Embracing the People By Fr. Frank DeSiano, CSP

1. Identity, Faith, Culture, Catechesis Embracing the People By Fr. Frank DeSiano, CSP

2. 60 Years Ago… ? What was our catechesis accomplishing? ?

3. Identity • Identity with very local systems (family, more extended than now) • Identity with local systems (neighborhood, place of parish, relationship with nuns and clergy) • Identity with larger systems (diocese and broader Catholic Church)

4. Identity How did we accomplish that identity? • Ethnicity • Inner-group dynamics • Outer-group dynamics • Reward and Punishment

6. 60 Years Ago… • How many people saw themselves as very involved with the discipleship elements of Catholicism? • How many people went to Holy Communion? • How many people “drifted away” from the practice of their faith right after 8th grade?

7. 120 Years Ago… • Catholics went to Communion once or twice a year. • Catholics went to Confession once or twice a year—note the role of missions back then. • Catholicism was practiced as a folk-religion reinforced by distinct elements of popular religion.

8. 120 Years Ago… • Church was alienated from modern world (modernism, Americanism, Syllabus of Errors). • Church was alienated from large number of men working for national independence or social rights. • Church operated in a society that revolved around early marriage and lots of children.

9. Mid-Twentieth Century • Emergence of a liturgical movement, inspired by a lot of monastic liturgical renewal. • Emergence of a renewed interest in, and reading of, the Holy Scriptures. • Emergence of more mature patterns of social moral teaching (Pacem In Terris, etc.). • Renewal of catechesis. • Emergence of an openness to modernity

10. John XXIII “I don’t agree with the prophets of doom. They always talk as if the present, compared with the past, is getting worse and worse. I see mankind entering a new era, and I see in this a divine plan. This plan, in the course of time and in and through what man does, pursues its own purposes, its own goals, and they are far, far beyond man’s expectations.”

11. Mid-Twentieth Century Overcoming the alienation that hadgrown up between the Church andmodern culture. An acceptance of modernity as thesphere in which Christians lived, served,and prayed.

12. Why Embrace “The Modern” • Christianity has grown only by embracing what seemed new, even alien • Jewish Hellenistic • Hellenistic Roman • Roman Tribal • Monastic “University” theology • Scholasticism Renaissance • Europe America • Europe Africa/Asia • Ultimately it has no choice

13. Embrace the (Modern) People What does it mean to be “MODERN” in our world today?

14. Christendom vs. Modernity Christendom stands for a vision in which the Church (faith) defines the values of all of life, and Church structures, directly or indirectly, run through all of life. Christendom is an optimistic reading of a world where state and church (culture and faith) are not separated. Modernity represents a vision of life in which humankind, through the application of reason and resources, gradually takes control of the basic processes of life, particularlyhealth, government, learning, and economy. Experience, and rational processes, determine the shape of society.

15. Contrasting Styles

16. Modernity • Belief in science’s goals, particularly with reference to health. • Belief in the autonomy of the state through democratic processes accepted by all. • Belief in autonomous markets driven by economic impulses that can be known. • Belief in a growth of knowledge through experiment and experience.

17. Is there a conflict?

18. Faith and Culture Apparent Tension Points Vision of human body—health, gender, sex Vision of the social body—capitalist, communist, inherently communal, or something else Vision of the state—secular, semi-secular,religious Vision of the spirit—information, immediate sensation, pragmatism, transcendent

19. Crisis in Catholic Identity All the pieces that we invented between1880-1950 to facilitate the passing onof the Catholic Faith are now under pressure. The elements of that former Catholic societyhave or are disappearing. As a result, Catholics today do not have a readily-formed social culture with which to identify. This has implications for identity withfaith for modern Catholics.

20. Crisis in Catholic Identity Formation still focused on children. Formation of children still driven by a desire to receive the sacraments. Concrete elements of Catholic life are missing in daily life (prayer, faith sharing and growth). Disconnect between certain moral teachings and widespread Catholic practice (sexuality and, to a less extent, social teaching).

21. Crisis in Catholic Identity I can be a “good Catholic” even if I don’t . . . My idea of a “good” Catholic is someone who . . . A “good Catholic” is one who . . .

