Evangelization for the Springtime of the Church . . . Take Care That It's Catholic
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Susan Malley was delighted when she was asked to run the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program for her parish. Although born a Catholic, the Faith itself was a later gift, and she had a convert's zeal.
If you ask Susan what a program for adult inquirers ought to be like, she doesn't hesitate: "They need to be confronted with someone who's in love with God and His Church — who's on fire for the Faith." The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Scriptures are her texts of choice. "They're the most exciting books in the world!"
Susan's solid instincts are confirmed by Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, which concerns evangelization in the third millennium. The Holy Father poses the question of how the Church is to convey the eternal freshness of encountering the living God.
It is not "a matter of inventing a 'new program,'" he assures us. "The program already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever" (n. 29). But as we try to express that in terms of a pastoral initiative — a plan of action tailored to a given community — there is need for some practical guidelines. John Paul II gives six.
To begin with, the Church issues a universal call to holiness, first of all for herself and then for those attracted to her. "[I]t would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity." No! The Church throws down the challenge: "The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living" (n. 31).
The second guideline is that Christian communities become genuine "schools" of prayer. The Holy Father makes it clear that he isn't describing abstract relaxation techniques or self-centering formulas, but a "conversation with Christ which makes us His intimate friends" (n. 32).
The next several guidelines concern sacramental participation and the graces that flow from them, particularly in the Eucharist and in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. This immersion in God's grace, the investment of one's intelligence and energy in prayer and Scripture study, grounding one in truth and holiness, are the requisites for any pastoral work. And when ignored, "is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration? We then share the experience of the disciples in the Gospel story of the miraculous catch of fish: 'We have toiled all night and caught nothing' (Luke 5:5)."
Evangelization is a glamorous word, conjuring up missionaries of old holding high the cross amid tortures and hardships. "Scratch a priest and you'll find a missionary inside," one seasoned pastor commented. So too, with many of the laity. Their faith life naturally spills over into a restlessness, a deep desire to go the next step, to bring as many souls as possible to belief.
Tapping this missionary zeal has always been a part of the life of the Church When instruction in the faith was uniform in methods and content, the task of practice and being a model of Catholicism was easier than it is now. And conversions to the faith were numerous. People saw the faith in practice and wanted to be part of it.
But the dissent of the '60s upended the stability of instruction until the opinions of priests/theologians/lay people vied with one another on interpretation of doctrine. In such a venue, one religion came off seeming just as good as another. The official teachings of the Church were merely just one opinion among many and certainly not binding in any way. Evangelizing efforts weren't important anymore and appeared more in line with religious sects which sent people to knocking on doors to inquire, "Are you saved?"
Pope John Paul's call for a New Evangelization (although the old one never really stopped) has inspired attempts around the world to capture the missionary spirit of old. In an effort to drum up business, so to speak, the Catholic Church in the United States is adopting a myriad of programs designed to help Catholics proclaim what they believe. Most of these programs employ training sessions, breaking the parish into small study groups to learn about evangelizing. After that comes witnessing, in which Catholics are urged to speak openly about their faith in Jesus to others in their homes, workplaces, and in social settings. Some parishes are forming groups to call on their neighbors to discuss faith in Jesus.
Setting aside the public witnessing feature which calls for visible statements and actions, a close examination must be made of the formation aspect of these New Evangelization programs. To what are Catholics in these programs witnessing? How have they been formed to go on this truly missionary work in our secular surroundings? Should caution be exercised before jumping on board the local missionary train?
Only as Good as the Leader
As stated, most parishes use training sessions in small study groups to prepare the parishioners for evangelizing. While the idea of using small groups is solid, the idea is only as good as the group leader and the content of the formation program. A Catholic should pay attention to these important details. A leader with a strong background in Catholic faith and practice down to the smallest work of mercy can make the formation sessions truly catch the fire of the Holy Spirit. A leader filled with ideas of the sexist church and class warfare (commonly called a commitment to social justice) with a skewed view of doctrine can take the group into evangelizing a liberal social agenda, not the Catholic Faith.
