Chaput: Works Without Faith Are Dead
Archbishop Chaput of Denver gave a speech earlier today at a conference in Rome: Priests and Laity on Mission. The Archbishop has hit the nail on the head again.
"But when we talk about a theme like today's topic – “Priests and laity together, changing and challenging the culture” – we need to remember that what we do, proceeds from who we are. Nothing is more dead than faith without works (Jas 2:17); except maybe one thing: works without faith. I do not think Paul had management issues in his head when he preached at the Areopagus. Management and resources are important – but the really essential questions, the questions that determine everything else in our life as Christians, are these: Do I really know God? Do I really love him? Do I seek him out? Do I study his word? Do I listen for his voice? Do I give my heart to him? Do I really believe he's there?"
Snip.
We have an obligation as Catholics to study and understand the world around us. We have a duty not just to penetrate and engage it, but to convert it to Jesus Christ. That work belongs to all of us equally: clergy, laity and religious. We are missionaries. That is our primary vocation; it is hardwired into our identity as Christians. God calls each of us to different forms of service in his Church. But we are all equal in baptism. And we all share the same mission of bringing the Gospel to the world, and bringing the world to the Gospel.
And yet, Kolakowski's devil was right. The fundamental crisis of our time, and the special crisis of today’s Christians, has nothing to do with technology, or numbers, or organization, or resources. It is a crisis of faith. Do we believe in God or not? Are we on fire with a love for Jesus Christ, or not? Because if we are not, nothing else matters. If we are, then everything we need in order to do God's work will follow, because he never abandons his people.
Fr. Mike and I have had so many conversations lately with priests, pastors, diocesan staff, lay Catholics in different dioceses - all on the same topic: how is it possible that a Church that possesses the "fullness of the means of salvation" (CCC, 292) does not also possess a culture of discipleship? How is it that so many active Catholics regard talk of discipleship as foreign, judgmental, exaggerated, bizarre, not-Catholic?
Think I'm exaggerating? I wish.
A while back, one sharp eye witness at a major gathering of diocesan leaders to discuss evangelization described watching one major diocesan player rise and object to the whole conversation: "I mean who do you know actually who wants to surrender their whole life to Christ?" No one actually is at a place to want to make a decision to give their life to Christ."
As Archbishop Chaput put it so tellingly today: Nothing is more dead than faith without works except maybe one thing: works without faith.
Your thoughts?
posted by Sherry W @ 11:16 AM
8 Comments
Links to this post
8 Comments:
One of my former seminary professors, Fr. Bill Frazier, thinks the problem lies in the fact that most bishops still think of themselves primarily as pastors, when their primary identity, as successors to the Apostles, should be as missionaries.
I don't know, that seems to be overstating it since St. James wrote faith without works is dead without appearantly feeling the need to follow it with criticism of the reverse, although the Archbishop did qualify it by saying "maybe".
It does seem to be a problem that some Catholics engaged in different ministries don't seem to make sharing the Gospel as explicit or central in their work as it should be, but I'm afraid the response of many would be "well, at least someone's getting fed, someone's getting clothed,.." etc.
I think that thre reason talk of discipleship sounds foreign, etc. to many active Catholics is because that language is foreign, etc. to many active Catholics. It's language they're not used to using and typically associated with Non-Catholic groups.
Not to criticise people and groups who use that sort of language, just to explain why that sort of talk is difficult for many Catholics.
Hi, Manny;
Maybe "discipleship" is a foreign language because Catholics aren't paying attention to the Gospel, which is filled with talk about Jesus' DISCIPLES!
Maybe we've forgotten the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them all that Jesus taught us.
Maybe it's because the US bishops are using a foreign language when they write documents like "Go and Make Disciples" and "Stewardship: a Disciple's Response."
Makes one wonder what's being preached at Mass each weekend...
Honestly I don't think many Catholics are actually aware of those US bishops' documents. I wasn't, until after I started reading this blog and became interested in the subject. Even if father preaches about it at Mass, the way many priests preach people could easily forget about it.
It's funny because you're right, the Gospels are full of talk about the disciples. I don't think people aren't paying attention to the Gospels, I think people are just used to thinking of the "disciples" as those lucky people who lived in the Holy Land 2000 years ago, rather than something someone can be here and now.
I do agree about forgetting the great commission, but it's scary to most people and we're used to thinking that there are already other poeple who take care of that (priests, missionaries, etc.) so we can take care of our own business (whatever that is).
Plus, in people's minds it's associated with unpleasent experiences with missionaries from other groups trying to evangelize us. I've been reading "The Evangelizing Catholic" and Fr. DeSiano makes this last observation.
I think one way around this is to talk about the saints, share their stories and show how discipleship worked in their lives. Catholics speak the language of saints. Showing how the saints were disciples, I think, is one way to make the concept less foreign to them.
Hi, Manny;
Yes, you're right about the saints. That's why we use them as examples of people with charisms in the Called & Gifted workshop. However, I also like to sprinkle in a few people who are currently alive, or who are not declared saints, in our presentation.
The reason is exactly the same as that which you gave for people thinking of the disciples in the Gospels as "lucky folks 2000 years dead." Catholics are familiar with saints, but they're often portrayed as so "other" or "different" from us that, again, it's easy to dismiss them as having any relevance to our life.
Now what would be great would be if Catholics could begin talking to each other about what it means for them to be a disciple today. What are the challenges I face to following Jesus at work, with my family and friends, etc.? What do the scriptures say that can encourage or guide me? That would be a change along the lines of what the Church teaches the life of a Christian should be like.
I guess that last bit is the hard part. Catholics are shy about talking that way. Maybe the easiest place to start is just continuing to talk that way until people get used to it and it becomes natural. Could priests start framing their homilies that way? Actually, maybe those questions in your last paragraph should start turning up in prayer books between the Hail Mary and the Examination of Conscience, or they can be posed to faithful point blank in the parish bulletin. :-)
This issue, stated very well by its author, is what's keeping me out of the Church. I grew up Reformed and have been an active Evangelical for fifteen years.
If the Catholic Church contains the fullness of the means of salvation, in that it is both necessary AND sufficient, then why is her pastors' biggest problem the conversion of the faithful to Christianity?
Yup. He nailed it. Being catholic for more than half my life, I'm beyond frustrated with the Catholic Church and he just summed it all up. Here's a question along the same lines. Benedict says that "We are only Christians if we encounter Christ." (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080903_en.html) Is it possible to have a Catholic parish where there are no Christians? I think so. I no longer buy the definition of a Christian as one who is baptized, and from his Wednesday audience back in Sept. 2008, I don't think Benedict XVI does either.
Catholics tends towards works without faith. Evangelicals tend torwards faith without works (said an Evangelical pastor to me recently).
The solution? Not programs. Not more Hail Marys (unless you are actually praying them from your heart). Not more TOB study groups or even Bible Study (I just spent a year at a Jeff Cavins Bible study, where as participants, we failed to encounter Jesus Christ). On the catholic side, we must re-learn to encounter Jesus Christ. To rediscover the gift of faith.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home