"10 ways to revitalize the Catholic Church"

Washington Post: "10 ways to revitalize the Catholic Church"
By I. Michael Bellafiore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/09/10/10-ways-to-revitalize...

What do you think, overall or point by point?

Well, I'll begin with the proviso that it is not "10 ways to revitalize the Catholic Church" but rather more specific, "Here in America", so some of my comments will be more general and not just "in America".

1. OK.

2. Because one priest in France spends six hours a night in the confessional and has attracted more punters, that is not necessarily a universal lesson for America nor the world. But yes, a commitment to making the sacraments available is important. Wearing priestly garb may be useful at some times for some people but it can also put people off in other situations.

3. I would say that it is not just catechesis that needs to be taken more seriously as a paid ministry but paid ministries in general. In many parts of the world priests and bishops (who have all their financial needs taken care of) do not seem to understand that full time lay ministers need a decent salary. It is not a lack of motivation or commitment, simply a need to support their families.

"In many parts of the world, the minister whom Catholics see the most is their catechist, not their pastor." That is true, of course, but I think it is misleading to equate the African catechist with the US parish catechist. The former will be in charge of an outstation chapel where the priest might only come a couple of times a year. The catechist is the de facto pastor, prayer leader, minister to the sick, and many other tasks, including catechesis. In a western parish, the catechist is usually one amongst many lay ministers all of whom have their own role to play; the catechist's is catechesis.

4. In my experience part of the reason non-Catholics are so proud to have been part of Catholic education is because of their surprise and pleasure at how open it is to non-Catholics. We Catholics ourselves tend to take it for granted.

5. The problem is that many Catholics (including laity, bishops, priests, theologians, and Paul VI's own advisory commission) do not agree with some parts of Catholic teaching on sexuality, particularly on family planning. It would be hard to convince them that it is all "part of the Gospel". Hence it is difficult to see it as "good news". The "tact and understanding" bit is a welcome new departure, and should be noted by the so-called pro-life campaigns.

6. Agreed. We just started our national reconciliation process with a national day of prayer.

7. Agreed. Catholic Social Teaching used to be described as the Church's best kept secret. While it is arguably no longer a secret, Catholics are far from recognising it as a central part of the teaching and ministry of the Church.

8. I don't believe "religious liberty is being threatened daily in the west", although people's religious comfort zones are perhaps being mildly inconvenienced. In other parts of the world, yes, religious liberty is under threat. Indeed "Catholics must become more aware of the plight of our brothers and sisters abroad".

9. Agreed. This is an uphill struggle, particularly for western societies which seem pretty keen on punishment, retributive justice, surgical strikes, imprisoning people, capital punishment (in the USA), militarism, etc.

10. Agreed. Maybe apply this to religious liberty in the west in no 8 too; do not be afraid at the mild discomfort you are now experiencing.

1. Yes.

2. I think that priest may be onto something. I wouldn't bet much on it, but I suspect having much more expansive confession hours would be a great good. As it stands now, confession is usually something special and peculiar. You have to want to go so much you're willing to go during some random hour on Saturday, or bother a priest with a specific request. Put the Francis bit out--the part about forgiveness being non-optional--and I think you could reinvigorate the faith of many.

3. I agree that catechism is important; I disagree that it needs to be paid. You need to get people psyched to do it. You need to respect them. But most of these positions require less than 10 hours/week. They do not need to be paid.

4. Confused sentiment. Catholic colleges need to be guided by Catholic values, especially those values which it brings to endeavors with mixed Catholic/non-Catholic environs. They should not be evangelical in outlook--they are not out to convert people.

5. Good luck with that one. Has your church yanked its relationship with the Boy Scouts because they now let gay kids in? Part-ay! But stop dancing like that. That's what the gays do.

6. Agreed.

7. I'm of two minds about Catholic social teaching. I won't fight it out here.

8. There's a tendency in certain quarters to get hysterical about religious liberty in the US (see http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/paprocki-anti-catholic-trends-parallel-pers... ), and international discussions can too easily turn into what Catholic Answers/ETWN does--coddling Spenser, a grotesque anti-Muslim bigot. But there are a lot of Christians in real danger, and Catholics need to know that.

9. Yes. Then rebuilt that church.

10. To quote Yoda "You will be!" I think fear of collapse is motivating. But then I run a startup.

I'm not going to attend to each point, but we had a priest from Nigeria for a couple of years, and he regularly offered a "blue-light special" Reconciliation on demand, and I know it deepened my faith life. And the lines were appreciable on those days.

