In last week’s column I tried to suggest the possibility of each person of faith creating a personal religious culture. Trying to be a Catholic in a secular culture is not easy. The many ways that our culture tells us who we are, what it means to be a person, what our goals should be are often very much at odds with what Catholics believe.
How can we keep “Catholic beliefs” alive and influential in our experience? Certainly we need never apologize for being Catholic. No other vision can match the depth and beauty that Catholicism offers.
Reflecting on what I wrote last week I have come to see that probably most Christians try to do what I suggested in that column though they may not use the terminology that I used or think of what they are doing as creating a personal culture.
What I am suggesting is that because we live in a secular culture there may not be obvious ways that the culture nourishes our faith. We do not live in Christendom in the Middle Ages. The Ages of Faith are over.
This means that a Christian has to work overtime to find sources, whether literature, theatre, film, music, or any other source of meaning, that speak to and nourish the believer’s view of reality.
One reality that we have during this pandemic is time to pray and reflect on how we are living our faith. That can be very precious time. Even in a pandemic we can deeply encounter God. The Holy Spirit is present in every moment of the pandemic trying to help us relate more profoundly to the Father.
During the last week many ideas have come to me about people of faith picking and choosing realities in our contemporary culture which might support their religious faith. I don’t know if any of the ideas are any good or whether they are just wishful thinking. Perhaps some of them can be offered as possibilities in preparation for the worldwide synod that Pope Francis has called. Perhaps because of my vocation as a teacher many, indeed most of the ideas that have occurred to me during the last week, involve educational programs.
I am technologically illiterate but I think diocesan television can be a great resource in helping Catholics discover meanings, even in a secular culture, that might nourish their faith. There could be a course, perhaps 10 weeks, on the meaning of secular humanism and its presence in our culture. Other courses could be on the theologies of faith, hope, and charity. Another course could be on the history of the Church.
There might be a course on religion and psychology. There may be such courses already available. I think immediately of Bishop Robert Barron’s wonderful series on Catholicism. In creating new courses some of the exceptionally talented teachers in the Brooklyn Diocese could be tapped.
If some of these courses become available, promoting them will be very important. They should be put on at a time that will encourage people to view them. Parishes could be used to advertise the courses.
Somehow we have to reach out to teenagers but also to Catholics in their 20s who no longer attend Sunday Eucharist.
About a year ago, I found myself at a family social gathering sitting with five Catholics, all in their 20s. I said to them, “I know that none of you attend Sunday Mass regularly and I don’t wish to embarrass any of you, but I would be really interested in hearing reasons why you don’t attend.
One said the homilies were terrible. Another said the singing was terrible. Another said that he had no relationship with the parish.
Every reason offered I could understand and sympathize with, but I could not imagine myself not attending Mass for any one of these reasons. What is different in their experience of being Catholic and in my experience of being Catholic? Right now I don’t know the answer to that question.
I will continue to think about trying to be Catholic in a secular culture. During the last week as I came up with some of the ideas I have mentioned in this column, I was excited by them. Now, having written them out, I wonder about their value. I plan to discuss them with friends.
The problems are relatively clear. Solutions are not. Of course the role of retreats and days of recollection and other practices of prayer are always important. I will continue thinking of my mantra: “We can be disappointed with the way things are but we should never be discouraged.” Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection our basic outlook should be optimistic, which I think ultimately is the same as being realistic.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica. He presents two 15-minute talks from his lecture series on the Catholic Novel, 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday on NET-TV.