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Page 2 • Faith Today Faith Today • Page 3 16 Evolution... not revolution By Father David K. O’Rourke, OP NC News Service N ext September Pope John Paul II will visit the United States. The crowds of clergy, Religious and laity ex pected to participate in the papal Masses in the cities he visits will not look all that different from the crowds present at the first papal visit to the United States: the visit of Paul VI 22 years earlier. But there are differences, important ones, and they have to do with the central point of church life for the average American Catholic: the parish church. Let me illustrate by telling you about a friend I will call Carol. She is planning to attend the Mass this September at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. But this is not her first papal Mass. As a youngster Carol went with her parents to the Mass celebrated by Pope Paul VI in New York’s Yankee Stadium. Her father and mother were active in their subur ban New York parish, and the work they did there is worth noting. Carol’s mother and father were both active in the Catholic school's parents association. Her father helped organize the annual parish bazaar, and her mother was a great friend and supporter of the sisters in the convent. When the parish established its first parish council, Carol’s mother was one of the first members. In fact, Carol’s parents gave most of their free time to parish ac tivities, and they were a logical choice for some of the available tickets when the pope came to New York. Carol was then just a high school junior, but the event impressed her deeply. It was, she told me, one reason she decided to attend a Catholic college and major in religion. In her classes, Carol studied the recently published documents of the Second Vatican Council. She always maintained an interest in religion and drew on her education to help with her own children’s religious formation. Two years ago, when her youngest child entered high school, Carol decided to enter more for mally into teaching religion in her parish. After further studies in religious education, she became religious education director in the parish near San Francisco where they now live. As she told me, “I had the time, the training and the parish had the need. It seemed a logical move.” Carol’s story symbolizes a change that has affected many an American parish in the last 20 years and, ac cording to projections, will typify even more in the years ahead. The laity are entering into parish work in formal and official roles. We are all familiar with lay presence as lectors and ministers of the Eucharist. But the laity’s presence goes beyond that. It enters into the ongoing, Monday- through-Friday work of the parish. Programs like organized visting of the sick, marriage preparation programs, religious education and care for the elderly now rely in many parishes on the efforts of trained lay personnel. Carol’s parents were active in their New York parish. But 20 years later, their daughter is active in a different way, as part of an of ficial ministry. Specialists who study the shape of parishes predict that Carol’s situation will be even more common in the future. Of course, the typical Catholic parish will still be based around the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, which has typified Catholic com munity life since the time of the apostles. But the education and nourishing of that community may more and more involve not only priests and religious, but lay members. This is a development — not a revolution — based in the call of the laity in baptism to take an ac tive role in the life of their community. (Father O’Rourke is on the staff of the Family Life Office in the Diocese of Oakland, Calif.) Into the second century By Father John Castelot NC News Service T he earliest Christian communities felt little need to plan for the future. They were con vinced that the risen Lord was going to return at any moment. It was a matter of hang ing in there and being prepared to welcome him. Missionary activity during this period was not designed to build up the church of the future so much as to get as many people as possi ble ready to enjoy the blessings of the imminent Second Coming. One detects a definite sense of urgency about this in the mission instruc tions of Mark: “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing on the journey but a walking stick — no food, no traveling bag, not a coin in the purses in their belts” (6:7-8). The sense of urgency about the community’s mission is also seen in the feverish activity of St. Paul, for example. However, circumstances changed and the Christian communities had to plan for their futures. The church Matthew addressed in his Gospel was a community in the throes of transition from the old order to the new. Made up to a large extent of Jewish Christians, the community Matthew addressed was dismayed at what was happening. Jerusalem, their center, had been destroyed by Roman legions in the year 70. James, their leader, had been martyred. In the city of An tioch, where they took refuge, they found communities with an alarming number of gentile members. They found all this unsettling. What to do? Matthew had to lead them as gently as possible in to the second century. So, in his Gospel written in the 80s A.D., he makes concessions to their sen sibilities. He admits that Jesus sent his disciples to preach to Jews (10:6) and that Jesus personally limited his activity in the same manner (15:24). But times changed. The earth- shaking event of the death- resurrection ushered in a whole new era, an undreamed of future. The same Jesus seen as limiting the preaching of the Good News dur ing his public ministry, now, as the risen Lord, tells the disciples: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. ..Teach them to carry out everything I have com manded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20). The future was now unlimited. In each succeeding generation Christian communities would have to come to terms with changing circumstances and make plans for their futures. Christian