Comeback attempt

Our parish evangelization effort continues.  We held our second meeting this week.  Several contacts had been made with fallen-away Catholics since our last meeting, but no one has as yet come home.  We also made a few contacts at our festival booth this past weekend and gave away several copies of Trent Horn’s book, Why We're Catholic.  Seeds planted, still waiting for any to sprout. 

I was listening to a Catholic Answers Live podcast today while mowing the grass.  The guest was Lisa Cooper speaking on the Prosperity Gospel.  Someone mentioned Joel Osteen and how he has such a tremendously large following.  Lisa Cooper said he comes across as a very gentle Christian man which most people find appealing.    Even Catholics who may not be firmly grounded in their faith may find themselves attracted to his personality.  People can be easily swayed by good looks, a nice suit and a pleasant disposition.  The doctrinal accuracy of the message may not always hold up to scrutiny, but that matters little when the listener enjoys the experience. 

Conversely, Catholic truth can fall on deaf ears when the presentation is less than appealing.  The Catholic not firmly grounded in the faith can be turned off by a poorly executed homily.  Like it or not, the experience of the listener is paramount to how the message is received.  This is a concern for those of us trying to get fallen-away Catholics to return to the faith.  The person who has not set foot in church for many years will be affected more by the experience than the message during that first time back.  A priest or single member of the parish can determine whether a second or third attendance occurs.  Given time, it may be possible to keep them returning for the right reasons. 

During our town’s annual festival parade last weekend, I drove a truck behind an elaborate float representing a Protestant church nearby.  They had probably twenty youngsters dressed in matching tee shirts, handing out candy and pamphlets along the parade route.  They reached many more souls than we Catholics did with our rather passive tactic of setting up a booth and waiting for festival-goers to approach us.  Even more discouraging is the fact that we do not have twenty young people active in our parish anymore.  While the Catholic Church will be here until the end of time, there is no guarantee that our particular parish will survive.  Our work is cut out for us.  Time to get busy!

Diploma See

Having graduated from Purdue University many years ago, a recent newspaper article about the 2018 Commencement Address by Purdue President Mitch Daniels caught my eye.  Commencement speeches often focus on worldly problems the graduates will conquer.  While acknowledging the fact that today’s graduates are academically prepared to meet the challenges they face, President Daniels talked about the moral and ethical challenges that await them.  He put it bluntly.

“When we can genetically engineer perfect children, should we? When wealthy adults can radically enhance their own mental abilities and life spans well beyond those less fortunate, should we let them? When robots, and a dwindling fraction of technologically gifted workers, are producing the majority of all the value and wealth in society, what will become of those who appear unnecessary? Will they be treated with respect, or as helpless dependents? If the latter, will the productive minority decide, as some have begun to speculate, that the others no longer deserve an equal say in the society’s decisions?”

Some of these questions are already being answered today, and the answer is frightening.  Last year, a US Fertility Clinic supposedly engineered a baby boy using the DNA of three different people.  A British court refused to let the parents of a brain-damaged boy take him out of the country for further treatment, and instead cut off life support allowing the child to die. This is what happens when human beings decide to play God. 

Daniels went on to caution graduates to resist the unintentionally tendency to segregate from their less blessed, less well educated fellow citizens.  He notes that our nation has seemingly divided into tribes, made up of people with very different views of true and false, right and wrong.  They seem deeply alienated from each other and deeply distrustful, and this distrust has eroded confidence in our public institutions.  Again, quoting from his speech:

“There are plenty of culprits here, starting with too many who have misused positions of authority. The so-called social media – I have come to think of it as “antisocial media” – enables and encourages hostility from the insulated enclave of a smartphone or a laptop.  People say things to and about each other that they would never say face to face, or maybe even think, if they knew each other personally.”

Here, he hits on one of the major causes of the polarization plaguing our nation today.  I am appalled at some of the statements internet trolls post online.  Such disrespect would never take place in a face-to-face conversation.  If the political viciousness weren’t enough, cyber bullying may be one of the major factors contributing to the violent acts we see taking place in our streets and schools.  This tribal mentality is particularly dangerous when the tribe gangs up on a weaker individual.  The helpless victim may see no relief other than self-destruction or violent retribution.  Daniel’s term “anti-social media” describes it well. 

I find it refreshing that the president of a secular institution of higher learning would speak on moral and ethical responsibility in a commencement address.  The graduates, and indeed all of us, would do well to ponder his concerns.  Despite our diverse views, we should always treat everyone with respect.

The Quest Begins

Last week, our two local parishes held a dinner meeting to kickoff implementation of the goals set by our First Diocesan Synod.  Over the next three years, the priest, lay staff, and our parishioners will focus efforts on three pastoral priorities.  The number one priority will be evangelization, welcoming Catholics home.  Our evangelization committee will establish outreach programs to meet with non-practicing Catholics in our parishes to provide opportunities for church participation discussions.