Let's go back to Susan Malley. In preparation for her new parish position as director of the RCIA at her parish, Susan was sent for training in Maine, at a Beginnings and Beyond Institute run by the North American Forum on the Catechumenate (NAFC). NAFC was founded by Fr. James Dunning, a pioneer in an "initiation" process that, as it turns out, avoids a dogmatic approach to the Faith while emphasizing the affective aspects of religion. The program also gives itself a lot of latitude to interject political or social messages. Dunning wrote in the early 1980s: "[T]he wine of RCIA is too strong. If it is poured into the wineskins of a Church which ministers only through priests and initiates primarily through doctrine, the ecclesiastical bags will burst."
Reading Dunning's books are a trip back to a time when the vernacular was studded with complaints about hang-ups and baggage and the quasi-psychological concern to get in touch with one's feelings. But Dunning, whose NAFC is one of the most influential organizations in the country for training catechists, can't simply be shrugged off as dated. His ideas are too pervasive and persuasive.
In Fr. Dunning's case, it changed the way he looked at a lot of things. For example, he told the participants of an NAFC seminar in Michigan, "For heaven's sake, the Eucharist is not literally the body and blood of Jesus. If a piece of Eucharist falls on your shoe, Jesus didn't fall on your shoe! Jesus does not exist in a crumb!" At the same seminar, Dunning reportedly made disparaging remarks about the papacy and the male priesthood.
NAFC's catalog of resource materials is revealing. Approximately 200 books are offered through its book service and are recommended to help catechists in "initiation and reconciliation ministries." The list contains a sprinkling of papal encyclicals and USCCB documents and possibly even some Catholic writers; but the majority of those listed have "alternative viewpoints" to Church teaching. These folks aren't on this list by accident.
Among the authors whose works NAFC considers worthwhile and helpful are Call to Action speakers Kathy Coffey, Fr. Patrick Brennan, Kathleen Hughes, Fr. Richard Rohr, John Shea, Gabe Huck, Bishop Raymond Lucker, Donna Steffen, and Fr. Arthur Baranowski. Others author are related to Call to Action more indirectly. Fr. Gerald Sloyan is a founding member of the Call to Action related Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church, which promotes ordination to the priesthood of women and homosexuals, and denies the Vatican's right to censure errant theologians. Tad Guzie, a former Jesuit and part of the Call to Action related CORPUS (Calgary, Alberta Canada) also promotes married and women priests.
The NAFC reading list includes others who, while not Call to Action speakers, talk the talk. Kathleen R. Fischer and Thomas N. Hart are contributors to the Global Fund, an organization that exists in part to fund abortion referrals or services around the world in places that have been denied U.S. aid because of the abortion connection. Fr. Robert Kennedy, SJ, is a practitioner and teacher of Zen Buddhism. There are radical feminists and inclusive language proponents and a host of writers who want to transform the Church into congregationalism — autonomous small faith communities. There are the liberationists of every stripe. There's even Fr. Barry Glendinning, a convicted Canadian pedophile.
Dissident Wineskin
Call to Action is in-your-face dissidence. Using authors such as these for formation, as part of the "new wineskin" into which will one day be poured a transformed church, guarantees that church won't look anything like the Church of the past 2000 years.
In 1997, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now the USCCB) authorized its Committee on Evangelization to evaluate the RCIA in the United States. The ad hoc committee that prepared the consequent report, Journey to the Fullness of Life, included NAFC representation. Not surprisingly, the report noted that diocesan programs — such as those offered by NAFC — "are the prime sources for the formation and continuing education of coordinators and some team members." It also found that among the most notable weaknesses of RCIA is "inadequate study and explanation of doctrines," though formation in service and social justice and socialization into the parish community were quite accomplished.
This assessment is supported by the anecdotal experience of catechists such as Susan Malley. Her NAFC Beginnings and Beyond Institute experience in Maine was deeply disappointing and left her, she felt, poorly prepared for the task before her. "We were constantly told to get people to tell us their stories and that we, in turn, would share the Catholic Faith as if it, too, were just another story on the shelf. They used that word 'myths' to describe the scriptures and traditions of the Church and that shocked me.
"I felt this training assumed an audience of dissenters and this seemed to be the case. One priest-trainer stood up and talked about that 'repressive institution' of the Church and the participants cheered. During the Mass, they used inclusive readings and pita bread. It was very upsetting to me."