communities ensure their continuance by a combina tion of fidelity to the past and fearless openness to the future. They must be like the learned scribe described by Matthew, one who “is like the head of a household who can bring from his storeroom both the new and the old” (13:52). Matthew knew from personal experience how impor tant that is. (Father Castelot is a professor of Scripture at St. John's Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.) Watching the future take shape By Father Herbert Weber * NC News Service A woman in a parish Rite, of Christian Initiation of Adults program was very interested in becoming a Roman * Catholic. A long search was en ding; she liked what she saw in the church. . But the woman hesitated to complete this faith journey because she wasn’t sure whether what she experienced at the present time * would remain in the future. Un doubtedly, the accelerated changes occurring in the lives of church „ members gave rise to her concern. Much of my ministry as a priest is with young adults who happen to be college students. Perhaps because they spend most of their time looking ahead, I find it necessary to spend some of my time looking into the next 15 or 20 years. There are some fairly clear signs around us of what we might expect for the church of the future. I participated in a recent session iq which people were asked to write down their positive and negative experiences of “church.” Later, as the individual answers were shared with the larger group, something became surprisingly ap parent: All participants wrote ajjout some aspect of the Mass. Certainly the group could have shared other concerns of church life. They were not Sunday-only churchgoers. But the fact that everyone focus ed on the Eucharist reminded me how much worship has come to be the center of most people’s ex perience of faith, and how great a commitment those who hunger for good liturgical prayer will make to having it provided. More and more Catholics want congregations to put creative energy into planning and cele brating the Mass. This is a trend that likely will continue. The role of the laity also will continue to change in the years ahead. A smaller number of priests and Religious will force some changes. But developments will occur for other reasons as well. In the move that Catholics have made from being an immigrant church in the United States, many accepted the need for higher education. Many of the laity are becoming more and more educated and bringing that education to bear on their Christian life. The skills and training of the lai ty for life in the secular world will not necessarily be matched by a sophisticated understanding of faith, but the potential is there. If these two forms of education can be put together, then a dynamic lay leadership is possible. Of course, the role of the laity will continue to grow in the marketplace as well as in the con fines of the church. Lay men and women, who realize their skills and gifts, can bring new values and purpose to business, science and politics. Third, the church will continue to be an articulate advocate for social justice. The U.S. bishops already have provided leadership by writing such pastoral letters as the ones on nuclear arms and the U.S. economy. But the commit ment to social justice will not end with the bishops’ statements. Others will learn how to speak to social concerns. On a recent visit to a seminary bookstore, I noted a number of books on justice and social morality. It reminded me how few books there were on those topics 15 years ago when I was in the same seminary. Likewise it can be seen that most religious education texts include an emphasis on social concerns. A whole generation is learning to look at world justice issues through a faith lens and this will influence parish communities. Certainly, these predictions for the future church are written without the advantage of a crystal ball. Nevertheless, the present is parent to the future. What we observe happening in the church today helps us understand what may take place tomorrow. (Father Weber is pastor of St. Thomas More University Parish in Bowling Green, Ohio.) FOOD FOR THOUGHT Children who are 10 years old today will celebrate their 33rd birth day in the year 2010. They will be pursuing careers, raising children, fulfilling responsible roles in towns and cities, and in a variety of ways shaping the society of the third millennium after Christ. What will parish life be like for them? What are some ways society is likely to develop and change in the next 25 years? Do you think this will influence parish life in any ways — people’s spirituality, for example? If the seeds of the future are hidden in the present moment, what are some current points of emphasis in church life that are likely to in fluence the shape of parish life in the future — the services parishes of fer to families, for example? What is the center, or focal point, of parish life? What does this sug gest about what the parish is intended to be today and in the future? Second Helpings. Among the brief essays in Practical Spirituality for Lay People, by Dolores Leckey, is one essay devoted to small groups in parish and home situations. It is frequently said that numerous small groups for the sake of prayer, discussion and service to others will be a characteristic of parishes in the future. “In this century,” Mrs. Leckey writes, “churches have been discovering the power of small groups of Christians in transfor ming the lives of individuals and the life of entire parishes as well.” Essays in this book, largely drawn from the pages of past Faith Today editions, discuss spirituality, family, community, work, change, the church and the life of the laity in the world. (Sheed and Ward, 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kan sas City, Mo. 64141. 1987. Paperback, $6.95.) «» <» •» •<»•»"» \VIVV> 1 a 1 i -lu- Exercise your WOMAN’S WILLPOWER Your will is a legal document with the power of law built in. It is every bit as strong and power ful as a law enacted by your state legislature. 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