|
Recently, many of the families in my parish received a
letter from a local Christian congregation. This was not one of the slick
marketing pieces that the seeker congregations send two or three times
a year. This was a five-page letter produced on glossy paper, a printed
exploration of this particular local congregation. No doubt, much time
and many people were involved in the creation of this letter. As I read
the piece, my initial thought was, “So sad.” This congregation has in its
name “Resurrection,” and yet only in the introduction was that word used,
just long enough to explain the origin of the initials by which they address
themselves. There was nothing in the letter about Christ, and their description
of worship amounted to “[this style of worship] is held at [this time].”
Paragraph upon paragraph described this congregation’s desire to invite
and welcome people into a community which, from their perspective, has
much to offer. The overriding impression was one of welcome, I suppose,
but from my perspective the welcome was to something far less than what
we are called to be as Christian people and as communities of faith. The
message was quite obviously aimed at inactive or marginally connected Catholics,
the “lost generation(s)” of adults who seem always to be seeking something
and who populate other Christian congregations on Sunday morning while
sometimes still attending Mass rather regularly.
The “lost generation,” those among our family, friends, coworkers, and
neighbors who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious,” are
certainly on the minds of Catholic pastoral leaders who hope to find ways
to evangelize them, knowing the value and importance of active participation
in the Christian life. For the purposes of this article, I will not speak
of people of a particular age, since there are “lost” among all generations.
I will, however, draw upon current data and personal pastoral experience
to offer some thoughts about how we as church may invite, welcome, and
form these sisters and brothers in the Lord. First, however, I wish to
share three broader and more foundational considerations.
Worshiping well
I know I’m preaching to the choir as I offer these thoughts. However,
our beginning point must always be the consistent celebration of the liturgy
with care and passion. Beyond the matter of the Eucharist being our source
and summit, beyond the vital necessity of sacramental celebration for each
of us as individuals and as parish communities, when speaking of the lost
among and near us, the absolute importance of the liturgy celebrated well
cannot be underestimated. Not to mention the fact that nothing shapes us
as Catholic Christians more completely than the celebration of the Eucharist.
The 2007 CARA Catholic Poll includes these insights: one in four respondents
report that they regularly attend Mass at a parish not closest to home;
one in five visited another parish before joining their current parish.[1]
Catholics actively seek a community of faith to which to belong in greater
numbers than did previous generations, and their experience of Sunday Mass
is a striking barometer of the life, faith, and commitment of our parishes
as communities of believers.
Engagement
Regular readers of Ministry & Liturgy have previously been exposed
to current data from the Gallup Organization that describes the importance
of belonging, of a deep emotional connection to the parish, called “engagement.”
Those
who are engaged in their parishes are more likely to be spiritually committed
individuals who invite others to something at their parish; they serve
more profoundly in their local communities; they give more of their financial
resources to their parishes; and they are more deeply satisfied in their
lives. Among the data that most strongly speak to our current topic is
this: of Catholics polled between 2001 and 2005, 49 percent were not engaged
in their parishes. Those not-engaged individuals are not negative, and
they worship with us frequently. The not-engaged are less likely to invite
people to come to something at church with them, and they are more likely
to leave their parish and perhaps their practice of the Catholic faith.
In the same period of time, only 16 percent of Catholics were found to
be engaged; 35 percent are actively disengaged, tearing down their parish
communities through their apathy or their negativity.[2]
The implications of these findings are far-reaching. The “lost generation”
could be aptly described as those “not engaged” or those who were previously
“not engaged” and who have now left their Catholic homes. How we adopt
practices to invite the not-engaged, our lost generation, more deeply into
Christ’s life and the life of our faith communities will have profound
impact on all of us, singularly and as the people of God. The keys are
to strengthen those who are engaged and to find ways to meet the not-engaged
where they are. Those who are actively disengaged will come in their own
time and in their own way, likely at the invitation of one who is currently
not engaged! We should avoid focusing our attention on the actively disengaged,
guides Dr. Al Winseman of the Gallup Organization. “Rather, focus your
efforts on improving engagement, and move people from the not-engaged category
into the engaged category. The best chance for the actively disengaged
to improve their engagement level is not through your attention; it is
through their relationships with the not-engaged who are becoming engaged.”[3]
Strong community
The final foundational element is the importance of a strong community.
