Tag Archives: Evangelization

Giving Up on the Ordinariate?

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In so many words, a couple of weeks ago I expressed my grave concern for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and my conviction that God was not leading me to participate in this voluntary juridical structure at this time.  I can not do so without violating my conscience.  I believe that both the spirit and the letter of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus are being twisted or ignored and that the Holy Father's express will is being openly flouted.  The Ordinariate in the United States has (slowly) gotten off on the wrong foot and is doomed to failure unless very significant course adjustments are made.

I remain loyal to the Catholic Faith, to the Anglican Patrimony which is in accord with that Faith, and to the Holy Father's spectacular vision for Christian Unity.  I may not be able to enter the Ordinariate at this time, but I continue to pray for the experiments in reconciliation which we have come to call Personal Ordinariates, and that, perhaps one day, when the Ordinariate ship is righted, I will be able to fully and joyfully consent to membership.

I also am privileged to continue my work with the Contributors here on The Anglo-Catholic.  Some of them share my concerns; others hold to a different view.  That has always been the case.  This blog is not the tool of any diocese or jurisdiction; its existence and import do not depend on the success of any endeavour which springs from the Pastoral Provision, the Anglican Use, or the Personal Ordinariates.  Its mission is very simple: to draw into the communion of the Holy Roman Church as many Anglicans and as much of their unique and beautiful Patrimony as possible.  We have always seen this work as a mission, and one to be pursued with fervour!

And regardless of our varying positions on individual issues or what we are permitted to express in public, all of us here know that with God nothing is impossible.  What might look like an impending failure now, may quickly turn around to be a glorious success!

I write the above by way of a preface for the article below.  Mr. Vincent Uher was a long-time member of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston and has recently posted this piece on his personal blog.  He has asked that we give it the largest possible circulation, and, as it raises grave concerns over the future of the Ordinariate project in North America, it is something we should all consider carefully.

Ed. — Everything from the title to the bottom of the post was written by Mr. Uher and the emphases are his.

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Giving Up on the Ordinariate?

When a friend learned that I was withdrawing my application for membership in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and its Ordination process, she asked if I were giving up on the Ordinariate.  Quite to the contrary, I shall pray for the Lord God to prosper everything that is of Him that is within it.  The Church will be enriched by those entering in the USA and Canada, and many will find the real home for which they have been longing.The Lord has given me a different vision and course to take for now, but I can envision a future where I am a member of one of the Personal Ordinariates.  There are many places in the Catholic Church where I am very welcome, but the new US Ordinariate is not where I need to be.

As a former Angican priest and a member of some years in an Anglican Use Parish in Texas, I have seen the best and the worst of the Pastoral Provision.  I remain enthusiastic about Anglicanorum coetibus.  However, I was given a very different vision from the Lord of what He requires and expects from Catholics of Anglican heritage than what one finds in the advent and development of the US Ordinariate in its organisation.

One wag has suggested that the Ordinariate will be that perfect marriage of the worst of Catholic secrecy and Anglican navel-gazing.  The central and fundamental problem is the lack of any expression of a clear vision or a willingness to embrace all Anglicans desiring to enter and all previous Anglican Use Catholics.  Also, there has been a great dishonouring of some of the faithful and some of the clergy who have built up the Anglican Use parishes.  All of this will stunt the growth of the US Ordinariate and set its new DNA at odds with the vision of Pope Benedict XVI expressed in Anglicanorum coetibus and subsequent norms.

One could say 'vision' is the main issue but it is not simply generating a mission statement or vision statement and congratulating each other over having done so.  No, vision is far broader and more significant.  There is no expressed vision for the US Ordinariate beyond a vague "living out" of Anglicanorum coetibus, and that is not enough.  Without a vision one is left with the satisfying of the personal tastes of those in charge, and that is a recipe for catastrophe to be avoided at all costs.

Some would say, as they always do, that it is too soon.  But on the contrary, the vision and missionary objectives should have been set before the whole thing was inaugurated.  Why didn't it happen that way?  None of the men involved seem to have ever planted a new church, and apparently none of them have been in charge of a new business start-up.  Naturally, they will only replicate the DNA of their own experience and values, and those values are certainly Christian but they are not missionary, "missional", or that of the New Evangelisation enunciated by Blessed Pope John Paul II.

