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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1987)
PAGE 5 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 12, 1987 Msgr. George G. Higgins Lay Leaders: A Lost Generation? The Yardstick A generation of lay leadership may have been lost because of the Catholic Church’s preoccupation with internal affairs and a devaluation of the laity's social responsibility. That was the gist of “A Chicago Declaration of Christian Concern,” a statement issued in 1977 by a group of Chicago- area Catholics and directed to the U.S. church. The statement pointed to three developments among American Catholics which contributed to a depreciation of the ordinary social roles through which the laity serve and act upon the world. The first was the movement to involve lay per sons in official church ministries, with decreasing emphasis on their secular mission. The second, the tendency of some clerics to pre-empt the lay person's responsibility for social reform. The third, a trend of diminishing interest in Christian social thought as the mediating ground between the Gospel and specific political and economic issues. The drafters of the statement said they were waiting "im patiently for a new prophecy, a new word that can once again stir the laity to see the grandeur of the Christian vision for man in society and move priests to galvanize lay persons in their secular-religious role." They pointed out that "the church speaks to and acts upon the world through her laity” and that “without a dynamic laity conscious of its ministry to the world, the church in effect does not speak or act.... It would be one of the great ironies of history if the era of Vatican II, which opened windows of the church to the world, were to close with the church turned in upon herself." William F. Droel and Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, in a new book titled “Confident and Competent: A Challenge for the Lay Church” (Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Ind.), provide an extended commentary and elaboration on the Chicago Declaration’s themes. The authors did not sign the declara tion nor were they involved in the consultation that led to it. However, they agree with the statement's basic thrust and. on the basis of their own experience and in light of post-1977 developments, have attempted to flesh it out, so to speak, and update it. They have done so convincingly and, in view of the fact that the 1987 Synod of Bishops will deal with the laity's role, their timing is perfect. Their book is reguired reading for all synodal delegates. I suggest, however, that while we badly need such books, what we need more is the living example of lay-initiated pro grams. Droel and Pierce correctly cite “a tremendous need for programs to support the laity in their vocation to job, fami ly and neighborhood." Experience suggests, however, that lay initiative in developing programs of this type is indispen sable. To spend too much time theorizing about the laity's role or lamenting the failure of official church leaders to take the lead is to sell the laity short and. worse, to encourage a new form of clericalism. I am not suggesting that the book’s authors or the drafters of the Chicago Declaration unwittingly fell into this trap. To the contrary, they have played an invaluable role in clarifying the laity's role in the U.S. church. But it would be a mistake to think that books and statements alone will bring the changes they call for. The time has come for a new burst of lay-initiated action of the type — if I may say so chauvinistically — that made Chicago famous in the '40s and '50s. I hope this timely book will serve as a catalyst in this regard. (Copyright (c) 1987 by NC News Service) Ivan J. Kauffman "Cheap Grace" “To be disciples of Jesus requires that we continually go beyond where we now are...To set out on the road of discipleship is to dispose oneself for a share in the cross.’’ — The Bishops Pastoral Letter “The Challenge of Peace’’ Fifty years ago in Germany the Nazi party had just finished taking control of the government. In another two years they would begin the attacks across their borders which would plunge the entire world into the bloodiest war in history. Peo ple by the millions would die, and even when it was over it would leave our civilization permanently scarred. In that same year, 1937, a young German Lutheran theologian and pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer published a book which is now recognized as a landmark. Translated in to English as THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP, it contrasts what Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace” to real Christian faith, which he calls "discipleship." “Cheap grace,” he wrote, “is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession." It boils down to a belief “that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven." The problem with cheap grace is that, like most things which are cheap, it's also not worth much — and can be dangerous. Bonhoeffer in fact blamed it for the feeble resistance the German churches presented to Hitler. By con trast he helped lead the resistance to Nazism, and was ex ecuted for it. What the phrase cheap grace stands for is the idea that we can somehow be saved from the consequences of evil without having to change the way we live our