making Christ clearer" - especially to those who are seekers, who might be considering returning, who have yet to experience conversion. If we see Mass as the proclamation of the Word of God and our response, he concludes, we challenge and nourish our people to experience renewal and conversion.


This 40-minute talk would be a great discussion-starter for parish liturgy or evangelization committees, or perhaps the RCIA, apart from their study of the basic structure of the Mass. That is not what this is about. Fr. Frank is concerned with the way we express the purpose and the underlying dynamics of the Mass. If everyone in liturgical ministry in a parish were to hear this message, it could make a difference in how well Mass is celebrated - and ultimately in the quality of parish life.  


While he does not name many specific techniques, Fr. Frank does ask all the right questions.  What he is doing here is issuing an appropriate "wake-up call" to parish ministers to get back to focusing on what is really important. Worth hearing.

Opening the "Door of Faith": US Bishops Announce Plans for Year of Faith

Although in my area any professional parish catechetical leaders worth their salt have already planned and announced their line-up of adult faith formation activities for the upcoming catechetical year, and DRE's have already published calendars for child/family activities, the USCCB yesterday finally unveiled its campaign.  Our diocese, like most, has a committee, but as yet no guidelines or suggestions for parishes (probably because they were waiting for the USCCB), so up until now, savvy leaders have had to rely on the original Vatican guidelines.

Yesterday's resources announced by the USCCB are

• An online searchable edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (find it HERE)
• An announcement of plans and a theme, based on the "door of faith" (find it HERE)
• A new resource page on the USCCB site (find it HERE)

Here is what they had to say about "the door of faith" (which comes from the title of Pope Benedict's October 2011 motu proprio entitled Porta fidei  in which he declared the Year of Faith :

“The central image of the Year of Faith is the ‘door of faith’ based on Acts of the Apostles,” said Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, in his presentation to the bishops. “The ‘door of faith’ is opened at one’s baptism, but during this year we are called to open it again, walk though it and rediscover and renew our relationship with Christ and his Church.”

OK, we have their wisdom. Now, parish leaders need to re-focus their plans for next year or find ways to tie already-scheduled events in to this theme.

Full Participation in the Body of Christ at Worship Matters

At one of our parish Masses every week for a few years, there was a mother and teenage daughter who always arrived as the opening song was ending, then stood, sat and knelt without ever moving their lips during the entire Mass.  As a regular cantor at that Mass, I had the opportunity to watch them, noticing because they so obviously looked bored and disengaged.

Right after the final blessing, they would slip out the side aisle before the procession of the ministers had even started down the aisle. Every week, the same thing. I often wondered why the mother continued to give such a poor message to her daughter about what it meant to part of the celebration of the Mass. I suspected it was most likely that is the model she had been given by her parents, or perhaps that there was resentment over the absence of the child's father.  The only positive thing I could say about the years I observed this was that the mother did bring her child to Mass - in body, if not in spirit.

Finally, one summer, they simply stopped coming. Most likely no one other than me noticed, because they had never talked to people around them before or after Mass, or connected in any way. (Unfortunately, our parish does not have a formal hospitality ministry.) Most likely, the girl got confirmed, or perhaps graduated from high school - Mom's responsibility to get her to Mass was over. So was Mom's attendance at Mass. Apparently, this was all about obligation.

Today, on the feast of Corpus Christi we  celebrate what it means to be a committed member of the "One Body" that is the community of faith - the Church. We also hear clues about what it means to participate fully.  The readings of the day provide some clues as to what this looks like.

We hear the unified voice of the people in the first reading:

When Moses came to the people
and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD,
they all answered with one voice,
"We will do everything that the LORD has told us."  (Exodus 24:3)

In the Gospel reading (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) we hear more corporate actions from the disciples gathered for the Last Supper:

he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.