The US Ordinariate is clearly not set up to lead but to follow.  Though it could make rapid strides in the New Evangelisation, its leadership prefers to take baby steps.  If one bears that in mind, then a big hurdle can be overcome for those who may be disappointed in what they are encountering.  But let us be clear, those baby steps are important and need to be celebrated when taken.  For those for whom those baby steps are enough then the US Ordinariate is a good fit.

The Ordinary is a historian and scholar and not a missionary.  (The grace of office and the grace of state do not make one a missionary.)  The gifts and skill-sets are different, and one must pray that the very special gifts possessed by the Ordinary will provide what the new clergy and new people need at this time.

Without a vision the people perish, and to simply say you are "living out Anglicanorum coetibus" is completely meaningless.  Without a missional orientation and a clear expression of comprehension of the Anglican patrimony … who are its people and clergy first and foremost — all included, no exceptions … then there can only be a very limited embodiment of what Pope Benedict XVI had hoped to provide to the Church and the world through his extraordinary gift.

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Without a clear vision, one is usually left with reactionary responses to problems.   Time for some folks to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest Christifidelis laici among other things… and learn to embrace the gifts and talents being brought forward by the laity with an eager desire to serve.  Any leader who says to such willing people, No thanks for we've got that covered, has profoundly missed the mark.  Learn to make use of such people.  You will be held accountable by the Lord for those driven away from the bosom of the Church otherwise.

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At Least He Didn't Say RCIA!

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Bishop Peter Elliott, in his address on the ordinariates that is posted at The Messenger, said the following:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently approved programs of preparation for the laity . . .

I'm glad he did not say RCIA!  That's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

I confess that when in conversation with a Roman Catholic who was musing about what form of RCIA we Anglican Catholics might need, I nodded politely, but did I ever feel insulted. I told a Roman Catholic friend how my head almost exploded at hearing RCIA and he said, "Yeah, especially the way we do it."

"I know someone who teaches RCIA and I don't even think she's a Christian — never mind a Catholic," I added.  Of course, you know me by now: I go off like a firecracker.  Then I think a little further.  I eventually come around.  Okay, okay.  If I have to do RCIA, so be it.

Just recently, one of the adults who was confirmed at our little cathedral, a woman who had a devout faith but came from the evangelical world, told me how good it was for her to go through the catechism before her confirmation a few weeks ago.

I think back to my days at the Baptist Church in the months before the Billy Graham Mission came to Ottawa in 1998.  I signed up to be one of the people to "lead people to Christ" on the floor of the hockey arena where this was going to be held.  We had to take a six week course on the basics of the Gospel so we would be equipped to speak to people who might want to "accept Christ into their hearts."  This course was really basic.  Four spiritual laws basic.  I remember thinking when we started as we received a packet of professionally-designed materials what a public relations juggernaut these missions are.  I chafed a bit, as obviously I am wont to do,  but I did my lessons.  I began to realize how good it is to reexamine the basics and that maybe if I did need to share the Gospel I might need this training as a confidence-building exercise.

Then came the "Billy Graham homework."  We were given a tract — a Four Spiritual Laws sort of tract — and told to share it with someone.  Gack!  A cough, sputter tract?  I am not that kind of Christian.  I have found streetcorner preachers and tract distributors, well, a little tacky, you know?  But, since I wanted to be out there on the floor, I knew I had to complete my assignment.  And I came to understand something really awful about myself.  My reservations came from concern about how I might be received.  I realized to my great chagrin and sense of humiliation that I was ashamed of the Gospel.  So after some tears of repentance, I bucked up and, with heart pounding, and great embarrassment, asked one of my colleagues at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — another television producer — if I could do my "Billy Graham homework" with her.

She laughed at me.  "I'd rather not.  But if you can't find anyone else, you can do it with me."  That wasn't so hard.  I survived.

Not long after being laughed at, I met a friend for coffee, a former CBC TV producer who had retired early after a bout with breast cancer.  I told her about what happened when I tried to do my Billy Graham homework.  "Do it with me!" she said.  Okay.  So I pulled out my tract in the middle of Starbucks and began to read the four spiritual laws to her.  "Slow down!" my friend said.  At the end of the booklet, there was "The Question" — something along the lines of  "Would you like to pray to ask Jesus to come into your heart?"  I rattled off the question dutifully.  To my astonishment, my friend said, "Yes."  You could have picked me up off the floor.

