Church leaders ask how to make Christianity more attractive, especially to the young. Will warmer and more welcoming styles of liturgy do it? What about clergy being more approachable? Better preaching? Have the clergy scandals of recent years done irreparable harm? Are young people turned off by big institutions today? Should the Catholic Church become more morally accommodating to our atheistic Western culture?
The second century Christian writer, Tertullian, memorably said that 'the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.' Courage is something that's universally attractive. It's opposite, cowardice, is just as unattractive. The image of John Paul II staring down the maw of soviet communism in Warsaw's Victory Square in 1979 was a powerful moment for Christianity. Another was the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador.
When I was on sabbatical in Rome in 2003, Italian journalist Antonio Socci published a book, "The New Persecuted," in which he said that in the two millennia of Christian history, about 70 million faithful gave their lives for the faith. Of these some 45.5 million (65%) were in the twentieth century. According to Socci, the two currents that fueled twentieth century Christianity were Communism and Muslim fundamentalism.
Are people today, especially the young, attracted to a Church that's target for the bullet and the machete, for torture and prison? If Catholic leaders today want the Church to grow they might want to get to know the people, young and old. Young people are ready, willing and able to offer their lives to something of significance and consequence. The Gospel needs to be presented to them as a great and worthwhile cause. By and large that's not happening. Every parish needs to have access to a preacher who connects with young adults - and a follow-up program for them to get involved. If there's not a preacher on staff or a program in place, hopefully the parish would be able to hire one on a regular basis and invest in a program. Dividends will follow.
Baby boomers need a gospel vision that makes sense and gives significant meaning to their lives. Social justice preaching has not the broad appeal it once had. People are hungry to hear the word broken open for them: what's the meaning of Jesus' parables and miracles for life today? What does the 'Kingdom of God' mean for our lives today? Many are tired of religious clichés and want fresh language and contemporary interpretation from the pulpit.
Too many people come out of church today, some never to return again, with little hope. Hope is meant to be nourished by the gospel. The apostles hoped that Jesus was the 'one to redeem Israel' (Lk 24:21), the Messiah who would liberate Israel from the Romans. When that hope was dashed the early Christians hoped he would come back soon, and all would be well. When that didn't happen, they got together and wrote the gospels, narratives of hope.
The Church was born in a crisis of hope. Crises are the specialty of the house! Crisis happens when two powerful forces meet head on and people are given a life-giving choice; take this road to life, that one to destruction. Two powers met on the night of the Last Supper; the power of the meal and the power of those who came and arrested Jesus. The choice offered the apostles was to eat the meal - and keep doing it in his memory - or deny him and join forces against him. The meal offered hope.
Our Eucharist today must continue to offer hope to all who celebrate it, young and old alike. In some odd way, Jonah offered hope to Sin City, Nineveh, in this Sunday's first reading. And in the gospel we find Jesus promising to make Peter, Andrew, James and John 'fishers of men,' disciples who would offer hope to people. 'I came,' said Jesus elsewhere, 'that you might have life to the full.' I came that you might have a life and a cause worth living for with all your heart, a meaningful life to fill you with joy.
Celebrating the Eucharist - 'do this in memory of me' - is the most powerful thing we do as Christians. Jesus offered this sign to us at the apex of his vulnerability, as he was about to step out into the darkness of martyrdom and give his life over to a great cause. Most of us won't be asked to die for Christ; we are all invited to live for the cause of Christ and the gospel. After sharing the Supper with his apostles, Jesus promised them the Spirit who would lead them into all truth and make their joy complete. Our celebration of the Eucharist needs to lead us into truth by offering us renewed vision, and make our hope and joy more complete by deepening our sense of hope in God.
PASTOR EMERITUS
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