Franciscan at Home

The Church has been entrusted with the fullness of the truth, God’s final self-revelation in Jesus Christ, who is the “image of the invisible Father” and in whose image each human person is created. Because we know Jesus Christ, we can see and understand the truth about man. For this reason, the Catholic Church has the only adequate anthropology, meaning that she possesses a true and complete understanding of the human person.

To an increasingly secular culture this sounds like anti-cultural blasphemy. Why? To answer that question, let’s look at the radically different ideas about reality from which our culture and our Church begin the project of understanding what it is to be human.
A Fundamental Difference

To understand the growing gap between Catholic and secular anthropology we have to recognize that each grows organically from one of two mutually exclusive concepts of the ultimate reality—that reality which explains the existence of everything else.

For Catholics the ultimate reality is the eternal Blessed Trinity, who created the universe and all it contains from nothing, by a free act of infinite power and love. For modern secularists, the ultimate reality is matter, the revealingly named “God Particle” from which all other particles and composites are made.

These two paradigms are utterly incompatible.

The classical Judeo-Christian worldview flows from the fact that we understand creation has a Creator and that the Creator has a purpose and intention for his creation, most especially human beings, whom he made in his image and likeness to share in his own blessed life.

The modern secularist worldview flows from the false idea that only matter exists, tumbling through the void of time and space, combining and recombining according to the immovable laws of physics in an unending, purposeless reshuffling of atoms.

On that view, everything spiritual (God, souls, mind, will, etc.) is simply an illusion created by the exhaust of biomechanical processes. This philosophy is called Materialism. It is not true, but it is dangerous and has deeply influenced our culture.

Let’s examine more closely how all this colors our view of man.

Every January we enter back into ordinary time with the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan by John the Baptist. As John’s father Zachariah prophesied at his birth, John is the “Precursor” who “will go before the Lord to prepare his way” (cf. Lk 1:76).

This transition to ordinary time provides a rich context for a fresh reflection on our Christian mission to “prepare the way of the Lord.” In this article, we’ll look at several philosophical proofs of God’s existence and then see how everyday acts can prepare the mind and heart for faith. In order to enter into this topic, it will help to begin with a few thoughts about human reason.

The purpose of this article is to answer the title-question as succinctly as possible from within the framework of the Second Vatican Council and subsequent papal interpretation by Pope St. John Paul II in Veritatis Splendor (VS). First we must understand two terms in order to more fully grasp the meaning of conscience and how it operates in life, namely, the terms “freedom” and “truth.”

Truth That Sets Us Free

Freedom and truth are uniquely tethered to one another in the Gospel of John where Jesus says, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32). The first thing to note is that truth here is not a mere concept, but a person: the second Person of the Blessed Trinity Incarnate. Truth here is not an ideology; it is neither propaganda, nor can it be reduced to a set of theological propositions. The fullness of truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, who died and rose again. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council proclaimed as much in Dei Verbum (no. 4) in their treatment of Revelation, taking their cue from the First Letter of John who spoke of “the Word of life – for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us” (1:1-2).

The Council fathers did not intend to divorce Catholic doctrine (truth) from the Person of Christ (the fullness of truth) in their account of Revelation. Rather, they intended to teach something more profound about truth, namely, its power to summon, call, beckon, entreat, instruct, and even lay claims to our freedom. Truth shines like light in the darkness (Jn 1:5), similar to what St. Paul taught when he wrote: “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). There is splendor in truth whereby we can legitimately speak of being addressed by veritatis splendor. Jesus made this clear before Pilate when he said: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (Jn 18:37).[i]

In coming to know this truth, which is to say, by remaining in Christ, the Light of the World (Jn 8:12), we are set free. We are freed primarily for love, since there can be no love without freedom; and freedom for the purposes of this article is defined as: self-possession through realization of the good. If love is a ready self-donation or laying down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn 15:13), then one obstacle to love surely includes being insufficiently self-possessed as to render an authentic gift of oneself more difficult; there’s “no one” to give. Being set free in further “finding oneself” through realization of the good, however, means that the abuse of freedom is possible as well, such that evil follows. In the experience of evil, we do not so much give ourselves as throw ourselves away, thereby becoming “lost” (Lk 15). Such evil actions steadily lead to lesser degrees of freedom as we throw ourselves away instead of preparing the gift in and through greater self-possession. Greater self-possession is another way of conceiving the truth that in giving ourselves, we find ourselves (Gaudium et Spes [GS] no. 24). This was why Jesus counseled us: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Mt 7:6). Evil is what evil does, ending by “tearing you to pieces,” stealing “you” away along with your self-possession and freedom by trampling them underfoot. This is a distinctive way of “losing oneself” that is pleasing neither to God nor to Jesus Christ whom he sent.