Not long after that I visited another friend in hospital, told her what had happened.  "Do it with me!" she said.  Same thing happened.

When Billy Graham did his altar call to the strains of "Just As I Am," on the floor of the hockey arena, little miracles took place.  Holy Spirit-inspired moments that only God could have arranged.  No public relations juggernaut at all; it was amazing.  But it was good to have done the preparation.  We did our part.  God showed up and He did the rest.  Alleluia.

All of us can use reminders and refreshers on how to share the Good News.  As for more specific catechesis we Anglican Catholics might need — well, the sticking points in our congregation have been papal infallibility, the later Marian dogmas and the Catholic Church's understanding of herself — ecclesiology in other words.  Our diehard Protestants have left us already over these issues.  The ones that remain are now studying and praying with teachable spirits.  It is beautiful to behold.  I pray that I too will have a teachable spirit.  Our bishop is taking our Wednesday evening Bible Study through the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

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Two New Anglican Use Groups Forming in Pennsylvania

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The Anglican Use Blog has news of two new AU groups forming in the state of Pennsylvania.

For those in the Lehigh Valley comes this piece from the newsletter of the St. Thomas More Society in Scranton, PA:

Just last evening I received a telephone call from Msgr. Francis Nave, Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bath, Northampton County, in the Diocese of Allentown. Msgr. Nave was appointed by Bishop John Barres, Bishop of Allentown, as his liaison to the group of Anglicans from the Lehigh Valley that the St. Thomas More Society has been aiding in their desire to be reconciled to Holy Mother Church. Msgr. Nave informed me that the bishop has granted permission for the group to be catechized together, with the intention that they would be reconciled to the Church at the Easter Vigil next year, April 23, 2011. Thus, catechism classes will begin as soon as possible, and for this reason an organizational meeting will be held at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 210 E. Northampton St., Bath, this Sunday afternoon at 4PM.

From Bucks County, Mr. Michael La Rue, K.M., sends notice of a new group forming in Holland, PA:

I am glad to announce that we will be beginning weekly Evensong according to the Anglican Use on Sunday, October 24 at 5 p.m. at St. Bede's Catholic Church in Holland, Pennsylvania. If you are interesting in singing, or otherwise helping out (and there is a lot to be done), please let me know.

If you have any questions, please call me, Michael LaRue, K.M. at (215) 369-2868. The site for St. Bede's, including location, is here: http://www.st-bede.org/. Many thanks to Cardinal Rigali, Msgr. Marine, and the Office of Worship, for helping us get this off the ground.

(The Bucks County group already has a page established at The Anglo-Catholic's Groups of Anglicans forum.)

Please tell any friends you have in these areas about these new groups, support them with your prayers, and also say a prayer of thanks for the support of Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Barres.

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The Ordinariates and Evangelization

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The UK's Catholic Herald continues its extensive coverage of all things Anglicanourm Coetibus with a new piece on the Ordinariates as a force for evangelization:

The plans for the Ordinariate for ex-Anglicans are gathering pace. One of the last things Pope Benedict XVI said before leaving Britain, and one of the most important, was to emphasise that the Ordinariate is the next step towards Church unity. It was not the step that we were led to expect during the years of negotiation with Anglicans about corporate unity. But it is prophetic – and the prophet in question is our present Holy Father, who believes that Anglicans who already accept the Magisterium of the Church should be given freedom to worship and evangelise in communion with Rome as a matter of urgency.

A new image of the Ordinariate is emerging. When Anglicanorum coetibus was first published, the media and some religious commentators depicted it as a halfway house for “disaffected” Anglo-Catholics who were “defecting” from the Church of England and other Anglican churches around the world. That language is increasingly redundant. The leaders of the Ordinariate project have passed through their stage of disaffection. As the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, the Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet and one of the architects of the scheme, made clear at an Anglo-Catholic synod held immediately after the Pope’s visit, we will soon see the formation of “small congregations, energetically committed to mission and evangelism and serving the neighbourhood in which they are set”. Similar plans are being drawn up in other countries with a strong Anglican presence: last week, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington was chosen to oversee the formation of Ordinariate parishes in America.