22. Where Are the People?

23. Embrace the People Pre-1960 cohort largely populates our churches on Sunday Post-1960 cohort is largely missing (over 60% mostly not worshipping) Millennials are even more absent (80% tend not to be in church) 15% of Americans claim “none” as their religious preference

24. Patterns of Modern Life Suburbanization: we now live in a world structured by choosing among many options. Maturation: we live in a world in which people construct their identities from a variety of images (rather than receive identity from their families or cultures)

25. Toward a Modern Catholic Identity Choice, consistent choice Conversion, personal experience Accepting the external patterns of modernity (the world as it is) Identifying inner patterns of belief within our modern experience Focused on the person of Jesus Supported by a community of faith DISCIPLESHIP

26. Core Identity • Gospels, Scriptures, Teaching • Sacraments, prayer • Community involvement with others • Service to the Kingdom of God • Embodied in patterns of witness

27. Non-core Identity—Supports Core • Particular pious devotions • Marian-centrism • Externals like medals, etc. • Particular movements • Ethnic practices

28. Embrace the People Constructing the elements of a viable modern Catholic identity in tune with the externals of the modern world, but based on the internals/externalsof Catholic discipleship.

29. Embrace the People Catechesis of children is fundamentally catechesis of the family. Need for serious work in developing family patterns of faith. Catechesis of youth is fundamentally instilling elements of a disciplined discipleship, and keeping youth in contact with a community of faith.

30. Embrace the People Catechesis of young adults involves providing the resources for securing the identity of young people around core values of discipleship, and leading people into patterns of commitment. Catechesis of younger families involves rooting married love into patterns of discipleship (the Paschal Mystery).

31. Embrace the People Catechesis of the parish means involving the whole parish into patterns of faith formation that spring from, and support, Sunday worship and daily prayer. Catechesis of modern Catholics means instill patterns of personal choice and sharingfaith with others (=small groups).

32. Embrace the People We must situate catechesis into a framework of evangelization which involves constant invitation and outreach to those not involved in a community of faith.

33. Embrace the People Elements of welcome, acceptance, hospitality, involvement, and journey-in-faith have to be part of every parish’s skills.

34. Embrace the People Even the most successful, large, suburban Catholic parish is missing over 60% of its Catholic people, not to mention the large percentages of unconnected Americans who have no faith family.

35. Embrace the People Catholic parishes can drift into a kind of modern “congregationalism” that can make it very inward-looking. We do not see people who are “different” from us—either because they do not go to church, or do not speak our language, or do not look like us.

36. Embrace the People Parish is not about “us” but about our ability,through the grace of the Holy Spirit,to reach beyond ourselves and more clearlyembrace all people.Parish is for the Kingdom=for God’s transformation of the world through Jesus and the Spirit.

37. Church The “shrinking” church of the “purer” or “more committed.” The status quo church of “those who come” and get their needs filled. The dynamic church of mission, engaged in involving as many people as possible in the Kingdom of God.

38. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” You don’t have any “chosen” unless you are constantly calling to the “many.”

39. Ministry of Jesus Liberation of people in their “stuckness” Opening of the Jewish imagination to broader images of God, God’s mercy, and God’s actions Deliberate outreach to those who were “excluded” from “established” Jewish norms Conflict over overly-restrictive images of God on the part of the leaders of his day Generating religious patterns in the daily, social lives of the people of his day

41. Embrace the People Do we look too rigid? Do we look too “cheap” with God’s grace? Do we look too self-preoccupied?

42. Embrace the People Do we look preoccupied with the Kingdom of God?

43. Kingdom Kingdom does not exclude the modern world, but engages, dialogues, and potentially transforms the modern world. Kingdom is not “another sphere” apart from our “saeculum”—our worldly, human existence Kingdom emerges within the “saeculum” by pulling it forward into God’s purposes

44. “God will be all in all.”

45. Paulist Evangelization Ministries • Seekers/Inquirers • Inactive Catholics • Evangelization Training “Reaching the Unreached in Faith”

46. Paulist Evangelization Ministries • Parish Renewal • Parish Organization “Reaching the Unreached in Faith”

47. Paulist Evangelization Ministries “Reaching the Unreached in Faith” 3031 4th Street, NE Washington, DC 20017 202-832-5022 www.PEMDC.org fdesiano@pemdc.org

48. You’re Invited Paulist Evangelization Ministries Wine and Cheese Reception Tuesday, 5-6:30pm Sunset Room