Any program directors or group leaders with formation like this could derail the missionary train in an instant. Many Catholics who get involved in these programs want to share their faith. But they've suffered though years of poor catechesis from both the pulpit and religious education classes. They've become accustomed to having things change as different pastors come and go who blow off liturgical rubrics with "This is my style and I'm not changing it" or "That doesn't work here."
Truly thousands of Catholic people have had their Catholic development retarded. They are vulnerable adults regarding the Catholic Faith and as such easily can be led to witness whatever they are told by leaders who have been formed against the faith.
Leading to What?
NAFC is not the only organization interested in Catholic formation. Another organization which excels at forming leaders for Catholic parishes is the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), founded in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. This organization forms umbrella groups into which entire congregations and other pre-existing groups are invited. Many times these are interfaith umbrella groups. Simply put, for a fee, the umbrella group organizes the member congregations into small groups for discussions and trains the group leaders.
Working through congregations is a calculated decision. The IAF's Organizing for Family and Church states, ". . . one of the largest reservoirs of untapped power is the institution of the parish and congregation. Religious institutions form the center of the organization. They have the people, the values, and the money."
The group leaders, however, are not formed in Catholic belief and practice but rather social change and political activism. They are taught to use and interpret Scripture for groups to fit a particular agenda or point of view. For example, in Maryland, Harold McDougall wrote about the Baltimore IAF, BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development). He described the small base communities which, at the time of his writing (1993 and earlier), BUILD was planning. Integral to these small communities was prayer and Bible study, in which Scripture was to be "discussed in the 'context' of community." The BUILD small faith communities then engaged in facilitated discussions "of what community is for, the people involved, and what obstacles to community they think exist, always using the text of the Bible as a central resonating point for the discussion."
In these situations, the group leader is always careful to steer the discussions in a certain way. Many IAF organizers have trained at the Mexican American Cultural Center of San Antonio, where the curriculum emphasizes the principles of liberation theology. The Mexican American Cultural Center's bookstore sells the booklet, How Can We Use the Gospels as a Basis for Our Action? It contains an interpretation of the Magnificat that was written by a group of IAF leaders from the San Antonio IAF local, Communities Organized for Public Service. It is presented by the booklet as an example of how one is "to reflect on the Gospels in order to find the proper response to our own situation." Such use of scripture is a characteristic of these organizers. The Communities Organized for Public Service Manifesto, adapted from Luke 1:46-55, reads:
46. Our community speaks; We proclaim the love of God and
47. Our hearts are filled with joy; Because God has been with us in our struggles and
48. the powerful will call us a joyful people for they will recognize our freedom and blessings;
49. He brings justice and peace (Shalom) to the oppressed;
50. Our ancestors have known Him as Holy, as we know Him and our people honor Him;
51. He stretches His powerful arms and liberates us from the clutches and snares of the power brokers — those who rob the afflicted and needy;
52. He brings down bankers, developers, oil barons, and raises our barrios and ghettos;
53. He fills our hungry with good things and the rich, He sends away empty;
54. He keeps His promise to Juan Diego, Eleonor [sic] Roosevelt, Martin Luther King and
55. will be with us forever.
In a similar vein, readers are instructed to rewrite the parable of the Good Samaritan and the Crucifixion, to make them "fit the world you know today."
Following True Evangelization
For some, the world as it should be in these discussions is solely temporal, not spiritual. In fact, sanctity is not the primary end. But sanctity is to be the end of every thought and action in our lives. Sanctification of the world should be the goal of evangelization efforts.
As Pope John Paul II has said, a grounding in personal holiness, schooled in prayer with a personal God, receptive to the sacramental graces flowing through the Church, and intellectually nurtured at her richly laden table of true doctrine is the only way to prepare evangelizers. The New Evangelization — fresh, vigorous, fruitful, true, and beautiful — is nothing more or less than the Old Evangelization which has been abandoned for far too long.
Check out your parish's participation in any New Evanglization initiative. If your parish doesn't offer the Holy Father's prescription as part of its training for its evangelization initiative, ask why. Suggest changes. Avoid participation if the wrong Gospel is going to be preached.
This item 8258 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
