Questions without answers

One of the biggest challenges in the history of the Church is communicating the Gospel to the world.  This stretches from age to age: from the apostles, to the evangelizers of northern Europe, to the missionaries that traveled to the Americas and Africa, to the present day. 

Evangelical efforts have always been a mix of success and failure.  This trend is there in Acts of the Apostles—at Pentecost, the very beginning.  Over 3,000 souls chose baptism that day (Acts 2:41), but they were side-by-side with a group that derided the apostles, calling them drunk (Acts 2:13).  Similarly, St. Paul’s preaching at the Areogapus was going fine until he started talking about the resurrection.  Dionysius and others thirsted for more, but still others mocked St. Paul for his teaching. 

In all of our efforts to evangelize, we have to keep a healthy tension between reasonable and positive expectations.  On one hand, the grace of God has power beyond our imagining.  In Mexico, for example, Our Lord sent the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego.  In a brief time, millions converted thanks to that miraculous intervention—accomplishing more than earthly missionaries had in years of effort.  On the other hand, original sin eliminates the chance of converting the entire world to Christ before the end of the world.  There will be no perfect society, no “Christendom” as we would like.  St. Thomas More coined the word “utopia” as the name of his fictional, perfect society.  He made a new word out of two Greek words, which etymologically means “no where.”

I’ve participated in this evangelical challenge at the parish level, as a volunteer with youth groups and religious education classes.  It’s the same question—how do we communicate the Gospel?—with different methods.  Youth group uses a combination of fellowship, catechesis, retreats, and fun activities to try to get the point across.  Religious education goes about it as a school would: classrooms, curricula, text books, and sometimes homework. 

Maybe that’s too lengthy of an introduction to say… whatever the Catholic Church in America is doing on a broad scale to catechize its own members, it’s failing.  There are bright spots and vibrant parishes.  There are other pockets of… well, the opposite.  I’ve already written about it here, but I’ve had more religious education experience since then.  Here are my thoughts, followed up by questions… the thing is, I don’t have the answers, and I don’t pretend to be an expert educator, pastoral minister, or anything close.  I’m a layman who’s been around a lot of clergy and a lot of parishes, that's all. 

And my thoughts really just apply to the parish level, not to parents or families.  That's definitely a conversation worth having--how can parishes help families, the first classrooms of catechesis?

1) Knowledge is key.  I can’t tell you how many small groups I’ve been a part of over the past 10 years… Questions of a religious nature can be answered with vague platitudes that don’t ultimately mean anything.  At the last confirmation retreat I helped chaperone, it became an inside joke in my small group.  Every question could’ve been answered with “peer pressure” or other phrases.  Every time the teens would use those answers, I’d press for more.  

How can we believe in something we don't know much about?  Almost ten years ago, I had a coworker who was a big San Francisco Giants fan.  I am a Dodgers fan (there is nothing more awful to a Giants fan than the Dodgers), so naturally this coworker gave me grief about it.  He asked for the starting lineup of the Dodgers, and I didn't know--he laughed at me, "you call yourself a fan and you don't even know who's on the team?" 

Question: What is the key knowledge that we need to be passing on?  Like I mentioned in my post from a couple years ago (here it is again), I’m not talking about heavy theological knowledge—just the basics.  What brought this question up in my mind is an old Sunday missal from 1941.  At the back, it had lists of prayers and devotions.  One of the sections was called “Prayers to Be Memorized” and had at the top of the page, “Every Catholic Should Know.”  It made me wonder… what would we put in this section now?  It doesn’t seem to fit the catechetical philosophies around today; such a list might be seen as a return to the “pre-conciliar days” of the Baltimore Catechism (my impression is that animosity still exists against that time among the elder generation of the Church).  There would be fights about diversity, social justice, and inclusive language before any updated list of “Every Catholic Should Know” could be completed.

Question: Am I being too cynical on this?

2) Encountering Christ.  Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have talked repeatedly about the need for our encounter with Christ.  Perhaps this is done with regular holy hours, or a retreat, or special groups (e.g. Communion & Liberation, Neo-Catechumenal Way).  Certainly, great ways to encounter Christ are through the sacraments (see #3 below), but some of us need a push to come to a better appreciation of the sacraments. 

Question:  How do you get a “but I’m so busy!” culture (laity and priests included) to buy into the idea of a retreat, or holy hour, or prayer group, etc.?

3) Sacraments!  This probably should’ve been first on the list.  Indeed, if we’re not bringing people to the sacraments, what’s the point of evangelization?  Still, I’d think it would be hard for a non-denominational Christian, a non-Christian, or a lapsed Catholic (who supposedly already knows about the Mass) to attend Mass without them having some knowledge ahead of time (#1) and having enough of an encounter with Christ (#2) to pursue the truth. 

This is also an area in dire need of re-catechesis.  By that, I wonder how many Catholics stand up, sit down, kneel, and receive Communion without really knowing what they’re doing.  I can go through Mass all or in part with my mind elsewhere, even though I’ve been taught how amazing the Mass is. 

Question: Have we reformed the liturgical reform enough?  I don't think so.  As I get older and time goes on, the more I think Mass needs to become more sacred.  The more familiar it’s become, the less special it is.  And if Mass is not all that special, if it’s become “protestantized” (as some conciliar reformers wished and deliberately acted), why bother going to a dull Mass if the local mega-church has better music, better preaching, and a coffee stand?  Ad orientem and music are the two places I think they should start.  Unfortunately, I don’t see the bishops getting behind that anytime soon. 

4) Fellowship outside of Mass.  This is a personal thing for me, and I know not everyone has this need like I do.  Still, I look at the examples of the mega-churches.  They have a small group for everything!  In addition to youth groups and junior high groups, they have them for men, women, moms, young adults, older adults, Bible studies, book clubs… and on and on.  Whatever the interest, whatever the need, most likely there’s a group for that.

We’re all spiritually part of the Body of Christ, and we experience that par excellence in the Sacrifice of the Mass.  My guess is that the goal of these groups is to provide a follow-up, more visible sign of unity within a parish. 

Question: How do you convince priests to get behind something like this, over and above the regular ministries that already take a considerable amount of volunteers and effort?

There.  I feel better now.