Once in a while, especially on a “slow(er) news” day, popular news outlets tend to publish an editorial/opinion piece on the state of the Church. Even though it might be written by different people at different times, the normal condemnatory and condescending tones remain the same. Even though I do not like to read them, I often push myself to read the articles to see what types of arguments they have and the online comments. Even though the perspectives and attacks are negative, we can still learn and adapt our evangelization efforts to combat, educate, and form our people to better appreciate their faith so they do not have to be ashamed or feel guilty in believing.
These articles often point out that the younger and middle-aged practicing Catholics seem more conservative in theology and liturgy. It will then highlight how these thoughts contradict society and its desire for more freedom and progress. It then “objectively” points out how the Church tends to lose more membership each year, which seems counter-cultural, counter-progress, and out of touch with reality. It often points out or connects the Catholic Church with another Christian denomination that is more progressive, inclusive, or willing to change with time. That is fine and dandy if we only look at statistics and the Church as a form of entertainment, consumer-driven, or popularity-centered means.
However, we are not in the business of being popular or like the rest of the world. We are not some secularistic institution or consumeristic organization that desires the people and things of this world. We can listen and learn how to better preach the Gospel and reach out to those in the world, but we are not of this world. We can learn and adjust so that Christ and the Church‘s teachings are better understood, appreciated, and connected to the faithful struggling to grow in their faith. It is never for the goal of being more popular, especially in being entertaining, sensational, appealing, or having more secularistic and quantitative means. If we simply water down our rich wellspring of wisdom, we will, in turn, do people a disservice because we would be lying to them in providing something temporary, shallow, and ever-changing like the rest of the world. If we are not true to ourselves and what has been handed down to us through generations, we become liars, manipulators, and salesmen who manipulate the truth for our self-service and vain glories.
Even though those voices are often critical and condemnatory, we can still take their criticisms and use them to better catechize and relate to our people. If we are being attacked as only worrying about money and materialistic goods, we should do a better job of avoiding those matters and preach more about stewardship and discipleship. If we are being criticized for only worrying about going to Mass and keeping our obligations, we should do better in allowing our faith to be enlivened through community service and caring for the sick, elderly, poor, and those who are spiritually suffering. If we are being condemned for only using guilt and shame to oppress and keep people under fear, we should be more focused on preaching the joy of the Gospel, the freedom found in Christ Jesus, the wonder-filled, eternally-focused, and purpose-driven life as children of God of our Heavenly Father, and the catholicity and unity we have as the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We can choose to be discouraged when the attacks are condescending and repetitive. It gets tiring when the conversation piece tends to similar topics that God is somehow the enemy of freedom, and we are ignorant, fear-driven, anti-progress, and uneducated people. It gets sad when we feel like people are just attacking us for the sake of dismissing the truth so they can justify their egocentric, hedonistic, or vain lifestyle. Even though it is easy to return the favor by attacking and putting down those who first attacked us, we must not let the irritable, negative, and reactive approach be our mode of operation but learn how to speak, preach, and share the Good News in a good, relatable, positive, and heartfelt way. We must not perpetuate the stereotype but find new creative means to share our faith so that it gives life to those who are lost and hurt and who just like to hurt or talk about things that do not matter to hide their pains, sufferings, and hopelessness.
Priests and deacons must learn not only to preach to hear themselves but also to do heavy exegesis to show how knowledgeable they are from their formation days. They must pray about their homilies so that their words become relatable to the ordinary people who are struggling in the here and now of today’s society! The good Lord did that when He used parables to relate and teach people in simple, easy-to-understand ways. We, too, must be in touch with what is going on in our parishioners’ ups and downs so that our homilies challenge and encourage them on their spiritual journey. Catechists, too, must learn to find new ways to relate the teachings of the Church to the younger people, finding new means to pass on the faith without the usual lecture and classroom format. Why? Because our children and young people are already too bored and overwhelmed with their time in school. Last of all, parents and family members need to own up to deepening their faith so they can be the first educators and formators of their children instead of ignoring their responsibilities and expecting the parishes to do it in a few hours out of the week. Each of us must find new and personal ways to make our faith our own!
In a day and age when it seems easy to simply talk about anything and everything, but everyone seems to be reserved, uncommitted, and scared of giving themselves for something higher than themselves, let us dare to be people who speak less with verbal words and humanistic means but letting our lives speak louder with how we live and believe. People can condemn and put us down in the beginning or go through their checklist in trying to dismiss our faith; nothing or no one can shake us or dismiss us if we know who we are deep from within. If we truly live with devotion and commitment to what we believe, there will be an unexplainable testimony of grace that will come from us that will somehow intrigue others.
I think we must move on from the past days when the world was more religious or at least with more believers by name. Let it go! Stop comparing and trying to daydream of the “good old days” somehow because there were never any wonderful times in the Church. Each age has its own challenges that we tend to overlook when the unrealistic and blinded sense of nostalgia kicks in! I believe the Church will be smaller each day, but it will be more substantial and qualitative. People who choose to believe will want the truth and what is real instead of watered-down, popular, trendy, appealing, flashy, or captivating stuff. If we are faithful in preaching the Gospel, building community, and strengthening our life of discipleship, stewardship, and service, we will strengthen our spiritual family and allow our members to grow in grace with one another.
I believe the attacks will be more and more frequent as the world gets more secularized. Their points will be similar to the past, but the tone will perhaps become more intolerable to dismiss the legitimacy of the Church. Nonetheless, we should not be surprised that this is something new or worse than before. As a matter of fact, MANY of our brothers and sisters are living this reality around the world where freedom of faith and worship are not guaranteed. Nonetheless, many of them are not deterred since the harsh reality makes them personally choose to believe more than being Catholics by name! We may come to those days soon, but let us not lose heart but stay strong in our true beliefs. We must not compromise our faith or give in to the world’s pressures. Even though we can be saddened and lose heart at times, the joy of knowing who we are and knowing who God is in a very personal, heartfelt, and intimate way is something that this world can never understand. It is OK if they ridicule and criticize us for what they have done to the Church and the saints in the past!
True belief is important because we preach Christ crucified, which is the stumbling block and foolishness to people of this world! (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23) The saints never compromised their faith, even under pressure, persecution, and loss of life, because they knew who they were and who He was for them. For us, Christianity is not just some inspirational way of life, and the Lord is somehow boiled down to a revolutionary leader, cheerleader, waymaker, vending machine, or butler for us and our egocentric needs. He is God worthy of all honor, glory, and worship. We must avoid the danger of downplaying His divinity, cheapening salvation, and dismissing the salvation He won for us by the shedding of His blood on the Cross as expiation for our sins. Redemption came at a cost, and Christ freely gave His life so we could have a life! He has shown us what it means to love and to love until the very end, so we must learn first from Him.
Therefore, let us not be discouraged when these cyclical and cheap attacks occur. Do not be surprised if they are becoming more frequent! Nonetheless, let us read their messages and try to learn from them to better evangelize, catechize, and form our people. We can use all opportunities for the greater good of our faith if we truly believe. No matter what is going on, do not allow this world to steal our true joy away and make us doubt who we are as beloved children of God our Father, disciples of Christ Jesus, and instruments of the Holy Spirit. The world will hate us because it hates itself for its hopelessness, emptiness, vanities, and loud noises. Rather than accepting its miseries, it will attack others to make itself feel good, but let us not lose hearts. Learn from the saints to persevere, grow, and stand firm in our true beliefs. May our lives radiate Christ and bring others to Him, even amid many trials and hardships.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 