This will not be an easy task.  Last month, I wrote about previous efforts that have fallen short.  At the very least, we have learned what approaches are least effective. This new effort will take a more direct approach with an emphasis on person-to-person contact.  We will be also using modern media to get people thinking about their faith journey.

One concern brought to our committee involves how any reverts will be impacted by our parish environment.   As in any church setting, personalities affect the spiritual temperament.  It is no secret that our current pastor’s affinity for lengthy, somewhat condescending homilies has turned some people away.  Parishioners perceive his tough love approach as angry and berating, rather than loving and nourishing.  As a result, we have lost many parishioners to other area parishes. 

In this particular evangelization effort, we are more concerned with people who are no longer practicing at all, but our efforts could backfire if those coming back to Mass for the first time in a long while are turned off by the experience.  Those of us attune to the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Sacrifice can overlook lousy homilies, but others who have been away will need time to redevelop the appreciation. 

The challenge is to convey the joy we experience in this wondrous gift during a brief encounter with someone who may indifferent or even antagonistic.   It is often said that all we can do is plant the seeds and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.  But, as our facilitator pointed out at the meeting, we are also the fertilizer.

Evangelization Realization

Our parish recently participated in a diocesan synod.  One of our main goals arising from the process is evangelization.  The desire to bring our separated brethren back to the Church is nothing new to us.  For the past several years, I was among a small group of parishioners making such an effort.  We met once a week, kicking around ideas and devising various plans.

Four years ago, we used an old parish roster to compose a list of former parishioners who were no longer attending Mass to the best of our knowledge.  Sixty-six personalized invitations were sent out inviting them to an informal pizza party, along with contact information for anyone who would like to talk privately.  Only one person came that evening.  We had a very nice discussion with him, but he never fully embraced a return to the Church.  Cancer claimed his life last year. 

For the past few years, we offered tours of our beautiful church during a local festival weekend.  Setting up a booth on the sidewalk, we encountered a number of families, offering them rosaries, pamphlets, audio CDs, and guided tours.  Most of them were out-of-town visitors, so we may not be aware of any impact we had on their lives. 

Last year, we organized what we called a Friendship Chili Supper.  We asked every one of our parishioners to bring a friend.  We had a great turnout, and about half of those in attendance were not Catholic.  After dinner, we presented a few lighthearted exercises to promote friendship.  Prayer cards and short questionnaires were on each table for anyone wishing information about our faith.  We also had a table full of free books, and other Catholic publications.  Despite some wonderful conversations, we saw no measurable results.

Our most recent effort took place on December 6, the feast of St. Nicholas, with an Italian beef supper, and visit from the historical St. Nick himself.  The event was well publicized in the local media.  Again, we had a good turnout.  The presentation on St. Nicholas was well received, but any evangelization that may have taken place went unnoticed.

It is often said that we just plant the seeds and the Holy Spirit does the work.  That may be true, but it has become obvious that our efforts are falling short.  As our renewed evangelization effort takes root, the entire parish will need to become more involved.  While our previous efforts may have been icebreakers, we need to engage people in a more personal encounter.  Doing so productively will require introspection on our own spiritual condition.  We cannot share what we do not have.

Am I getting warmer?

With sub-zero wind chills and mounds of snow all around us, it is not uncommon to hear someone sing praises to global warming.  Obviously, occasional cold temperatures do not necessarily mean the warming of the atmosphere is a left-wing farce.  Climate change happens.  It always has.  Up for debate is the role man plays in the cycle.

Environmentalists have lobbied the government to impose increasingly strict limitations on emissions.  Industry spends billions of dollars adding pollution controls to clean and monitor what they release to the atmosphere.  While we certainly have a responsibility to protect our environment, I believe many of the fear mongers overestimate the power man has over God’s creation.

I grew up in a small town in the 1950’s where four intersecting railroads were just beginning to transition from coal-burning steam locomotives to diesel.  Many of the homes had coal furnaces.  There were no precipitators or pollution controls of any kind.  Black smoke belched from smokestacks and chimneys.  Those who did not burn coal usually heated with fuel oil or kerosene.  We had no natural gas available to us.  The air was dirtier, but we didn’t seem to notice.  Smoke was just smoke.  Is it possible the earth is warming because we have cleaned the air too much?  Did the dust in the atmosphere reflect the suns radiation, keeping the earth cooler?

Scientists blame global warming on carbon dioxide emissions now.  If we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, and if plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, why do carbon dioxide levels increase, and oxygen levels remain constant?  As far as I know, our atmosphere pretty much remains about 20.9 percent oxygen.  And, if carbon dioxide is heavier than air, what is it doing floating around in the atmosphere?  Why doesn’t it sink to the ground?  I am sure some environmentalist will give me an answer.  (Sorry if I am starting to sound like Andy Rooney.)