It is time to set aside, for the time being, the much-debated question of how many Anglicans will take advantage of the Apostolic Constitution. Let us focus instead on the core words of Bishop Burnham’s message: his flock is “energetically committed to mission and [local] evangelisation”. Future members of the Ordinariate are offering to help revitalise the Christian mission of the Catholic Church in England and several other countries. It is a wonderful prospect, made possible by their faithful witness to the Gospel over many years and the vision of the Holy Father. Ignore the cynics and hand-wringers who see only difficulties in this historic development: we live in exciting times.

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The Power of the Gospel to Redeem Us All

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IMG 3031 1024x682 The Power of the Gospel to Redeem Us All

A blessing with eagle down

I used to frequently visit other churches, often making excursions with a friend or two in tow, to check out the latest charismatic speaker or healing service.  When the Toronto Blessing hit, I visited the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, in a building the size of a hangar, and watched prayer team members get the jerks and punctuate their loud pleadings with "Ho!"  The body contractions and the shouts seemed like involuntary reflexes. Many people without any exposure to this kind of thing would have been shocked and hightailed it outta there.  But I had already seen some of this type of thing before, so I was unfazed.

Some people lay on the floor weeping, a few could not stand up because they were laughing so hard.  Though I don't remember seeing this myself, there were reports some people roared like lions, what they called a prophetic representation of the Lion of Judah.  A charismatic pastor whom I respect deeply told a story about how he had been disturbed to hear about this roaring and thought there was something  weird about it.  He was listening to a pastor — maybe from Korea — speak and loved the man's message.  Then he found out this was one of the roarers!  "Too late," my friend said, "I loved him already."

Before the staid readership at The Anglo-Catholic dismisses all this as nonsense, let me say that I have met many, many Christians, some in leadership positions, who were deeply healed and blessed doing carpet time during the height of the Toronto Blessing.  But there were others who came from the experience so insufferably hyper-charismatic and eager for the next high that church splits resulted.   When I went, I inwardly said to the Lord, "I am not too proud to roll around on the carpet, if this is of you, but if this is not of you, please protect me."

I allowed myself to be prayed over, but no fizz, no suds for me.  Nothing happened.  Perhaps I should be grateful. But maybe something happened in the unseen realm that did not need some kind of outward manifestation.

I say fizz and suds because I heard once that shampoo works perfectly well without suds, but most people would not think the product was working without them. I have come to know that deep things do happen on a spiritual level without lots of outer manifestations.

An Anglican minister (I say that because I don't think he would call himself a priest) told me how he had gone to the Airport Christian Fellowship and, because he was a bit uncomfortable with the wild manifestations, he sat to the side, praying and occasionally reading his Bible, yearning for God to speak to him somehow.  Some of his friends went hog wild with the carpet time.  What blew my Anglican friend away was an amazing synchronicity he was sure had a supernatural origin.  Not only did he and all his friends come away with the same revelation from the Holy Spirit, though through different means as my friend had, when the Airport pastor got up to speak, he cited the exact verses that had come alive for my friend.

Another example.  One Sunday, I went to my usual seeker-friendly Baptist Church where whoever was preaching read from a prepared text.  Afterwards, I headed over to the new Vineyard church plant where the pastor was so into letting the Holy Spirit guide his words that he had nothing prepared and for agonizing minutes at a time, he sat in front of the microphone and said nothing!  When he had a sentence or two, they were laced with ers and ums.  It was excruciating for someone like me who appreciates eloquence if someone is going to be extemporaneous.  Archbishop John Hepworth comes to mind as a virtuouso in that category.  Eventually, this poor pastor, who expected the Holy Spirit to do everything for him, with no co-laboring on his part apparently, got warmed up and haltingly, did have something to say.  The amazing thing was this:  the pastor with the prepared text, the guy with nothing but a microphone ended up with nearly an identical message.  Goosebumps?  And these were two churches that pay no attention to any kind of lectionary or liturgical year — or each other for that matter.

What those two incidents showed me is that God can find ways to get through to us, using the different gifts and capacities of members of His Body.  He wants the Gospel preached to all nations and all types of people and He will find a way to connect with us.

