Christ Preaching in the Temple by Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), c. 1625
Posted on 04/08/2013 4:48:13 AM PDT by NYer
Fifty years ago the Vatican Council said about the laity: “Whoever they are, they are called upon, as living members, to expend all their energy for the growth of the Church and its continuous sanctification, since this very energy is a gift of the Creator and a blessing of the Redeemer.” Lay people were not presented as depending on the clergy for initiatives. Laity aren’t supposed to wait for a request from the episcopal palace. They have a task that is theirs from Baptism.
Done anything lately to make the Church grow?
What exactly is this task? “The laity are called in a special way to make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only through them can it become the salt of the earth.” These places and circumstances involve schools, business, politics, medicine, science, international affairs, wars, the list is endless.
But in the American Church, many Catholics are waiting for the clergy when they ought to be doing things themselves. By Baptism and Confirmation, “every layman, in virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him, is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself ‘according to the measure of Christ's bestowal. . .’”
Lay people know a lot about the secular world. They typically do not bring to their work all the philosophical and theological analysis that academics and some clergy do. But lay people do have the raw data and lived experience many theologians lack. They are constantly exposed to and engaged with what is going on in the world.
The official Church has revelation through tradition and scripture and the work of the magisterium. The trouble often is that the people with ecclesiastical learning and the people with lay experience do not often pool what they know and definitely not on the subjects that really concern laypeople.
Here’s the thing: forget the historical question why this situation developed – that would fill volumes. But now, right now, as the American Church seems to be fading into national irrelevance, why don’t the laity seek out the necessary theological insight into the many fields of human life? Starting at the parish level: why can’t we have courses that inform people about what the Church really teaches? What are we spending money on that could be better spent on the Christian analysis of everyday life?
Christ Preaching in the Temple by Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), c. 1625
If “father” won’t organize it, hire people yourselves – reliable experts in the field – to do the teaching that is needed. Enough clergy and informed laity know that doctor X or father Y are not orthodox, but doctor Z would be good. He or she is authentically Catholic and learned and capable of communicating the content of the Faith to lay people who want to hear it.
To be sure, the much feared question about orthodoxy has to be posed. It is not just a question of whether people like professor so and so. The Church has far higher standards of truth and one of its attractions for many people – though this is little noticed – is that it is a truth-telling institution.
At the diocesan level, too: why aren’t dioceses training every single layperson? Maybe lay people should simply organize and get the job done, collect money, hire the teachers and the lecture halls. Let’s get Catholicism to where it is meant to be – which is as the operational knowledge in faith and morals for lay life. Lay people organize much better than many clergy. Get a few converts in the mix as well. Their passion is real because they appreciate what they have received.
Of course, one must not hire partisan propagandists for the Democrats or the Republicans, or people who merely pass on the fantasies of the popular culture about love and marriage and business. They are usually hostile to the culture of life and to promoting the humanity that Christ died for. There has to be some caution, too, about hiring people who teach what they think is in the teachings of the Council. There is a long history of Americans making stuff up, calling it Catholic, and strangely enough finding crowds of people to go along with it. Diocesan clergy do it. Religious do it. Lay people do it.
Fortunately, there are now enough knowledgeable men and women of faith who can teach and who genuinely understand Catholicism in all of its richness. Catholicism is too wonderful to be the possession of a privileged few, those who have done the study and who live the orthodox faith to the full.
A last word from the Council: “Christ loves the Church as His bride, having become the model of a man loving his wife as his body; the Church, indeed, is subject to its Head. ‘Because in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,’ He fills the Church, which is His body and His fullness, with His divine gifts so that it may expand and reach all the fullness of God.”
Isn’t promoting this fullness worth a very substantial effort?
1 Corinthians 12:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed.[a] 2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Every Christian should be a "Jesus Talker" for sure ... not so sure about the 'Door Knocker' part. Different gifts, same Spirit. There are, I think, many ways to bring the Gospel into the heathen world; all Christians are called to one or more of those ways.
Our Catholics Can Come Home class started last week with six people coming back to the church!
Our RCIA team is using Father Barron’s series on Catholicism.
Good choice, huh?
“Coming Home Network”
It looks wonderful. But it appears to be targeted at the previous Catholic who only needed a memory jogger. I was thinking more along the lines of marketing a product, Christianity, and a brand, Catholicism. This would be aimed at the general population with a targeted campaign to bring in new people who knew nothing about the product or brand.
You’re right. It is aimed at getting those inactive Catholics to take a look and reconsider.
Something for the general public would be great.
Look here.
Scroll down the entire page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~salvation/
The only hard data that has been made public by any denomination comes from John Jay College's study of Catholic priests, which was authorized and is being paid for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops following the public outcry over the 2002 scandals. Limiting their study to plausible accusations made between 1950 and 1992, John Jay researchers reported that about 4 percent of the 110,000 priests active during those years had been accused of sexual misconduct involving children. Specifically, 4,392 complaints (ranging from "sexual talk" to rape) were made against priests by 10,667 victims. (Reports made after 2002, including those of incidents that occurred years earlier, are released as part of the church's annual audits.)Experts disagree on the rate of sexual abuse among the general American male population, but Allen says a conservative estimate is one in 10. Margaret Leland Smith, a researcher at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says her review of the numbers indicates it's closer to one in 5. But in either case, the rate of abuse by Catholic priests is not higher than these national estimates. The public also doesn't realize how "profoundly prevalent" child sexual abuse is, adds Smith. Even those numbers may be low; research suggests that only a third of abuse cases are ever reported (making it the most underreported crime). "However you slice it, it's a very common experience," Smith says.
I wish we still used the old Baltimore Catechism. It sure sticks with you, at least more than, "hey, let's recycle for Jesus!" That's about what I had, back in 1973.
Fortunately, I had time in my twenties to get my head together, and my homeschooled kids were raised on the Baltimore Catechism.
I'm guessing their kids will be as well.
I totally agree. Quick question. You said this took place 30 years ago. How long was the retention rate?
I married and moved away a few years later so I can only speak to the individuals that I personally know. My uncle, for example, is a leading member of the parish now and I know of 2 other folks that are still attending. If only those 3 are saved as a result of the effort then in my mind it was absolutely worth doing.
I think that in order to claim that one in five American males is a sexual abuser of children, the definition of "abuse" would have to include "sexual talk aimed at teenage girls who are demonstrating sexual availability" by "males" who are just enough older than the girls to trip over a statute.
We can't have a culture of rampant fornication and also have a culture that (legally) treats postpubescent youth as if they were 3-year-olds, without plunging into absurdity.
I guess no one really knows. It’s possible that incest could explain it, but 1 in 10 seems more reasonable to me.
Contrary to popular opinion, the numbers of priests involved in any abuse at all is very small. MOST priests are faithful servants of God, and have been burdened by the negative press created by those very few who acted in such a sinful manner. It's highly unlikely you'd encounter such a priest at most parishes, and if you see families with children, actively involved, it's almost a certainly NONE of the priests in that parish are hinky.
Many years ago, parents didn't pay attention, because they trusted priests unquestioningly. That isn't the way, anymore, so if families are comfortable, you should be, as well.
It's also interesting, and instructive, how LITTLE press is given to those Dioceses when the stories finally break. Those stories certainly won't be covered the way those in the Boston Archdiocese were.
Our parish has had an ongoing ‘adult education’ series, using the “Catholicism” series. We’d seen it, so we didn’t go, but the folks I know who have gone have really enjoyed it!!
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