Most every time an environmental protection story appears on the television news, it is accompanied by video of a smokestack spewing a white plume into the air.  Oh my, look at all that stuff polluting the air that we breathe!  What they do not explain is this.  The white plume is water vapor, a by-product of government-mandated scrubbers cleaning the effluent before it leaves the stack.   Look at the following example.

Here are four smokestacks.  All four are in operation emitting product from coal-fired boilers.  The difference is that two of them have scrubbers removing sulfur dioxide from the effluent.  Two of them do not. 

First question:  Which smokestacks have the scrubbers?  Most people might say the two on the right look cleaner, but if you answered the two on the left, you would be correct.  The process is called flue gas desulfurization where emissions pass through a lime slurry that neutralizes the acidity before it is released into the air.  The effluent picks up moisture in the process and what you see coming from the stack is simply water vapor.  At the time this photo was taken, the two stacks on the right did not yet have scrubbers installed. 

Second question:  Which of the stacks will you likely see on a television news report about environmental concerns?  Probably not the ones on the right without scrubbers because what they release into the air is practically invisible.  I believe the general public, and the lawmakers that represent them, have become more vigilant about air quality from seeing what they perceive to be pollutants that are actually harmless by-products of mandated pollution controls.

While we have a moral obligation to respect our environment, let us not forget that God gave us these resources to use.  Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered.  God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. (CCC299)  Our secular society believes it is the only one in charge, a very naïve approach.  Yes, we need to keep our environment clean, as we would our own personal hygiene, but do not let it become an unrealistic obsession to the point where we forget who is really in control. 

Upon this Rock!

When I was a teenager in the 1960’s, we listened to all the latest music on our little transistor radios.  I can remember my cousin Greg, sitting innocently at his desk in the 5^th grade, appearing to study with his hand covering the earphone and wire running down the sleeve of his shirt.  My favorites were Roy Orbison, Four Seasons, Beach Boys, Dion, and many of the girl groups, Shirelles, Ronettes, Crystals, and more. 

Then the Beatles came along and changed everything!  I was never fortunate to attend one of their concerts, but we all watched them on the Ed Sullivan Show.  The shrieks of young girls in the audience pretty much drowned out the music.  My parents just shook their heads.  To them, it was just a lot of noise.  I loved it, and I still do.

These days, my wife and I take frequent trips to visit our grandchildren some nine hours away.  To pass the time on the long tedious drive, we still listen to some of the same music we grew up with.   While we like the same songs, our disagreement tends to revolve around the level of volume those songs should be played.  I like to hear the music, not to the point of blasting the eardrums, but sufficient to hear the instruments over the road noise.  My wife can be satisfied with just enough volume to tell it’s playing, and maybe identify the song.   We compromise and I crank up my hearing aids. 

Having listened to the Beatles repertoire for more than fifty years now, I thought there was nothing much more to appreciate, but recently I stumbled across several you tube videos of musicians analyzing the Beatles’ instrumentation.  Some of my favorites are by Mike Pachelli who posted instructional videos on the genius of each one of the Beatle’s guitar techniques. 

I am not a musician, so anyone capable of playing an instrument is fascinating to me, but I gained a new appreciation for the Beatles’ music after viewing Pachelli’s analyses.  When he played individually what each guitarist was playing on recordings, I became aware of sounds I had never noticed before, and they were complex, yet simple and beautiful.  Pachelli, a really excellent guitarist himself, marvels at how these young men from Liverpool created these innovative techniques at a very young age.  It must be a God-given talent.  The next time I listen to this music, I will be looking for all the subtle riffs, chord changes, and the stuff to which Pachelli marvels, even though I don’t have enough music theory to always understand what he is talking about! 

And this brings me to what I believe is analogous to the way many of us Catholics view the Mass.  We can attend Mass hundreds, even thousands of times, without ever appreciating all of the elements.  Sometimes it takes another person with greater insight to break it down into its component parts for us.  For example, Dr. Scott Hahn, whose enthusiasm and theological understanding goes way beyond the average Catholic, essentially does the same thing for Catholics that Mike Pachelli does for Beatle fans.  By explaining the intricate structure of our liturgy, we learn to appreciate what we experience with new clarity and excitement.  By hearing someone explain the Mass in historical detail, we can suddenly go from weariness to WOW!

Complacency and indifference can make the Mass seem repetitive, even boring.  The problem is getting folks to dig deeper rather than accept a cursory approach.  It will not happen without some personal initiative.  Too many of us never make the effort.  To do so can be life changing, and it is not difficult.  It can be as simple as taking a few minutes to watch a video on you tube.  A person does not need to enroll in a weekly study, although one may be inspired to do so later.  Take a little time and broaden your liturgical horizons.  Imagine experiencing Mass in an exciting way you never did before!