When the Catholic Church, in the USA, faced the biggest problem in her history (the clergy abuse scandal), the reaction and change was dramatic. In fact, due to changes made after the scandal, the Church in the USA has now become one of the most effective organizations in the country, in terms of protecting children and vulnerable adults. Still, one of the main reasons it got so bad was a failure of our leaders to do the right thing in the first place (we are seeing some of the same issues in the face of the Coronavirus). The scandals were due to a failure to live out Jesus’ teachings. But, it was also magnified by our leaders who wanted to maintain the status quo of the institution.
Now imagine if it didn’t have to be that way.
**What if we had leaders who were passionate about reaching the lost?
**What if we had Catholics who were on fire for mission?
**What if we were accountable to one another?
**What if we prayed like our prayers mattered?
**What if Catholic leaders were open to trying new models of ministry decades ago?
**What if we made necessary changes proactively, rather than reactively?
**What if Catholic leaders were truly Gospel-oriented in all decisions?
**What if the mission of the Church (to make disciples) was the overriding factor in all decisions of our institutions?
What would be different?
YOUR PARISH
Think of your parish or diocese. While some are trying to move toward evangelization and discipleship, most are still stuck. Few Catholic leaders are accountable to their superiors or peers (though some are accountable on certain issues – mostly around finances, safe environment, tribunal issues, etc). Furthermore, there is little that is done in making sure that a parish or diocese is operating in a way that fulfills the mandates/mission of Jesus.
The coronavirus crisis is heightening these problems by showing how many parishes are already in financial turmoil and lack vision / leadership. Many are scrambling to get online payments set up, do social media, etc. Things that they should have been looking into a decade ago!
The fallout could result in more parishes / dioceses facing bankrupcy, financial issues, layoffs of staff, closing down parishes, consolidation of parishes, selling off of property, etc.
In the short-term, this could be a disaster. People will suffer, especially lay leaders who work for Catholic institutions. Getting laid off is terrible for most families, who live month to month. In this sense, it is a good thing to fight to keep the budget up, support the staff, and try to maintain the institutions and structures we have.
On the other hand, it may be better for us long-term. Bear with me for a moment.
LONG-TERM IMPACT
What if God were to use this crisis as a way to turn more Catholic leaders to be missional rather than focussed on maintaining the structures and institutions we have?
What if this is the answer to prayer that many of us have had for years, that the Catholic Church would start to change her ways and clean out the clutter that is getting in the way of us being the evangelists we need to be?
What if this is how God will raise up regular Catholics in the pew to take on their own missionary identity?
What if…?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not wishing suffering on anyone. Nor am I hoping for decline in the Church. Rather, I believe God is neither silent or inactive. I believe God is allowing this for our collective redemptive suffering. I believe God can and will bring some good out of the other side.
There are some who may not agree with my premise, so let us examine another area of concern. Our lack of missionary identity.
Why does the Church exist? I believe it is best summed up in the great commission, which is, to “make disciples”. This is reflected in the following quotes (just a handful will hopefully suffice):
“As the “convocation” of all men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them.” -CCC 767
“Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists to evangelize.” -Pope Paul VI, EN 14
“John Paul II asked us to recognize that “there must be no lessening of the impetus to preach the Gospel” to those who are far from Christ, “because this is the first task of the Church”. Indeed, “today missionary activity still represents the greatest challenge for the Church” and “the missionary task must remain foremost”. What would happen if we were to take these words seriously? We would realize that missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity.” -Pope Francis, EG 15
Pope Francis gives us a great question and an answer. We need to take the words of our leaders seriously! Even more so, we need to follow the clear statements of Sacred Scripture – statements such as these:
“For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” -1 Cor 9:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” -Rom 1:16
AN UNHEALTHY CULTURE
Having worked in the Catholic Church for many years now, I know many of the dysfunctions which are part of the internal culture of Catholic parishes, dioceses, and ministries. It is no secret that many are not healthy places. There is mistrust, lack of clarity in mission, church politics, infighting, fighting for power, etc. In other words, sinners run the Church! Furthermore, there is a culture of management – not mission. There is little vision for growth, but maintenance of decline. There is little transformation and a lot of status quo.
