Sunday Obligation

It is disturbing to see how many Catholics no longer take their Sunday obligation seriously.  Perhaps the temporary dispensation during the Covid pandemic lessened the binding force of the obligation, but Catholics need to understand that missing Sunday Mass without legitimate reason is grave matter.  Weekend camping trips, baseball tournaments, parties or vacations are not normally acceptable excuses.   Those who are casual about Mass attendance are not likely to be regulars in the confessional either.  I am not being judgmental about others.  I am simply criticizing this attitude and behavior.

Even some devout Catholics seem to believe God would not send anyone to hell for skipping Mass one Sunday or eating meat on a Friday.  They forget the entire fall of mankind happened when someone took a bite of fruit!  When Jesus established His Church on Peter and the other apostles, He gave them the authority to bind and loose.  Whatever discipline they deemed appropriate on earth would be bound in heaven.   While these may seem likely minor offenses, the grave matter is due to willfully disobeying a commandment bound by the Church Christ authorized to rule in these matters.  

Those who take their obligations lightly also risk adding scandal to their sin.  If my Catholic neighbor can skip Mass for a couple of weeks in the summer and still go to Communion when he returns, I should be able to miss with my family while we are on vacation.  Our behaviors can influence those around us.  We are all one body and when one part of the body ails spiritually, it affects the spiritual health of others.  

On a cautionary note, we should not assume our neighbor has ignored his Sunday obligation just because we haven’t seen him in Church for a few weeks.  He may have a legitimate reason for not being there or may have attended Mass at another parish.  Catholic Churches exist all over the world.  Unless we are vacationing on some extremely remote area or on another planet, it should not be too difficult to find a Catholic Church not far away.  

Synod synopsis

I recently wrote about our parish synod effort to evangelize Catholics who no longer attend Mass.  The committee decided to offer monthly sessions to our parishioners to help them reach out to family and friends who have lapsed.  Committee members were assigned to work in pairs, each pair given a topic to present at one of the sessions.  My turn came in July.

Fortunately for me, I had a very good partner to work with me.  Our topic was Why am i Catholic.  My partner Mike and I each wrote a script of what we would like to say.  Mike combined them into a PowerPoint slide presentation we used to guide our discussion.  We both wanted to try a testimonial approach to our talks, and it worked well as we were both able to tell our stories.

Mike’s story was especially interesting as he told about the time he unknowing fried bacon in front of his Muslim roommates in college.  They considered themselves unclean for even being in the presence of forbidden food.  Their year-long interaction on religious differences led Mike to delve deeper into understanding his own Catholic faith.  

So, why am I Catholic?  A part of my testimony centered on speculation whether I would be Catholic today if my mother had not raised me in the faith.  I don’t know.  Probably not.  My dad’s family were all Methodists. 

My grandparents on my mother’s side were devout Catholics who came to this country from Eastern Europe.  Strong Catholic families probably have a lineage just like the line of popes going back in history to early Christianity.  That Catholic faith was handed down from generation to generation.  I think about how sad it is when one person in the family falls away from the Church, breaking that Catholic family line that may have existed for centuries. 

My mother had nine siblings.  Ten children in the family altogether, all of them raised in a good Catholic home.  The children of those nine siblings are my cousins.  As near as I can figure, about half of those cousins no longer practice the Catholic faith.  Once that Catholic lineage is broken, it is likely lost forever.  

When conversing with non-Catholics, often someone will say, oh my grandmother was Catholic, or I have an aunt who is Catholic.  Most every family has Catholic ancestors.  Somewhere along the line, someone left the Catholic family and subsequent generations never got to know the faith.   

So, our synod mission is to bring back those we have lost, either because someone drifted away or didn’t return after the pandemic scare.  We need to know why someone would leave the Church, and before we can draw them back, we need to appreciate how fortunate we are to be members of the one true Church established by Jesus Christ.  Study the Faith, know the Faith, share the Faith, and never stop learning.

1 Peter 3:15. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

What's in a name?

Someone posted on a local social media billboard that they had recently moved and were looking for a new non-denominational church.  A flurry of responses came almost immediately from a variety of area Christian communities.  Some offered endorsements about their pastors, programs, music, or camaraderie.  One poster encouraged the seeker to find “the most biblical and sound church within driving distance.”  All great selling points when competing for business.