Then, after singing a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
All of this implies full participation, full engagement by all who are present. There are no watchers hanging around the margins, no mention of anyone not being part of this. (No "except so-and-so). No one with folded arms standing silently watching. Yet at Mass, sometimes that is what priests and cantors see during the people's responses and the songs.  When we meet this same community on the 2nd Sunday of Easter in our first reading from the Book of Acts, we hear "The community of believers was of one heart and mind..."  (Acts 4:32)

The biggest question in catechetical and liturgical ministry today is the growing lack of participation in the life of the Church.  Why do so many not feel like they are part of the community? The proof is all around us: families who never attend Mass, but drop off their children for a couple of years for sacrament preparation, then disappear. People who can't wait for Mass to be over, but leave after Communion - not realizing that an important part of the experience of Mass is to rejoice (in song) as they are SENT, not simply to leave.

We need to continue to explore all options to improve our outreach and evangelization from both the catechetical and liturgical sides of the Church. These ministries share the same fundamental issues. It's way past time for them to come together.  In 1997, the General Directory for Catechesis noted missing areas ("lacunae") in catechesis -particularly this in section 30:

— Catechesis is intrinsically bound to every liturgical and sacramental action.' Frequently, however, the practice of catechetics testifies to a weak and fragmentary link with the liturgy: limited attention to liturgical symbols and rites, scant use of the liturgical fonts, catechetical courses with little or no connection with the liturgical year; the marginalization of liturgical celebrations in catechetical programs.

This, along with good liturgical celebrations and parish hospitality that welcomes every person needs our attention NOW.  Statistics on attendance at Mass by Catholics continue to show a downward trend.  Despite shrinking resources and de-professionalization of lay ministry, (as I previously noted HERE) we cannot afford to allow the situation to get any worse. The growing dis-engagement of our people is a call for increased, not decreased resources to be devoted to catechesis and liturgy.

Trinity Sunday: the Great Commission - "Go" (And ROI)

Today's Gospel for the Most Holy Trinity includes the famous words with which Jesus leaves his disciples:

All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.  (Matthew 28:18-20)

Besides the importance of Jesus himself naming the three persons of the Trinity, this passage, because of the command "go, therefore..." has become known as "The Great Commission."  Jesus is mandating this simple job description for his followers - to make disciples, baptize, and teach them - for all time, until the end. Pretty simple - and ostensibly this has been the mission of the Church since its beginning.

Notice the order here: first, we are called to "make disciples", then baptize, then teach. In the early Church, of course, converts called to the faith were primarily adults, so first they felt the urge to discipleship - they heard the Gospel proclaimed by believers and were attracted to the faith. Then they spent time in apprenticeship to the  local bishop to learn how to be disciples, also learning how to live as believers. Then they were baptized.  The order is often a bit different today.

Making Disciples. Disciples are called by hearing the Gospel. Certainly hearing the proclamation of the Gospel happens whenever it is read in church, and if the preacher is doing his job in the homily - of inspired instruction on what that proclamation means. But back up a minute. Because first we need to get people to church to hear that preaching, the calling of disciples is not primarily the job of preachers, but of the laity - the "faithful witnesses  who evangelize others  by testifying to their faith in Jesus Christ through their words and their lives, in the world. (In a previous post, I noted that this is a key theme of the Year of Faith.)

Calling and making disciples is the job of ALL Christians. The entire community of faith is called to proclaim the Gospel in its very life - and to call forth the gifts of its members so that they can become truly engaged deeply in the life of the community - so that the parish itself calls and makes disciples. Some churches do this very well. Others fail, for whatever reason. The Catholic Strengths and Engagement Community is a great resource on church engagement - providing resources and strategies for how to get people to be active, involved and contributing members of the parish. (Sign up for their June 15th webinar with Albert Winseman of the Gallup organization and Fr. Bill Hanson, pastor of the first church to use the Gallup ME 25 instrument to become an "engaged church."). 

An engaged church, by its very presence in the community, evangelizes, encouraging not only its members, but others, to become disciples.

