My parish priest is also Vicar General for Brentwood Diocese. He has recently returned from one of his bi-annual meetings of vicars general, which took place in Salford. He remarked at the weekend that his colleagues had all recounted the same story: apathy rules. Mass indifference is, it seems, the Catholic reality across the country.
This has long been the topic of discussion among those of us involved with catechesis and has been the subject of numerous books. Sherry Weddell’s Forming Intentional Disciples is a good example and gives extensive consideration to the statistics and reasons for this prevailing attitude as well as offering some practical solutions.
Her focus is very much on a living, personal Catholic faith – our becoming disciples of Christ and catechising the catechists.
Professor Stephen Bullivant has also written extensively on this issue and, in his latest work Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America he makes a startling assertion: that sharing a weak strain of Catholicism inoculates our children from the “live virus”, if you will.
This insight struck me as so obviously true and the reason why I have spent much of my adult life trying to explain why we need to stop sharing the felt-bannered, collage making, bland, insipid kind of Catholicism I grew up with and exchange it for something that has real power, that really makes a difference in people’s lives and in the world.
As someone involved in my local community of Baptists, I am always impressed with the level of engagement from normal people. They take personal responsibility for the work of evangelisation in the community. Do we Catholics too often consider that this is the responsibility of our priests and bishops or do we recognise our responsibility in the work of the vineyard? As the Second Vatican Council taught, “the laity can and must perform a work of great value for the evangelisation of the world” (Lumen gentium n.35).
The Gospel acclamation on Sunday came from John 10:27, “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me”. To what extent are the people reliant on their Shepherds to hear the real beauty and power of the Gospel?
Perhaps part of the problem of apathy we face is due to the often confused message we lay people receive from our bishops and priests who often seem more concerned with avoiding any issue that might conflict with the spirit of the secular world than transmitting the life-giving truth of the Gospel.
On a recent trip to the United States a name came up again and again: Bishop Joseph Strickland (pictured), the outspoken Bishop of Tyler, Texas. One lay Catholic leader described him as “a lightning rod”; and he has been the focus of a campaign for his removal by some more progressive groups.
Bishop Strickland was reported to be supportive of a lay initiative to protest the The LA Dodgers Baseball Team’s invitation of a group of anti-Catholic drag queens called the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” to its June 16th Pride Night to present them with the Community Hero Award.
The group has staged events mocking Catholic symbols and rituals. They call themselves an “order” and delight in mocking Catholic customs and traditions.
This invitation brought a backlash from ordinary Americans and the US bishops appeared not to know which way to turn, the Los Angeles archdiocese distanced itself from the rally urging prayer while both high profile Bishop Robert Barron and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone urged public witness against the Dodgers.
The rally was a huge success with more than 5,000 lay Catholics turning out to protest against anti-Catholic bigotry, contrasting starkly with an empty dodgers stadium as normal Americans made their distaste with the Dodgers known by staying away. Amusingly the Dodgers also lost the game.
It is instructive that when our shepherds are clear about what matters, lay Catholics will step up. If the Catholic Church simply reflects the culture, it ceases to be salt and light and we shouldn’t be surprised when people lose interest.
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