>4 2wonderY: Reconciliation on demand

I'm just curious. I've never known a priest refuse the sacrament of reconciliation, aka refuse to hear someone's confession. That doesn't mean he spends hours sitting in an empty confessional. You do actually have to ask ("demand"), but ask and you shall receive, in my experience.

>6 timspalding:

I gather from How Far Can You Go that churches used to have bells and pulleys, allowing you to call for a priest to hear your confession. Perhaps it was only during certain times. But that seems a decent compromise. Be on call in a way less awkward than ambushing the priest after mass and saying "Shrive me!" or trying to email him. It may be cultural, but a lot of Americans would not hunt a priest down in order to tell their darkest secrets. Talking about the sacrament with non-Catholics in the RCIA program it seems to me people divide, and Saturday late afternoon is a hard time to clear. Some think it would be cool to confess face-to-face, but many want as much anonymity as possible, and would never approach a priest to ask for it--not that the priests are easy to find either.

Yes, they're terribly busy with committee meetings.

Fr. Bekeh just announced that he would be available at any time during a 24 hour period, beginning right after Mass. I have no idea how many middle of the night calls he got, but the cheerful invitation to come was irresistable. And then he would offer wonderful insights during the process.

Well, I can only repeat that I have never known a priest, nor known of a priest, who has refused confession nor indeed who have made it difficult. The ones I have known and worked with tend to take it very seriously indeed.

Personally I don't like the sacramental celebration of God's forgiveness to take place in a little box with the priest hiding behind a screen (or is it the penitent who hides behind the screen? I can't remember). While I acknowledge that it is equally valid as a sacrament, I think those who do that are missing out on something. Last time I celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation I invited a bishop out for lunch, drove 100 km to meet him and then we walked in the garden while he heard my confession.

Edited to add that the point of that personal anecdote is that I want to choose my own confessor.

Edited to add that the point of that personal anecdote is that I want to choose my own confessor.

I'm of two minds about this, and about sacrament-shopping generally. My church is so wonderful--so much a home to me--that it tempts me to think of other churches in the area as somehow less, and their masses as less. Ultimately, however, whether the mass is said to my tastes by a saint, or horribly by a dreadful sinner, it's the same mass and Christ who serves and is sacrificed. I'm not entirely sure how to square that, but it makes me cautious of sacrament-shopping. Do you know what I mean?

That said, in extremely grave situations, you can still grant absolution, right? I'm on a plane.

Yes, and I certainly don't want to suggest that one form of the sacrament is of lesser validity than another. But personally I see the sacrament of reconciliation as a celebration of God's forgiveness and love. For me sneaking anonymously into a dingy box with a shadowy shape behind a little screen is not the stuff of celebration.

One of the great advantages of a communal reconciliation service is this aspect of community celebration. The last one I went to was at Notre Dame, during Lent. After the communal part of the service, a couple of dozen priests spread themselves around the basilica in full view, and people could choose which one they went to for private confession.

I think there's also a difference between the validity of the sacrament, which is always there, and the ability of the priest as a confessor. As well as the absolution, there is the spiritual and pastoral counselling that one receives from a good confessor, and the empathy and understanding (his "bedside manner", so to speak). These are important. I suspect that the French priest mentioned in the article is successful not just because he sits there for six hours, but because, like his French predecessor St John Vianney, he is a good confessor. People travelled from all over to be shriven by the Cure d'Ars because he was a wise and holy man, not just because he sat in a confessional box all day.

One good reason for not wearing clerical dress:

Catholic priest targeted in acid attack in Zanzibar (BBC)

Mind you in many smaller communities everybody knows who the priest is anyway so clerical dress is a bit superfluous.

In 1980, as a seminarian, I went to begin my practical pastoral training in a London inner city parish which had just experienced massive racial riots. I asked the parish priest if I would be expected to wear clerical garb and his reply was, "Only during riots!" He himself rarely wore the dog collar, but during the riots he had dressed up and had been able to walk freely amidst the violence. Mind you, he wasn't just a random stranger in clerical garb; he was already well known to the community because he spent so much of his time interacting (in civilian dress) with all parts of the community. The dog collar was just an added protection in the chaos.

I recall another clerical dress incident in South Sudan a couple of decades ago. Our local bishop received a circular from Rome asking how his priests dressed. He was dithering about how to reply, not particularly wanting to tell the Vatican that clerical garb wasn't used very often. "Tell Rome we dress like Christians!" growled one elderly Irish missionary priest.