Baptizing.  Of course today, since most Christians are baptized as infants at the desire of their parents, they have to spend a lifetime learning what it meant. That is why calling and evangelizing children and adults who are already members of the Church through inspired proclamation of the Gospel is so important.  If people really hear and see what is proclaimed, they remain in the Church.  But for that to happen well, we need to be part of a community of mystagogy - engaged in constant reflection on the essential and personal meaning of baptism. This begins, not with the entrance of a child into formal catechesis, but with engaging the parents of baptized infants and children in the life of the parish. Then, we need to provide lifelong learning and opportunities for participation in the life of the Church for all its members. (See the Engaged Church resources above.) In this reversed reality, baptizing does not stop after the water dries - each of us remains an apprentice in faith, learning daily how to be a better disciple and to "observe all" that Jesus has commanded. Parishes need to provide frequent opportunities for ongoing mystagogy on baptism for all ages, because it should be part of the lifelong learning of every Christian.

Teaching.  We know about that, and we attend to it - at least for children and youth. For the adults, not so much. In the 11 years since the USCCB document on adult faith formation, "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us"  was published, only minimal progress has been made in most parishes toward making adult formation the centerpiece instead of the periphery of parish life. We can and must do better - even in this stressed economy, when so many parishes are finding ways to make do with volunteer leaders instead of paid staff for adult faith formation.

But what about that first word of the mandate: "Go"?

Recently, I heard Neil Parent, former executive director of the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership and former representative for adult education for the USCCB, say:

"Jesus said 'go and teach.' We say 'come and learn.' We need to go where people are." 

That is increasingly the challenge for the Church today - especially since so many of our people do not physically show up at the parish on a regular basis. It is why so many, including the Pope, are advocating for an increased use of social networking to spread the gospel, which is literally going out where people today are. Although many parish leaders have heard this, they still falter when it comes to doing this well. As many other good people have put tremendous effort into raising awareness and assisting Catholics to use technology to spread the Gospel, I will not do that here. However, here are just a few of my favorite resources from people at the forefront of Catholic exploration of technology:

Catholic Tech Talk

The Church and New Media

Digital Catechesis

Faith Formation 2020

Open Source Catholic

Tech Tips for Catholics

So, how are you and your parish living up the "The Great Commission" these days? Do you give adequate resources (time, energy, money and personnel) to "going","making", "baptizing", and "teaching?" Or, do you need to step back and rethink your parish plan for outreach, evangelization, engagement and catechesis?  Remember, the more you put in, the bigger the ROI (Return on Investment.)  After all, we don't do it alone.  Jesus promised to be with us in this endeavor until the end of the age.

The Year of Faith: Deepening Encounter, Understanding, Celebration and Witness

As most of you know, Pope Benedict has called for the universal church to celebrate a "Year of Faith" to begin October 11, 2012 (50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II) and end November 24, 2013 (Solemnity of Christ the King).  My friend Joe Paprocki recently wrote this great explanation and summary in his blog. 

The bottom line is that the goals of the Year of Faith are basically two: evangelization and catechesis.

The Pope is calling upon all levels of the Church to foster an encounter with Christ through faithful witnesses and to promote a deeper understanding of the faith. So how should diocesan and parish leaders prepare for this celebration? Read the pastoral recommendations from the Vatican, to start.

However, busy parish and diocesan ministers might benefit from the "Cliff's Notes version."   Here is a quick summary of the major themes on all levels of the Church:

• encounter with faithful witnesses (Saints as witnesses)
• understanding and renewing use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 
• understanding and celebrating Vatican II
• renewal of the Sacrament of Penance
• intensification of celebration of the Eucharist 
• general renewal of and commitment to Catholic faith
• ecumenical dialog
• renewal of personal efforts to communicate faith (evangelization)

FAITHFUL WITNESSES: I have mentioned the concept of "faithful witnesses" before in this space (most recently in my post on how to choose new catechists).  I cannot emphasize this enough. My own journey to faith in Jesus Christ and full engagement in the Catholic Church has been nurtured in the RCIA process and ever since by a number of faithful witnesses - and the memory of those people, living and deceased, is always with me every time I reflect on my faith journey. Their effect on me then and now has been to ground me in the beauty of a living relationship with Christ. Parishes might do well, in preparing for the YOF, to start discerning who the faithful witnesses are in their community - and scheduling opportunities for them to speak to the parish about how faith has impacted their lives.  Catechesis about the Saints is also a great way to help people connect with examples of those whose very lives are remembered because they were all about witness to their faith in Christ.