One responder commented, “No denomination IS a denomination.”  In a sense, he is correct.  To denominate is to give something a name.  To label a church non-denominational is essentially giving it a name.  Merriam-Webster defines a denomination as a religious organization whose congregations are united in their adherence to its beliefs and practices.  Therefore if a church is non-denominational,  it is not united to any other church’s beliefs and practices.  

While most Christian non-denominational communities have some common beliefs and practices, beyond them lies open season depending on who is in charge.  In a non-denominational setting, that may be the pastor or a board of directors.  Effectively, they are the pope and magisterial authorities of their own church. I would like to ask the respondent who suggested looking for the most biblical and sound church how to make that determination.  How does one decide whether the beliefs and practices of a certain religious community are sound and biblical?  By whose standards do we compare?  People choosing a faith community in this manner want a church that conforms to what they believe or what they want to believe.  If not, they can simply choose another church or start their own.  

Belonging to a non-denominational church means not being accountable to a higher earthly authority.  The problem is that Jesus left us an earthly authority to guide us in matters of faith and morals.  Even more importantly, He instituted a ministerial priesthood to offer sacrifice and forgive sins.  In a non-denominational community, or any Bible-only institution, these essential provisions for God’s plan of Salvation are lacking. 

We Catholics sometimes take the sacraments for granted, not realizing how fortunate we are to have them available.  They are hygiene and refreshment for the soul.  Living without them would be like living without soap and water.  To the person seeking a non-denominational church, consider that the Catholic Church is not a denomination as you might define it. The Catholic Church is THE Church that Jesus Christ established.  It is the only Church you should be seeking.  

Take heed!

But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them.  And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.  And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in the hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.  And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.  But he who endures to the end will be saved. - Mark 13:9-13

Jesus warned his apostles, the first Bishops of the Catholic Church He would establish, that following him and preaching his gospel would lead to persecution.  “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”  With the impending Supreme Court ruling that may overturn Roe v Wade, and the fact that June has become known as “Pride month”, the Catholic Church is under attack from multiple foes for her steadfast moral stance.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on June 7 that included the following: “In the coming months, DHS expects the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets. These targets could include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.”

In Nigeria, a Catholic Church was attacked by Islamic forces on Pentecost Sunday, killing at least fifty worshippers attending Mass.  We can no longer assume acts of violence against Christians, and specifically Catholics, are limited to other parts of the world.  Even the Catholic Supreme Court justices are being targeted in anticipation of the abortion ruling.  

In Eastpointe, Michigan, a nearly naked woman interrupted Sunday Mass last week by standing on a pew shouting pro-abortion slogans.  Catholicvote reports at least 138 attacks on Catholic Churches since 2020 including the theft of vandalism of tabernacles.  Can we depend on a pro-abortion government to protect us when these protests turn violent?  We may need to post guards to protect our churches and the safety of worshippers.  

Yes, Our Lord warned us we would be hated for preaching the gospel.  A Godless society that has lost respect for human life does not want to hear the truth.  Without the light of Christ to lead the way, dark days lie ahead.  Now is the time to stand firm.  He who endures to the end will be saved.

A Nod to the Synod

Our bishop is asking all parishes in the diocese to participate in a 2022 Synod on Missionary Discipleship.  As part of the process, several parishioners, including me, have been assigned to a committee to come up with a plan.  Our first task is to submit a planning document before the end of May.  

As I understand it, we are to focus on evangelizing Catholics by getting those who have not returned to Mass since the Covid dispensation to come back.   I believe it was Thomas Aquinas who warned that a rule should never be altered unless absolutely necessary because the binding power of the rule would be forever weakened.  For us Catholics, missing Mass on Sunday without a good reason was always a mortal sin.  During the Covid pandemic, many bishops dispensed with the Sunday obligation temporarily.  When reinstated, the binding power of the obligation was weakened to the extent that it now seems optional to more Catholics.  

 

When we think of evangelization, we normally think of attracting converts to the Catholic faith.  Our contacts may be Protestants, Fundamentalists, even atheists.  We have apologetic resources to facilitate the discussion.  This time, we are trying to evangelize Catholics.  Does it require an entirely different approach?