“Who am I? 24601!!”

Nearly four decades ago, Pope John Paul II posed some prophetic questions in Catechesi Tradendae. These questions are directed both to the entire universal Church and to all local churches: “How are we to reveal Jesus Christ, God made man, to this multitude of children and young people, reveal Him not just in the fascination of a first fleeting encounter but through an acquaintance, growing deeper and clearer daily, with Him, His message, the plan of God that He has revealed, the call He addresses to each person, and the kingdom that He wishes to establish in this world with the "little flock"?[i] These questions are as relevant today as when the pope first raised them. Indeed, preachers, teachers, and those who bear witness to the faith reveal Jesus Christ to the multitude of young people. In different places and in various ways religious educators are developing new ways of reaching out to young people through a language and medium that they can understand, but there is still much to be done. Even though the modern world provides a variety of communication media, many parishes continue to employ only traditional methods of transmitting the faith. The Need for Communication Technology Certainly these traditional instructional methods still have their place, but in catechesis we do more than simply pass on and memorize information. The instruction we aim for is one that leads to ongoing conversion and to an intimate relationship with Christ. While Jesus engaged in direct traditional instruction, he also made use of oral media such as parables, stories, and proverbs to help his listeners relate to and internalize the lessons he taught. Baraka Ngussa asserts that “Jesus, the great teacher taught using media resources that could facilitate effective learning to his audiences. He used such media resources as fish, fig tree, nature, etc.”[ii] Jesus knew the power of stories and that stories draw the attention of people and are easier to remember than abstract theological postulations. Jesus’ teaching had the end goal of leading people to the Father, not creating theologians. He often chided the scholars of his time for missing the “big picture” of salvation. Today’s teachers and preachers can make use of the best teaching practices available, just as Jesus made use of the teaching styles available in his days. As far back as 1950, Marshall McLuhan spoke prophetically to a group of educators on the “Electronic Effects of the New Media.” He said many teachers would end up as displaced persons if they were not able to key into the fast changing digital world.[iii] Digital instructional media can effectively complement traditional methods of instruction. When faith lessons are enhanced with audio-visual media the young people born into a digital culture can easily understand the media language. Catechesi Tradendae advises that “Catechetical activity should be able to be carried out in favorable circumstances of time and place, and should have access to the mass media and suitable equipment…seeking out and putting into operation new methods and new prospects for catechetical instruction.”[iv] One wonders why the use of multimedia in faith formation is not more widespread, even in those parishes that have the means to do so. One reason is that many parishes rely on volunteer catechists, who have generously accepted that call to teach but are nonetheless in need of basic training on managing a classroom, preparing a lesson plan, and many times default to simply using the textbook. While a good amount of time is spent addressing these issues in catechist training, it would also help to address some of the underpinning learning theories, as well as their complementing multimedia techniques, to give them an in-depth understanding of current teaching methods.

Pope St. John Paul II fully understood the essential role that real parish community plays in the mission of catechesis. In Catechesi Tradendae he makes an astonishing statement regarding the necessity of Christian community, which is easy to bypass without letting the force of his words set in: “Catechesis runs the risk of becoming barren if no community of faith and Christian life takes the catechumen in at a certain stage of his catechesis.”[3] The pope put his finger directly on what many of us know experientially, namely, that though many may come into the Church, instead of finding a Christian community they find isolation, lack of zeal, and an environment that can kill any vestiges of Christian joy. If you think my words too strong, look again at what the pope wrote: if there is no community to receive the catechumen, all the catechesis you’ve done (pre-catechumenate, catechumenate, etc.) will prove lifeless (barren). His use of the word barren is striking. He emphasizes that Christian formation disconnected from real community will not be able to generate or sustain life. It might produce sacramentalized people but not disciples. According to Matthew 28:19, the mission is to make disciples, and Baptism is part of that process. Too often, it seems that Catholics see the mission as Baptism, with a little bit of discipleship on the side, and only if there’s time. Without Christian community, we set up our catechumens to be just like the Franciscan University students in the early 1970s: isolated, alone, addicted, and soon-to-be non-practicing Catholics.