CATCHISM: Making the CCC,  the Adult Catechism, YouCat or the Compendium more available to parishioners by selling them at parish events or in the back of church to kick off the YOF might be a strategy. Other ways to do this would be to have speakers or sessions on the CCC, or engaging in group studies, such as Why Catholic?.  Parish websites, blogs and social media pages should reflect on and post quotations and links to where to purchase these resources. Remind catechists that it is there for them to use in faith formation sessions... and show them how to use it. The point is to bring the CCC out of the shadows and remind - and teach - people to use it.

VATICAN II: Focusing on the history and some of the outcomes of the Council through presentations, study groups, preaching, websites, blogs and social media, and general discussion is also a good strategy.  Twenty-Third Publications has a great group of inexpensive resources to do this in parishes.

PENANCE:  The revised Rite of Penance suggests a renewal of catechesis on the sacrament - always the elephant in the room for Catholics.  Parishes would do well to plan to provide catechesis through presentations, preaching, and ample resources on blogs, websites and social media... and ample opportunities for celebration. Busted Halo has a great video that would be good to embed on a parish website and/or direct people to from a social media page, for example.

INTENSIFICATION OF CELEBRATION OF EUCHARIST: OK, it's the dead horse we all love to beat:  parish liturgy is the best thing we can offer people - and if it stinks, many people go away. Any energy a parish puts into improving celebration of the Mass is never wasted. Better training for ministers, better preaching, better music, more intentional liturgical planning... you all know the drill. We can never slack off on this.  Liturgical catechesis through homilies. presentations and the bulletin on the Mass - many of us did this for the new Missal implementation. We really should never stop - this is a full-time initiative.

RENEWAL OF FAITH:  Plan those parish missions now!  Get the best, most inspirational speakers - and make this not just an opportunity for people to show up and listen.. but to engage actively in further discussion, small faith-sharing groups, and more.  Be more intentional about adult faith formation - and more active in promoting it.

ECUMENICAL DIALOG: While this is the ongoing responsibility of the Vatican on a universal level, raising awareness of the ongoing dialogs and initiatives - and helping people claim a spirit of ecumenism is an agenda item for all in the Church.  The very least thing parishes should do is to pray for unity among Christians on a regular basis. Catechists and leaders need to be formed about the ecumenical teachings of the Church. (More on that in subsequent posts in this space.)

COMMUNICATING FAITH:  Encourage this by example through parish blogs and social media and public events and service in the community that invite others to experience the love of Christ.  Teach those who take communion to the sick to spend time talking about Christ.  Teach your parish food pantry minsters to give people a blessing and express to them that Jesus loves them, even though (especially because) they are poor. Talk about faith and the workplace in homilies, bulletin articles and presentations...  the possibilities are endless.

Every diocese and local parish can all come up with ways to make the Year of Faith a good and effective experience of renewal of the Church.  Don't waste the opportunity. Start planning now.

The Pope: Catholics - Don't Be Lukewarm - A Catechetical Challenge

On the last day of his visit to Germany, Pope Benedict put it very bluntly:  If you are lukewarm about your Catholic faith and do not practice it in everyday life, even the agnostic, who is at least struggling with the question of whether there is a God, is closer to God than you are.

As another blogger put it so well: "Sitting in church does not make you Catholic... any more than standing in your garage makes you a car."

As I have repeatedly said in this space, we have a massive failure to show most people why Catholic faith matters.  The situation in most parishes in my area continues to deteriorate.  While about 10 years ago, if you asked kids in a religious education class how many went to Mass the previous weekend, you would get somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 who said yes, that number is dwindling to just a couple kids in each class in many parishes.

Parents continue to drop kids off so they can feel like they "raised their kids Catholic".  Too often, they not only do not attend Mass, but do not send their children to religious education during non-sacrament-preparation years.  The excuses, of course, are many - conflicts with sports, too expensive, too busy...  Worst of all, most of these families disappear from the parish after their kids have celebrated the sacraments -- as if to say. "Done that - check it off my 'good parent list'."