lives. When you think about it that’s obviously impossible, but nevertheless that’s what we seem to want. We want our sins to be forgiven but we want to go on sin ning. We want the world to be a better place but we don't want to do anything to make it better. We want the peace and security which come from the sacraments, but we want to ig nore the Church's moral teachings. Last fall Archbishop Weakland told me the major question that came up when he traveled around the country speaking about the economics pastoral was whether or not the Church had any business even being concerned with economic mat ters. Apparently there are millions of Catholics who believe their faith has nothing to do with the way they spend their money. Making Peace But when money is at the very center of our lives, how can God save us without changing the way we spend our money? Religion in the fully Christian, Catholic sense is not just PART of life, it’s the basic value which governs ALL of life. If it's not that then it’s not really our religion, because our religion is whatever we believe is more important than anything else. The terrible lesson Christians in Nazi Germany had to learn was that when people divorce their daily lives and their political decisions from their religion that their religion very quickly becomes merely a set of stale ceremonies, and their public life just as quickly reverts to the law of the jungle — a terrible struggle for brute power in which no one is safe. It used to be customary for Catholics to give up something for Lent. That custom's not as popular now as it once was, but its essential meaning is still valid. Once a year it remind ed us that being a Catholic has an impact on how you live your life. If the custom has changed it's only because people now see we need to emphasize the positive — what we do, more than what we give up — and that it needs to be a year- round commitment, not just something we do during Lent. But in whatever way we participate, Lent will always be a reminder that grace is not cheap. It wasn’t for Jesus, and it won’t be for us. Antoinette Bosco Teen-age Power and Greed The Bottom Line A new breed of teen-agers is springing up across the coun try right now and the more I read about them, the more con vinced I am that some of our society's values are going haywire. A recent conference at the University of Pennsylvania s Wharton School of Business was filled with 150 “teen ty coons," teen-age kids who, according to newspaper reports, are obsessed with making a huge fortune. These are not kids who mow lawns or work at the local hamburger joint. They are manufacturers, jewelry importers and financiers running mutual funds and specializing in takeover stocks. A Wall Street Journal article described them as teen-agers who crave excitement, never rest and dream about power and money. "There's never too much money, never." said a young entrepreneuer. “I want enough money to go anywhere, any time, at a mo ment's notice," said an 18-year-old businessman. The Wall Street Journal article described the teen-agers as hyperachievers who "idolize themselves" and show little generosity. "'Me' is very important," said a 16-year-old real estate developer. I suppose some people would be impressed by such bud ding millionaires — they are clever, hard-working and show plenty of American ingenuity. But I think any display of blind ambition, self-centeredness and naked drive for power and riches is frightening. In some ways it isn’t surprising that youths are learning materialistic values, considering what is happening in socie ty around them. I started getting nervous a few years ago when newspapers began featuring stories on the front page about the stock market and corporate buyouts. What appears on the front page says something about our priorities. Newspapers reflect what people care about and it appears that in the 1980s what most Americans care about is money. Wouldn’t it be nice if those youths would apply their enor mous energies to social service — to help the elderly paint their houses, play with a lonely child or volunteer to help the sick or the hungry? Many elementary schools and high schools across the f country are teaching pupils business skills by having them start up real companies and operate them for profit. A New York educator called this “one of the most exciting changes in education.” I’d like to see a different kind of educational change where students would be taught human values and caring for their fellows. Instead we’re teaching them how to fill their pockets and giving them a taste of power, while they are very young. The Lord said: "It is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle." People who put all their energies into making money can find it difficult to let go of possessions, ego and selfishness in order to make room for God. The pursuit of material ac cumulations becomes the worship of false gods. There is nothing wrong with having nice things. But it’s gotten out of proportion and out of control when teen-agers crave wealth above all else. The teen-age years should be a time for developing the in tellect and the spirit, a time for dreaming when idealism over shadows practical realities. As parents and Christians, in our homes, schools, churches and communities, we need to communicate to our young peo ple that there is more to life than money. (Copyright (c) 1987 by NCNews Service)