Experience in the garden teaches us that the strongest of plants cannot flourish if the soil is poor. The wise gardener tends to his soil carefully, in order to prepare the necessary environment in which plants can thrive and bear fruit.

By analogy, the same is true in evangelization. When a Catholic organization—be it a diocese, parish, movement, or other apostolic entity—has issues located in its “soil” such as isolated or overwhelmed leaders, divisions, system-wide confusion, or little joy, then its “plants” (programs, plans, and people) cannot flourish. Efforts that might otherwise have produced missionary disciples get frustrated; and good, devout, and talented people can be left puzzled and deflated.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis promulgated The Joy of Love as a major part of the Church’s commitment to proclaim the Gospel of the Family in response to “the many signs of crisis in the institution of marriage” (no. 1). The rather lengthy document reiterates and consolidates much of the work of the recent synod on marriage and family, while also offering the Pope’s own profound reflections concerning the nature of marital love, the dynamics of family life, the education of children, and family spirituality.

By virtue of its sheer length and breadth of content, the document requires considerable time and effort to work through, and reaping the full fruits of Pope Francis’ teachings will certainly be a long term and multi-faceted process. Nonetheless, for those of us working in educational and pastoral situations there are key parts of the text that immediately stand out for the fundamental shape that they give to all our attempts to help others understand and more fully embrace God’s plan for sex, love, and marriage.

Why do so many newly baptized Catholics stop practicing their faith within only a couple years? The causes of attrition are various, and can include inadequate catechesis in the RCIA process, lack of interior conversion to Christ, and insufficient support and connection with other Catholics or the wider parish community.[i]

Let’s think about these new Catholics for a minute. Still wet from baptism and glistening with the oil of confirmation, they now have a new status and, according to the tradition of the Church, a new name. The elect who have been initiated into the Catholic Church are called “neophytes.” The term neophyte comes from the Greek, neos, meaning new, and phutos, meaning grown or planted, so, literally, “newly planted.” The former catechumens are now newly planted or grafted onto the Vine who is Christ. Initially, the term neophyte meant only those receiving full sacramental initiation; it has come to refer equally to candidates who are received into the Church. They retain this special name and status for a year following their initiation.

If the neophytes are fortunate, their parish provides a post-baptismal catechesis called Mystagogy, which lasts until Pentecost. Yet, whether at Easter or at Pentecost, the RCIA experience ends, and they set forth to begin a Catholic life, but now unaccompanied—seemingly alone and often surrounded at work and at home with non-Catholics, who are anything but supportive of their new faith. They are “newbies” in a faith that takes a lifetime to learn, in a world ever more hostile to the basic premises of Christianity. Their need for pastoral care is, one could argue, every bit as great as when they were engaged in becoming Catholic. No gardener would put his new plants in the ground unprotected in the early spring. No, he would keep them in a greenhouse, or cover them with plastic, and keep a careful watch on them. Just so, the newly planted need to be accompanied and strengthened as they “practice” being Catholic. This is the purpose of the “Neophyte Year.”

The true essence of marriage lies in the marital bond. Since the sacramentality of marriage consists principally in the indissoluble bond, the indissolubility does not come into being exclusively or principally by the mutual obligation that is undertaken with the consent of the two, but by the action of God…That which God gives remains forever; he does not repent of his gifts…The matrimony of two of the baptized…is in real, essential and intrinsic relationship with the mystery of the union of Christ with the Church…and therefore it participates in its nature…[i] These words from Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra contain truths that are rarely present in the hearts and minds of young Catholic couples today. These truths are basic to a Catholic understanding of marriage and yet are surprising to couples who have come to believe that marriage is only about them. Culturally, couples in the Western world have little or no conception of the supernatural reality that is Catholic marriage. To the average couple, marriage is about falling in love and then choosing to affirm that love with vows that they speak to one another. At best, for the nominally Catholic couple, the Church’s minister is at the wedding to “bless” their consent. They rarely discern a greater and deeper supernatural Presence who wants to enter their shared love precisely because it is his love that they are entering. This presence of course is Jesus Christ. The Bridegroom of the Church wishes to bless this couple by taking up their “yes” to one another into his eternal “yes” to his Bride, the Church. Catholic marriage will make a cultural impact in the West only when it is thoroughly bathed in this supernatural reality; otherwise it remains imagined as a secular affair surrounded by religious symbols.