What the Pope says matters.  John, in the Book of Revelation, was told to tell the Angel to write:

“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev. 3:15-17) 

How are we, in parishes, challenging and helping Catholics to move from lukewarm to burning with the fire of the Spirit?

Confirmation: The Sacrament in Search of Pastoral Practice

Today, in my mostly Hispanic parish in inner-city Joliet, we will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with 80 or so young people.  As one of the parish catechists, I have walked with 21 of them this year.  As a parish musician, I will have the privilege of helping them celebrate. But for many of them, I suspect, this is simply the end of a process that was pretty much pasted onto their teenage years. Despite my best efforts, I am betting  most of them will simply go through the motions of the ritual and then go on with their lives as if it never happened.  It will be merely a memory in a photo album of a day they got dressed up, went to church and then had a family party.

I know there were a few moments of evangelizing catechesis this year, but that may not make up for an entire life already spent in minimal connection to the Church and to faith. Of the 21 teens, only about 3 acknowledged regular Mass attendance. For the rest, it was occasional, or never, even though we talked about it at almost every session. Trusting in the grace of the sacrament today, I know this is for their good and part of God's plan for them somehow, and I can only hope that at least some will experience further conversion later in life and come to the practice of their faith.  I'd like to think that something I said or did will remain in their memory and someday come to fruition. However, as a catechist, I can truly say, this was not my problem, but a problem with how the Church has presented Confirmation.

The text of a recent speech by Father Paul Turner to the 9th liturgical congress at Sant’ Anselmo in Rome (posted over at the PrayTell blog) tells part of the story:

The utter absence of consistent pastoral practice around the world reflects a theology of confirmation in disarray. A sacrament applied to various somewhat related circumstances, confirmation continues to frustrate parents whose teens refuse to attend catechesis, children who think it has everything to do with the bishop, and bishops who enjoy visiting parishes but would prefer to spend their time in a broader exercise of pastoral leadership. Confirm a child of catechetical age at the Easter Vigil, and many parents will wonder how a non-Catholic kid younger than their own can get confirmed, but theirs cannot. The Academy has provided some helpful elucidation, but not enough to effect changes. Parishes struggle to make sense of confirmation, and the best we can do is to reassure parents that the frustration is not their fault.

I suspect that teen participants in the preparation process are similarly confused. The insistence that teens re-memorize formal prayers and Mass responses they have forgotten because they never use them, that they suddenly engage in "service hours" and attend a mandatory retreat, along with the requirements to pick a saint they may have never heard of before and to connect on faith issues with a sponsor can make this entire process a foreign country from which teens are glad to receive their exit visa (the Confirmation certificate).

When we insist that teens attend two years of religious education prior to Confirmation (common in my diocese and supported by policy) and make that two years seem like a review of everything they should have learned, because we are pretty sure none of them will come back ever for further catechesis, we shoot ourselves in the foot.  We get what we expect: teens who see this as their last catechesis... because catechesis is something in which they are forced to participate.  Like mandatory day-school attendance, this can seem like a "sentence" to time served, enforced by parents, until they grow up and can make other choices for how to spend their time.

While there is some pastoral wisdom out there (I recently heard Sr. Gael Gensler advise a group of parish DRE's that a sponsor for Confirmation should be someone embedded in the parish community life and should be chosen at the beginning of Confirmation preparation instead of near the end), I suspect that by-in-large, we have not made much progress in making sense of Confirmation.  Instead of a relational, community-immersed apprenticeship in the life of Christian discipleship, most parishes continue to present classroom-model instruction that is minimally formational and does not provide opportunities for spiritual conversion beyond the obligatory retreat.

I know I cannot fix this by myself. Next year, faced with another group of teens, I will struggle valiantly to supplement the program with whatever I can to evangelize them, but I fear I will always fall short for most of the teens - because of the insufficient structures and systems the Church has continued to provide and the limited resources of my one-DRE-with-no-assistance parish.  I can't change the world, but maybe, just maybe I can change a heart or two.  I pray that today, at least a few of "my" kids will receive the sacrament with hearts open to God's grace.