Even with all of this, we see a lack of leaders, who what to do about it and want to change. There are numerous reasons, some of which I will lay out here:
- Seminaries (and grad schools) aren’t forming leaders for the modern parish! Seminary formation is a hyper-academic environment, where young men spend most of their time with their peers, learning from (mostly) older men, who train them on philosophy, theology, sacraments, pastoral issues, etc. When these men get into a parish, they are dealing with multi-generational issues, families, women (mostly), and are (for most of their priesthood) living alone. They rarely get to “use” their high philosophy and theology, because their flock doesn’t even know the basics. Nor do most young priests even know how to bring about conversion, through the proclamation of the Gospel and a call to faith.
- Furthermore, for lay leaders, we value the grad degree so much, that practical skill and gifts take a back seat. So, I would contend that seminaries (and grad schools) are rarely setting our pastors (and other leaders) up for success in the real-world situations they will see. Much less do they help with other issues, such as:
- Pastoral training rarely helps our leaders understand real evangelization and discipleship! Too often we see leaders who are managers of status quo (if not decline). They don’t have the answer for breaking the decline in our parishes, that is creative and transformative. This is because their experiences in pastoral ministry are focussed on classes,
- Sacraments, events, and pre-packaged programs. They don’t understand how to spiritually multiply or form missionary disciples – because they haven’t apprenticed under someone who was doing these things. In other words, these are foreign concepts that most of our leadership has never personally experienced, even if we are starting to use the buzzwords of discipleship, missionary disciples, etc.
- Stopping after we make converts – so we fail to raise up missionary disciples. This is now the new trend. Everyone wants to do more “discipleship”. But, do we know what we are aiming at? Sherry Weddell did a marvelous job of giving us the language of being “Intentional Disciples”. That is, someone who intentionally chooses to follow Jesus. Our discipleship is never an accident or merely inherited from others. Still, this is not the final goal and too often we aim at making disciples…and then we stop! We need to aim for disciples who make other disciples who make other disciples. This is a culture of multiplying disciples. Since this is foreign to most leaders, we don’t know where to start, which leads me to my last point.
- We don’t change, because to do so means we have to admit we haven’t always operated the right way. Change takes humility. Accountability takes humility. Can you imagine if a bishop admitted that he doesn’t have all the answers, needs help, and is seeking to learn from others what would be the best ways to turn around his diocese, which is bleeding out Catholics? Personally, I would admire him a lot for such humility. I remember the first time I realized I wasn’t actually helping raise up missionary disciples. It hurt, because I had to admit I needed to change the way I operated. I started to seek out those who knew more, place myself at their feet, ask them to disciple (accompany, mentor, and guide) me. I then applied what I learned from them and started to mess up (and still be fruitful – because it was God doing the heavy lifting). I still don’t know it all, am still a big sinner, still learning what makes up discipleship, and am still trying to grow as a disciple-maker. We ALL need growth and getting back to the model Jesus taught us.
Change is hard and all of us like comfort. We all know it and we all struggle with it sometimes. But, we MUST change the way we operate or we will continue to see the Church decline. For every one person joining the Catholic Church we have (at best) SIX CATHOLICS WHO ARE LEAVING, in the USA! Not only that, but few go to Mass, believe the Church’s teachings, have a relationship with Jesus, etc. How we can accept this and just continue to “manage” our parishes and dioceses doesn’t add up. We should all be upset at this…unless we really just don’t care that much about salvation for others.
There remains a lack of openness to “experimentation” and new movements. I am NOT advocating for changing the Church’s doctrine. But, rather, we need new ways of operating, new movements, and a new missionary spirit. But, there is no small resistance to new ways of doing things. Part of it is fear. Fear of change. Fear that I have to change. Fear of having to humble myself to try something new. Fear that I may not have operated in the ways we need to and my work hasn’t been as fruitful as it could be. This is nothing new. We are all human and nobody does things perfectly. But, we can all grow a lot more, if we become more humble and courageous.
WHAT IS GOD DOING?
God may be shaking us up…through a crisis to do something new!
The fix isn’t easy. We need change in how we operate, within our parishes and dioceses. It starts with humility and prayer. We can then really discern what each of us needs, in order to grow as leaders. We need the proper vision. We need help. The reason is that God wants renewal in our Church, so that we can fulfill His work. Remember that a handful of disciples changed the world in a few generations, after Pentecost. What about us?
God is using this moment of crisis. The long-term impact will not be known soon. But, I believe God wants to do something new in this time. I believe God wastes nothing and is acting now. The real question remains – will we act too or will we waste this extraordinary opportunity?
The choice is your own…choose wisely.