I attended a powerful event last weekend put on by a ministry to Canada's aboriginal peoples called Gathering the Nations. The pastor, Kenny Blacksmith, is a former Deputy Grand Chief of the Cree in Quebec, and part of a charismatic revival that has brought renewal and healing to the lives of many in communities in Canada's north that have been devastated by alcohol and other social problems.  The event was called the National Forgiven Summit, that drew thousands of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people to came to Ottawa to extend forgiveness to the prime minister.  Two years ago, Stephen Harper had issued an historic apology in the House of Commons for the Indian Residential Schools that were church-run, but made mandatory by the government and often forcibly removed children from their homes and endeavored to "take the Indian from the child."  Harper asked for forgiveness of the school survivors and their descendants. Last weekend, those at the summit officially extended forgiveness.  What a joyous, wonderful occasion it was.

I heard a few testimonies and I love testimonies; they were glorious.  But often in charismatic circles it seems people say they needed to leave religion behind to find Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  They needed to find that the Gospel transcended the so-called white man's culture and infused their own culture with the kind of light that the New Testament provides to the Old.

Dancers and drummers from across the country, dressed in their feather headdresses, bustles and other fabulous gear, danced and drummed but the contemporary music was distinctly Christian.  While I'm sure there were some syncretists there, I had no discomfort at all as I often had in settings where my syncretism-meter goes buzz, buzz, buzz.  At this event, it seemed that the stories, the ways, the dances were being baptized by Christianity, as if His Light shot through them, revealing the truths native peoples had intuited through their love of the Creator and the dreams they had about Jesus before the first missionaries and traders came to North America.

When I worry about syncretism, its when someone is trying to blur the Gospel, or turn Christianity into some kind of pantheism or panentheism. This was different and it was wonderful.  Jesus and the Cross were front and center.

But it makes me have a little pang when I think that many of these folks who had to leave religion had to leave the Catholic or the Anglican Church in order to experience a relationship with Jesus Christ and feel the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  But I also have to say that some of the areas where I see the Catholic Church in renewal are precisely those areas where the charismatic renewal has been re-incorporated into the Church — the Companions of the Cross, a wonderful new order of priests is one example — or Catholic Christian Outreach, a university ministry patterned after Campus Crusade for Christ.

Now I crave the quiet, the reverence, the kneeling, the beautiful canticles, the theological and liturgical precision at my little Anglican Catholic cathedral.  But I love it when the Holy Spirit breaks into peoples' lives with fizz and suds and, if they have to lay on the carpet for a while, I don't have a problem with that.  And I love seeing warriors dancing to Christian music. It feels like they are stomping on the devil.

Sometimes people may need to break away from what they are used to, what they are doing by rote, to rediscover their faith in a new way.  And for people with persistent, deep-seated problems like addiction, such things as the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist might not seem to have enough fizz, when in fact they are the most efficacious of all.  What I hope someday will happen is that people will come to see they don't need to leave the Catholic Church to come alive to Jesus.

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The Challenge of Post-Christianity and the Great Amnesia

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This is harrowing stuff to think about, but it is the issue we are facing. The meaning of Christian symbolism and art is all but forgotten, as we find in http://blog.beliefnet.com/roddreher/2010/04/western-art-in-the-post-christian-west.html. (Biretta tip to the Young Fogey). This is about the Victoria and Albert Museum in London having been brought to realise that people could no longer be assumed to be familiar with the rudiments of Christianity. This account is highly interesting, as museum curators seek to teach and enlighten. Is not that their job?

In England and much of Europe, most people can still recognise the Annunciation and the keys of St Peter, but may no longer recognise St Paul with his sword. A surprising number of young people can no longer name the four Evangelists. How many children at school know anything about virtues, Mattins and Evensong, liturgical colours and seasons, etc.?

Without the knowledge of types and antitypes in the Bible, the idea that events in the New Testament are prefigured by the Old Testament, the liturgy can have no meaning. How can Christ’s death on the cross do any good for mankind? It is all hogwash without knowing about what Sacrifice meant to Judaism.

When I was a little boy, we had Bible stories at school and learned about the basics of Christianity. I might have preferred climbing trees and fitting sails to an old tricycle to learning about Moses and the tablets of the Law, but somehow those lessons remained in my memory until such time as I began to take an interest in Christianity and the culture of the Church.

The liturgy is now so arcane, and this is the reason why it is irrelevant to post-Christian and secular man. You can’t make the liturgy relevant to post-culture and post-everything, because it would simply no longer be the liturgy. It was probably much easier to catechise pre-Christian pagans brought up in the Mystery Religions of Greece and Rome, because they had a notion of tradition and metaphysics. Now it is almost all gone, extinguished like a blown-out candle.