We know this in our hearts. We can feel it when we enter our own church
on Sunday morning or when we visit another parish while on vacation (engagement,
by the way, is a feeling). We know when it is absent. A strong community
of faith, gathered for prayer or at another time, has the power to call
us to living discipleship. People have known this for centuries, of course,
and in this regard we are not all that different from those who have come
before us. We are people who, baptized into Christ, have been baptized
into the community of believers. We do not journey alone! It is through
a strong community that those who are not engaged will be pulled into a
real relationship with Christ; the community will surround those who are
aching, those who are lost, those who seek something that is genuine, passionate,
and powerful. This is much more than what is being offered by mailings
such as the one from my neighboring Christian congregation.
Once the efforts to worship well, to understand the importance of engagement,
and to build and maintain a strong community are in place, you can confidently
begin to invite, welcome, and form those members of the “lost generation”
within your congregation.
Inviting
Now that we have established that the ones doing the inviting are those
who are engaged in their parishes, we can begin to identify ways to help
them recognize the importance of doing so and to equip them when they are
ready to offer the invitation. Those who have a deep sense of connection
to their parish know the way Christ is transforming them over time, through
the grace of God and within the community of faith. Helping our most committed
members to overcome the common reticence toward invitation is as simple
as helping them to articulate what (or more likely, who) brought them into
engagement in the community to begin with. Once the engaged are helped
to name their moments of initial belonging in the parish, it becomes clear
to them that someone else is waiting for such an invitation from them.
It is important to name what we are inviting people into. Our faith
is not a way of life that stays at the surface of spiritual experience,
nor is our faith without its challenges. Yet, those who leave the seeker
congregations and return to their Catholic faith speak of being drawn back
by the sacramental life of the church and by the depth of our lived faith
in Christ, expressed in service and our commitment to justice and rooted
in sacred Scripture and the deposit of faith articulated in church teachings,
Tradition, and documents. Those who return after some time away consistently
express their gratitude that we as church are not watering down our faith
to meet the perceived needs of those who are not engaged. Rather, it seems,
we will better serve those who are not yet engaged by helping them understand
themselves as being of value to our communities while drawing them more
completely into the fullness of our Catholic Christian life.
Welcoming
Once invited, the lost will come, hoping upon hope that what they have
heard about our particular parish, our local expression of our Catholic
faith, is true. They want and need to know that they are welcome. As they
become connected to us, they begin to see our faith in Christ and to see
our way of living that faith as being of real and lasting value. They want
to know that their new parish values them; they hope that their spiritual
needs will be met and that the parish is a place that will offer them opportunities
to use their gifts in service to others.[4] In the CARA poll, 40 percent
of those surveyed said they are “very satisfied with the way the Church
meets their spiritual needs.” This means that 60 percent are not very satisfied
with the way our spiritual needs are being met! Is it any wonder that so
many of us are less likely to invite and more likely to leave our parishes?
Beyond the genuine greeting offered by ministers of hospitality, a sure
sign of welcome will be to assess the spiritual needs and desires of all
of our members, to seek strategies for addressing those needs and desires,
to act on those strategies that offer the greatest promise. We will need
to communicate what we are offering, how and why it is being offered, and
what the consultation process was that we used to arrive at the strategies
discerned. This will require intentional planning, collaboration with many
in our parish communities, and active listening on our part. The benefit
to all, including those most on the margins of parish life, will certainly
be great.
Forming
Finally, we arrive at the topic this article set out to address, that
of forming the “lost generation.” Everything we have explored previously
can be considered formation in the faith since the process of evangelization
will best take place through drawing people into engagement, inviting and
welcoming them into a strong community of faith expressed in the celebration
of the liturgy and enacted with care and with passion. As they become more
firmly planted in our communities, the once-lost will be ready to embrace
lifelong conversion in Christ. If an individual has not already experienced
a deep sense of Christ’s presence in his or her life, a retreat or renewal
process will be in order. For others, a small faith community, Bible study,
adult faith formation process centered on basic beliefs, or life-stage
group will be appropriate.
The underlying sentiment for this moment of invitation (and for each
moment in all of our lives, whether once-lost or not) is the sense that
every person is of value — each of us belongs because each of us belongs
to Christ. Belonging to such a community will shape us so that we may cooperate
with our loving God in shaping our world toward the establishment of God’s
reign for eternity.ML
Notes
1. Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University.
2. Albert L. Winseman, Growing an Engaged Church (New York:
Gallup Press, 2007), 66–71.
3. Ibid. 70.
4. Ibid. 73.
Leisa Anslinger is pastoral associate for evangelization, catechesis,
and stewardship at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati.
SUBSCRIBE
NOW!
What do YOU
Think?
Send an e-mail
to ML Editor or post an entry
on the ML Current Issue Discussion Board. (All
submissions become the property of RPI and may be edited for length.) |
|
