The New Evangelization and the Nones

The New Evangelization and the Nones:  Click on this link and you will read an article by Father Roger Landry.  He attended the Erasmus Lecture, hosted by First Things Magazine.  Father Landry's article relates the speaker's Talk.  The speaker is Bishop Robert Barron and his topic was "The New Evangelization and the Nones."  Please click and read the link.



I wonder if Father Landry has the inclination to talk too long and is looking to justify this propensity.  I'm speculating because Father Landry writes that we dumb down the faith.  He criticizes vapid textbooks and catechetical methods, and also the content of our priests' homilies.



.. the mistaken assumption that people cannot handle more than 8-12 minutes of back-patting encouragement, even though evangelical Protestants -- who go to the same schools and live in the same culture -- are somehow capable of listening to their ministers for 45 minutes. 


 My experience tells me differently.  My evangelical Protestant friends are capable of listening for 45 minutes but do not comprehend or grasp everything for 45 minutes.  Just about everybody is able to listen for 45 minutes.  Don't we all go to school and listen to teachers for 45-50 minutes?  But what do we get out of it?  Do we all get A+?



Any class in customer service will tell you that the customer is bored in long presentations.  Brief is  best.  Anybody in Toastmasters will tell you that for the average audience, two-three minutes is all people can handle. Naturally, it depends on the audience.  But a church congregation is aimed for the average person.  Brief is best.



Ironically, I doubt that Bishop Barron himself would recommend giving a long homily.  Word on Fire Ministries, founded by Bishop Barron perfects the short video.     That would be hypocritical of him.



How much do you want to bet Father Landry's homilies are on the long side?

Evangelizing the Complacent

My Lay Dominican Chapter, Our Lady of Mercy, is reading Evangelii Gaudium.  We were discussing paragraph 24, which exhorts the Church to "smell like sheep."  The pope visions a church reaching out to the people, particularly the marginalized.

Jesus got involved with the lowly, including washing the feet of his disciples.  An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people's daily lives...  Evangelizers thus take on the "smell of the sheep" and the sheep are willing to hear their voice.

Sheep in general became the topic.  One of the "cloistered brothers" said how stupid the sheep were.  They don't know enough to come in out of the rain.  One of my sisters, who is from Scotland, where she said there were more sheep than people, added," If they were crossing the road and decided to stop, they stayed there.  No horn blowing, revving your engine, yelling at them, shooing them, would work.  If you were in your car, there was nothing to do but wait.  You had to wait for the shepherd, or the sheep dog to come and lead them away from the road."

We people are as dumb as the sheep.  Certainly not dumb because of comparable intelligence.  But as Sister Amata labels it, "complacency."  Life is too good; we've become complacent.  We don't want to change.

Like the sheep happily blocking the road.  Why move?  They're happy where they are.

You move because if you don't, life will make you.  Imagine someone with road rage meeting up with those sheep blocking the road.  Lamb shish kabobs would be cheap.

It will rain and the sheep's wooly coat will get awfully cold, wet, and heavy.  How long would it take to blow dry lamb's wool?

The sheep will starve to death if they're not let to food.  Do you want that to happen?

What does spiritual death mean?  It means no God.  No God means no love.  No God means no hope.  No God means no divine life.

If you care about your fellow man, then lead them off the road of complacency, and into the warmth of the Christian barn, with good nutritious Catholic food, served with love.

Jesus asks you, "Feed my sheep." "Do this in remembrance of me."

Dynamic Catholics

This Christmas, my pastor gave every family a copy of the book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, by Matthew Kelley.  Actually, this is my third time reading it.  I read it last year, along with Rediscover Catholicism, Forming Intentional Disciples, and Rebuilt.  My prayer group also subscribes to Lighthouse Catholic Media, so we’ve already heard Matthew Kelley’s Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic.

I’m up to the discussion questions in the study guide and I’m starting to wonder why I’m reading this.  I already AM a Dynamic Catholic.  Look at these questions:

Do you have a daily routine of prayer? If so, what is it? If not, what would you like it to be after reading this chapter?  Do I ever!  Daily Mass, Divine Office, Rosary, 15 minutes Lectio Divina, and a few other personal intentional prayers.  And this is the bare minimum that I do.  If I have time, I do more Lectio.  I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  I also have a Spiritual Director who sits on me, or I’d really be off the wall.
    I’m not extraordinary, either.  I’m a Lay Dominican.  We ALL are required to have this daily routine of prayer.  So do Secular Franciscans, Lay Cistercians, Benedictine Oblates, etc.  And even if you aren’t associated with a religious order, I have many friends who go to daily Mass and pray the Divine Office and the Rosary. 

How consistent is your prayer life? What prevents you from praying on days when you don’t?  Read above.  What prevents us—our vows or solemn promises and SDir.

As for evangelizing, well we Lay Dominicans have apostolates, both personal and chapter.  I preach on this blog and other social media.  I edit a newsletter.  I write book reviews for three publishers.  I belong to a writers group that contributes to the local newspaper.  I help facilitate RCIA in a prison.  And this is not extraordinary.  Many friends have similar and/or other apostolates.

We are dynamic Catholics.  And you know what?  When the parish has its book discussion, I bet it’s those of us whom are already dynamic Catholics, who attend.  So what’s the point?

As Matthew Kelley explains, we’re the 7% that are doing everything.  Yet look what we do!  We keep the parish running.  Just imagine if we were 8%.  That’s why we’re attending the discussion, because we hope that we can get just one or two more people interested.

And if it’s not this book, we’ll try another.  We’ve done the Renew programs, Cursillo, Life in the Spirit, Alpha.  We’ll keep trying because the touching of the hearts is the Holy Spirit’s job.  We bring in the people, and pray that they’re receptive to the Holy Spirit.  Come Holy Spirit.

The New Evangelization

My pastor is fond of saying, that if you wait long enough in the church, what was, will be again.  He means
that movements will come back.  Actually, he was talking about the new paint job, which the old townies say was the color in the '70's, and the baptismal font that was moved to the sacristy, but is now back in the nave.

That's what I see about this New Evangelization, that everyone seems to be discussing.  The church wants to inject dynamism into parishes.  It's a movement of renewal.  The new mission seems to be to go out and touch people.  Somehow our encounter with others should touch them with the Holy Spirit.  The lax church goers should be kick started into a personal encounter with Christ. To encounter all because we all are created in God's image.  No one is excluded from hope and love of God.  The Church is sent to reawaken hope.  The breath of the Holy Spirit is needed to rekindle hearts.  The Church's doors should open wide (insurance liability be damned) so people may find sanctuary and peace.  Let us go to the fringes of humanity and invite people in.  Everyone needs to encounter Christ.

Sound familiar?

How do you define Charismatic Catholics?  When did the charismatic movement in the Catholic Church start--60's, 70's, 80's?  For Catholics, the most notable event was in 1967, at a retreat for Duquesne University students.  Before that, the Pentecostals spoke of it.  It was and is, very ecumenical.  Every was invited.  It was a movement of dynamic renewal.  It was...(read second paragraph of this post).

I think the obvious emotionalism scared some people away from the charismatic movement.  Let's see what happens this time.