I don’t think Catholic Christianity will ever again appeal to the masses. We search in vain for something in post-modernity to which the Christian Mystery can “graft” itself, in particular a myth (in the older meaning of this word) about death and new life that is given to us all. Perhaps, Christianity could find a way to penetrate into the world of people looking for “spirituality”, esoterism and the arcane. Christianity in the catacombs began that way.

Perhaps for others, seeing strange objects in a museum and hearing strange musical settings of Latin texts could arouse enough curiosity to make them want to enquire, read and learn. Not all is lost, but Christianity in the future will be the faith of those who have sought it out and embraced it freely.

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Eucharistic Evangelism

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sanctuary lamp 637x1024 Eucharistic EvangelismIn 1967 I was a seventeen-year-old college freshman, living away from home for the first time. I was raised as a Methodist, and had been very active in the local church: Sunday School, followed by the eleven o’clock service, and then back on Sunday evening for the weekly meeting of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. When I had packed my things and gone off to begin my college studies, it wouldn’t have been possible to have appeared any more solidly Methodist than I did. But it was the sixties, protest was in the air, and this was my time to be rebellious. On my first Sunday morning away from home, I made a fairly outrageous decision, at least for me. I decided not to go to the Methodist Church. Rather, in the free spirit of protest, I headed off… to the Presbyterian Church.

I was what might be called a rather conservative rebel.

Actually, my path of protest took me up Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey. The Presbyterian Church was several blocks away, and to get there I had about a thirty-minute walk. On the way, I would have to pass St. Paul’s Catholic Church. Now, up until this time, all I knew about the Catholic Church was what I had observed in the little corner of New England where I had grown up. And from what I could see, it seemed like it was made up mostly of Italian and Portuguese people. I had been inside a Catholic Church only once in my life. I was a very young boy at the time, and I didn’t remember much about it except for a very large, very pastel statue which I imagined was staring at me.

But now, here I was, a young man of seventeen, hundreds of miles away from home, feeling slightly wayward for shunning the Methodists, and now seeing a Catholic Church just ahead on my right. Crowds of people were pouring in – obviously, whatever it was the Catholics were accustomed to doing on Sunday mornings was about to begin – and I had to step a bit sideways to try and get by the stream of people. I had heard of getting “swept along by the crowd,” and that's what happened to me. As I was jostled along towards the front door, I had the fleeting thought that maybe this was my punishment for neglecting my Methodist duties.

The flow of people took me right into St. Paul’s Catholic Church. And what greeted me utterly astonished me. There were statues and votive candles.  There were rosaries dangling from the hands of kneeling people. Then things began: there was chant, there was the whiff of incense, there were men and boys moving up the aisle in costumes unfamiliar to me, and it seemed awfully foreign. It would have been in Latin, I suppose, although I can’t say that I noticed.  I was overwhelmed.  And for most of the time, for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off a veiled object front and center, marked by a hanging lamp, which I learned much later was the tabernacle.

What (or more correctly, Who) was there, I did not know at the time, but my heart was touched in a way that it had never been touched before. I suppose, in a sense, I was following in the steps of my spiritual forebear, John Wesley, who described how his “heart was strangely warmed.” But this wasn't Aldersgate. It was St. Paul's on Nassau Street.

When it was over, I made my way outside, and went off to the later service at the Presbyterian Church. What the preacher said at that later service, I don’t remember. All I could think about was what I had seen earlier, and what I had experienced, and how it all seemed like a mystery. It reached the point subsequently that whenever I passed St. Paul’s, my feet carried me inside. And although I couldn’t admit it to myself, nor could I begin to explain it to myself, every time I went inside I felt like I was somehow “meeting Christ.” Those feelings would lead me out of the Methodist Church, carrying on my search for a while in the Episcopal Church, and then finally home, to the Catholic Church.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was being evangelized by the Eucharist, and it had started long before I ever actually received Holy Communion.

The Venerable John Paul II spoke frequently throughout his pontificate of “the task of the new evangelization.” In fact, he called that task “the greatest challenge facing the Church today.” Speaking at the Eucharistic Congress in Seville on June 5, 1994, he stated emphatically that this challenge can be most effectively accomplished by “evangelizing for the Eucharist, in the Eucharist, and from the Eucharist.” Our Holy Father gave the example of Christ Himself, referring to the event which took place on the evening of the Day of the Resurrection, recorded in the Gospel according to St. Luke (24:13-33), when Christ evangelized “in and from and for the Eucharist.”