I have been involved with evangelization for a very long time.  Ever since I came to appreciate the gift we have in our Catholic faith, I have wanted to share that gift with others.  My own efforts have included sponsoring inspirational messages in a local weekly publication, distributing Catholic apologetic materials, pamphlets and audio presentations from Lighthouse Catholic media, manning street booths during local festivals offering church tours, doing a weekly face-to-face dialog with some Jehovah Witnesses for six months, and starting this monthly blog twenty years ago.  I have given away over fifty copies of Trent Horn’s book Why We’re Catholic.  I have prayed and spent countless hours at Eucharistic Adoration.  As a result, I have gained the knowledge that I am not very good at evangelization.  Nothing much has worked.  

You may be reading this and thinking it’s no wonder this guy stinks at evangelizing. You can’t just throw out Catholic propaganda and expect people to come knocking at your door.  You need to share the love of Jesus Christ and the paschal mystery.  So true, and maybe that is where I have been weak.  There is no substitute for one on one interaction with those we meet, but for some of us, this type of communication is difficult. 

When our pastor approached me to be on this synod evangelization committee, I told him that I am terrible at evangelizing.  We need some new people with fresh ideas.  Every time a committee is formed in our parish, we end up with the same five or six people, average age somewhere in the seventies.  I mentioned this evangelization challenge to our RCIA class last week in the presence of our newly baptized Catholic and another young couple just now exploring the Catholic faith.  Who better to know what might attract people to the Church than someone who recently decided to take that path.   They offered a few fresh ideas and some that we have already tried.  What I did see was some energy and enthusiasm that may have been lacking from our previous efforts, and that I find encouraging!

Our synod committee has decided to offer monthly evangelical presentations to our parishioners where refreshments will be served.  Topics have been assigned to each committee member with resources needed to support each presentation.  The hope is to give fellow Catholics the knowledge and understanding of our faith, along with the confidence to share it properly and effectively.  Having had minimal success in my past evangelization efforts, I admit being somewhat pessimistic now.  Yet, even one soul saved would make any effort worthwhile.  Pray the Holy Spirit leads us in the right direction. 

 

The Easter Vigil

After the somber days of Lent, we find ourselves refreshed with the good news of the resurrection.  I always look forward to the Easter Vigil service every year.  In our small parish, we had only one person baptized this year, and  I was blessed to be his sponsor.  

 

For anyone who has not experienced the Easter Vigil in a Catholic Church, it may seem a bit daunting seeing it the first time.  While a normal Sunday Mass rarely takes over an hour, the Easter Vigil service can go from two to three hours, or even longer in parishes where many are being baptized.  Having just one person receiving his baptism, confirmation and first Communion, our service lasted about two and a half hours.  Our catechumen, I will call him Francis, (not his real name.  His real name is Nathan) invited many of his non-Catholic family members and friends to witness his reception into the Catholic Church.  I am always curious to know the reaction when the Easter Vigil service is someone’s first introduction to the Catholic Faith.  

 

For those who don’t know, the Easter Vigil service begins after dark, outdoors, where a fire symbolizing the new light of the risen Christ, is blessed by the celebrant, our pastor, Father Terry (his real name.). The paschal candle is lighted from the fire and a procession takes place into the darkened church where everyone receives a candle lit from the paschal candle.  After the procession, a rather lengthy Easter proclamation is sung by the cantor.  

 

Afterwards. the people extinguish their candles, at least some of the lights are turned on, and a series of up to seven old testament scriptures are read.  Father Terry likes to continue this part of the service with all the lights off, meaning someone must hold a flashlight for the lectors to see their script.  The cantor and choir members sing responsorial psalms after each reading, so they too need flashlights.  Those sitting in the pews do not have enough light to follow along so this part of the service can seem extremely long as reading after reading is introduced.  

 

When the last reading is completed, the lights come on, bells are rung, and the celebration of the resurrection of Our Lord begins with the singing of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo.  The Mass continues much as a normal Sunday until after the homily when the Sacraments of initiation are celebrated.  

 

Francis later admitted that he was suffering from severe anxiety up to this point, but after making his profession of faith, a feeling of peaceful calm came over him.  He was then confirmed and made his first Holy Communion during the Mass.  Three sacraments in one night, the trifecta as we Catholics sometimes call it.  

 

I have been referring to our neophyte as Francis because he chose Saint Francis of Assisi as his Confirmation patron since they both shared a love for animals.  The love of Francis of Assisi extended beyond just animals to all creation.  On November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II declared Saint Francis of Assisi the patron of ecology and those who promote it.  I pray that Saint Francis will watch over our newly confirmed Francis to help him grow in love for his Catholic faith.