That very day two of the disciples were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.

The Eucharist is at the very center of the Gospel revealed by Jesus Christ, and Pope Paul VI made this point in his decree Presbyterorum Ordinis:

The other sacraments, as well as with every ministry of the Church and every work of the apostolate, are tied together with the Eucharist and are directed toward it. The Most Blessed Eucharist contains the entire spiritual boon of the Church, that is, Christ himself, our Pasch and Living Bread, by the action of the Holy Spirit through his very flesh vital and vitalizing, giving life to men who are thus invited and encouraged to offer themselves, their labors and all created things, together with him. In this light, the Eucharist shows itself as the source and the apex of the whole work of preaching the Gospel. Those under instruction are introduced by stages to a sharing in the Eucharist, and the faithful, already marked with the seal of Baptism and Confirmation, are through the reception of the Eucharist fully joined to the Body of Christ.

It’s in the Emmaus event that Christ lays out the model for evangelism. The two disciples are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, discussing the recent events in Jerusalem – Jesus' entrance into the city the week before, His subsequent trial before Pilate, His crucifixion and burial, and the rumors of His resurrection that had been running around all morning, ever since Mary Magdalene and Peter and John had returned from the empty tomb.

In the middle of their conversation, a stranger draws near and walks with them. It’s Jesus, but “their eyes were kept from recognizing him," the Gospel tells us. Now certainly, if anyone would recognize Jesus, it would have been these two, who knew him so well. But Jesus hides His identity for a time; He prevents the disciples from recognizing Him for a while, so that He can open their minds to the truth.

Their long faces betray their disappointment. Cleopas tells the whole sad story: how Jesus had been a prophet mighty in word and deed; how the chief priests and religious rulers had handed him over to be crucified; how they had pinned their hopes on him, thinking that He was the Messiah, the coming Redeemer of Israel. But things were looking pretty confusing. It was now the third day since His death. Some women had come with visions of angels and news of His resurrection. His tomb was empty, but Jesus was nowhere to be seen.  What it all meant, they couldn’t tell.

They had their facts about Jesus straight. Indeed He was a prophet mighty in work and word. Certainly He was rejected by His people and crucified. The women’s story was true: it was the third day and Jesus had risen. He was the One who had come to redeem Israel just as they had hoped. They had all the facts, but they didn’t have all these facts grounded in the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. And this is a large part of evangelism: not only giving the facts, but also bringing an understanding of those facts.

A person can know the Scriptures. A person can know the catechism.  A person might even be able to recite the Latin titles of all the papal encyclicals.  But if those facts aren’t plugged into the power of the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, none of it will make much sense or be of much use.

"O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Jesus chides them for their unbelief. They should have known. They had Moses and the prophets. It was plastered all over the pages of the Scriptures. The evidence was there for them.  So, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Notice where Jesus directs their attention. Not into their own hearts. Not to their personal experiences or subjective feelings. He directs them to the revelation of Almighty God. Jesus opens up the Scriptures for them and beginning with Moses and going all the way through the prophets, He shows how His death and resurrection provide the rhythm of every passage.

Jesus gives the appearance of going on, past Emmaus, but the disciples insist that He join them for supper. It was nearing the end of the day, and evening was coming. Wouldn't He please stay and eat with them?

Though Jesus was their guest, He assumes the place of the host at the head of the table. He takes the bread, blesses and breaks it, and gives it to them. We can’t miss the connection with the Passover meal that Jesus had with His disciples, three days before, on the night in which He was betrayed. Here again is Jesus, taking bread and breaking it. And St. Luke tells us that "their eyes were opened and they recognized Him." In the breaking of the bread, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is recognized and known.

This is evangelism: Word and Sacrament. And that's what the Holy Mass is: Jesus serving us with Himself.  Jesus making Himself known.  Jesus being with us, objectively, really and truly, even when eyes are clouded. From the very beginning, the Church has understood this. Scripture teaches us that "they were devoted to the teaching of the apostles, to the fellowship, the Breaking of the Bread, and to the prayers." And because of that, the Church could be certain that the crucified and risen Lord was present among them, not only to save them, but to strengthen them to go into the world as He had commanded them, making disciples of all nations. And Scripture further teaches us that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” They needed no programs, no gimmicks, no publicity stunts, no mass marketing. They had the Word and the Sacraments. That's all they needed. And the Lord added daily to their number.

Could we be reminded of anything more important? Pope Benedict XVI has given us Anglicanorum coetibus as another way for the Lord to “add to the number of those who are being saved.”  As the Ordinariates are established, the beginnings will probably be small, and some might wonder, “Can it work?”  Yes, it can – if we remember that we’re called to one thing: to be faithful – faithful to God’s revelation; faithful in our sacramental life; faithful in giving glory to God; faithful to the teaching of the Church; faithful to the traditions which the Church has exhorted us to maintain. Those are the ingredients of success. We are to be a people whose “hearts burn within them” with a love for the Lord Jesus Christ.  And we are to be a people whose eyes have been opened to “recognize the Lord Jesus Christ in the Breaking of the Bread.”

The formula for our future is so simple: just as Jesus is at the center of our churches in our tabernacles, so we are to keep Jesus at the center of our lives in the tabernacles of our hearts. This is the best and strongest tool we have for the work of evangelism. And this is why we must proclaim in the strongest possible way that Christ Sacrificed and Christ Present is the center and foundation of our being.  Because we never know when a young seventeen-year-old rebel might wander in.

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What Would Bring Men Back to Church?

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I have been having another look around the Catholic and Anglican blogosphere, and found this interesting article by Ruth Gledhill. This journalist is probably simplistic, but she makes some very good points (though she might well be doing so unconsciously).

Being a married male myself, I find some of the stereotypes somewhat naive. For example, we men are supposed to like being forward and aggressive, decorating churches with symbols of weapons, sports and virility rather than flowers and finery. Do we really object to singing love songs to a man (Christ)? Do we really think that a priest in cassock is dressed as a woman?

An association in England advocates trying to adapt churches for men. That’s a thought! I cast my mind back to my bedroom of when I was a little boy. It was full of plastic aeroplanes and ships, cars and animal skulls (my father is a retired veterinary surgeon). I kept mice and gerbils and I enjoyed reading books about science and technology. I climbed trees in the garden, went fishing and occasionally got into a fight. Would a boy like that become a priest? Well, I did. I still enjoy woodwork, working in the house – and I go dinghy sailing on the sea (which in moderate to heavy weather can be very sporting). I have never thought of decorating a church with guns, planes and boats (other than ex votos like you see in churches in fishing villages). All that stuff about “masculine” leather, black and flaming torches! I’m not a football hooligan! I’m not even interested in football. I’m quite happy with the old churches as they are. I must admit I prefer Romanesque, gothic and renaissance churches to baroque and 19th century pastiche. But that’s just me.

It’s true that we men baulk at sentimentalism and like something more real and profoundly spiritual. Now this quote strikes me:

The problem has become male culture versus church culture. Too many sermons talk about Jesus’ love, compassion and grace which are great but not male concepts. Men want to know about his great decision making and leadership. That is what they recognise. Churches are very pastorally driven whereas blokes are looking for decisions not discussions. The breakdown in most churches is now 70 per cent women to 30 per cent men.

Now there’s something in that, especially the bit about decisions rather than discussions. I'm not so sure about wanting to give women a monopoly on love, compassion and grace. Have we not seen all these in men Saints, just as determination and courage in women like Saint Catherine of Siena? Now, we’re getting somewhere. What if the Church just got on with the business of being the Church rather than having endless bureaucracy discussions and sterile dialogues designed not to achieve their goals?

Perhaps we could get somewhere by getting behind the bureaucratisation of the Church and the 19th century sentimentalism that has overflowed onto contemporary prayers and sappy singing. I spent years singing in men’s and boys’ choirs, practicing good church music for all periods from the Renaissance to modern times. Some women make good organists, but they are rare. That is a part of male church culture that is practically gone in many places.

There’s nothing girlish about the liturgy and serving Mass. Sometimes you get embarrassingly prissy men whose interest in lace albs and cottas is unhealthy! But, on the whole, the sanctuary has always for me and men of my generation been a male place. I suggest something that really attracts men to church is traditional liturgy and profound monastic-inspired spirituality, the real meat and something for us to get our teeth into.

Forget that stuff about decorating churches with football scarves and knives. Most of us real men just wouldn’t be interested. Ladies of the media – get real!

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